Matador Mining pinpoints multiple new structures as drilling ramps up at Cape Ray Gold Project

Matador Mining Ltd (ASX:MZZ, OTCQX:MZZMF) has ramped up exploration activity at the Cape Ray Gold Project in Newfoundland, Canada after a helicopter magnetics program identified multiple new greenfields structures. The gold explorer recently ticked the phase one program off its bucket list and expanded drilling activities, with two double-shift diamond and three power auger drill rigs chipping away at the gold asset. Now that a power auger program at two key prospects has run its course, drilling has kicked off at a new target area, covering a gold anomaly that’s historically sampled as much as 191 g/t gold. With diamond drilling tipped to follow the extensive power auger programs, Matador is also planning to further explore the newfound greenfields structures with drilling later in the season. Location of Matador's Cape Ray Gold Project. Ramping up diamond and auger drilling Matador Mining executive chairman Ian Murray said: “The importance of high-resolution magnetics at the project cannot be underestimated, as all deposits discovered to date are located on important splay structures off the main Cape Ray shear. “Preliminary analysis from the program is highly encouraging, with multiple new structures identified in areas where limited historical exploration has occurred. “With further analysis, additional structures will likely be identified in the coming months. “With five rigs now active at site, the team is focused on ramping up both our diamond and auger drilling, and delivering quality results from these programs. “Like many others in the industry, we are experiencing slow assay turn-around times. “However, with the foresight to establish a mobile sample preparation laboratory onsite, we anticipate assay turnaround to improve to industry-best levels.” New greenfields structures Recently, Matador completed phase one of its high-resolution heli-mag survey over the Cape Ray tenure — a campaign that inspired the gold explorer to stake new ground at five other prospective areas neighbouring its existing portfolio. The program covered 40 kilometres of strike across the project’s central portion, pinpointing a range of previously undiscovered and untested structures for follow-up exploration. Matador intends to target its recent findings with a priority drill program, hoping the greenfields structures point to further mineralisation at the Canadian gold asset. The northeastern portion of the new magnetic survey, in particular, has highlighted a complex array of second- and third-order fault structures splaying off the main Cape Ray Shear Zone (CRSZ). This area to the north of the main CRSZ, and the Malachite Lake (ML) and Benton 5 (B5) prospects near the main structure, has no historic soil or till sampling, and only five surface rock chip samples within a 30-square-kilometre area. Because of the limited historical sampling in the area, Matador believes its newfound targets warrant further exploration. Power auger drilling across priority targets In addition to the phase one heli-mag program, the ASX-lister has focused on ramping up drilling activity at Cape Ray with a power auger program over five priority targets at Target Area One. These areas of interest spread out over the Window Glass Hill Granite (WGHG) and Big Pond prospects, have seen an aggregate of 855 drill holes and 3,000 metres of drilling since their discovery in 2020. Ultimately, this shallow drilling activity will help inform diamond drill target generation, while follow-up testing is set to occur later in the 2021 exploration season. WGHG has been the major focus of Matador’s initial diamond drilling campaign. Moving ahead, two diamond drill rigs are active on-site, exploring for new greenfields targets and conducting infill and extensional drilling, respectively. These two prospects aren’t the only ones to see power auger drilling, however — a campaign has also kicked off within Target Area Two across the BE_1-3 targets. The second power auger program will cover a five-kilometre-long rock chip gold anomaly, where up to 191 g/t gold has been unsurfaced. As with the previous auger campaign, work in this area will inform more targeted drilling later in the season, filling in the gaps where very little diamond drill testing has taken place.