Vancouver (May 1, 2018) - Solstice Gold Corp. ("Solstice" or the “Company”) is pleased to provide details of its 2018 exploration program (the “Program”) on its 100% owned, 806km2 Kahuna Gold Project (“Kahuna” or the “Project”) and also provide an updated interpretation on the Project. The Program will consist of winter and summer programs with a combined goal to further define drill targets in high priority areas of the Project and to daylight additional targets.
Winter programs began on April 12 and are expected to continue until late May. Summer programs are expected to start late June and will continue until late September.
Highlights of 2018 Program
- Up to 5,000m of shallow Rotary Air Blast (“RAB”) drilling in 34 target areas commencing late April, 2018
- 5,000 line km of ground magnetic surveys at 25m spacing (ongoing)
- Multi-crew ground surveys of prospecting, geological mapping, rock, sand, till sampling commencing June, 2018
- 635 till samples from 2017 program undergoing gold grain analysis (pending)
See Figure 1 for the locations of the above programs.
RAB drilling will take place in parts of the Westeros area, an area generally covered by thin glacial till. It is designed to sample both the tills and shallow bedrock. This is a proven method of sampling in areas of lesser outcrop that has been successfully used in similar environments. Additionally, the Company is planning 5,000 line km of ground magnetics at 25m spacing in the Central and the North target areas.
A total of 635 samples of till collected in 2017 are currently being processed for gold grain analysis at SRC labs1. These samples are focussed on extending coverage over the south west limb of the large regional Westeros fold (Figure 1). Results are expected in 4-6 weeks. Gold grain analysis will include total grain counts and grain morphologies. Grain counts and morphologies are used to estimate glacial transport distance from the source rocks, a methodology that has been successfully applied both locally in the Meliadine area (owned by Agnico Eagle) and in other areas.
The summer Program at Kahuna will comprise of an intensified effort to advance targeting and geological understanding on the project through the implementation of a 16 person prospecting, rock sampling, and mapping programs. Westeros, the North and the Central targets will see the bulk of the work in the summer program with ample focus on the remaining areas of the Project. The program has been designed to increase confidence in these target areas and narrow down on drill targets for a 2019 campaign. Please refer to the corporate presentation at www.solsticegold.com for additional details of existing targets and planned work.
New interpretation
Solstice has re-processed and interpreted its extensive geophysical data across the project as part of a compilation of all available data. Main features of this interpretation are summarized in Figure 2 -see corporate presentation for additional details. Incorporation of new data, previous work by SRK in 2005, Dunnedin Ventures, Geological Survey of Canada and public domain data is interpreted by Solstice to support:
- The presence of 3 major high strain zones or ‘breaks’ across the Kahuna project. These are interpreted to be similar in scale and age to the Pyke fault or ‘break‘ which is spatially related to the Agnico Eagle Meliadine gold deposits2.
- 2nd order fault sets documented from public domain data which, at Meliadine, are associated with gold deposits extend eastwards into the Westeros target area where they intersect magnetic units (iron formation), mafic and sedimentary rocks.
- The 40km long (unfolded) Westeros fold is associated with highly anomalous rock and gold in till occurrences where sampled to date (see corporate presentation for details). Programs are designed to extend sampling and targeting over other parts of the fold. To date, only approximately 5% of the Westeros fold has been explored at a reasonable scale. Targets at Westeros include:
- fold noses where sampling to date has yielded up to 34.9 g/t gold in rocks and boulders
- the southern limb including the southwest portion where it is intersected by east-west trending fault sets
- the northern limb where geology is close to parallel with major faults and splays related to the Westeros break.
- Detailed analysis of fault and folding styles suggest that the high priority North Area shows many similarities with the Westeros or southern part of the Kahuna project.
- The North area includes significant and extensive areas of locally folded quartz vein outcrops discovered in late 2017 field reconnaissance and extended through inspection of new high-resolution (0.5m) satellite image data. Currently, quartz outcrops, which are closely associated with numerous magnetic units, are recorded up to 65 metres wide and are exposed over a strike length of at least seven kilometres. The quartz-rich areas are associated with >85th percentile gold in till anomalies (including Meliadine public domain data) from sparse historical data. This area, which has extensive outcrop, is currently being covered by detailed ground magnetic surveys prior to ground evaluation in the summer.
This interpretation is based on available information and will be re-evaluated following completion of the 2018 exploration programs.
1The till samples are being processed for gold grain recovery at the Saskatchewan Research Council (“SRC”). SRC is an SCC and ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Accredited Lab. The till samples are processed through Knelson and Mozley concentrators that recover gold grains by density methods, with total gold grain counts and sizes reported for anomalous samples. Morphological assessment of the recovered grains will be conducted at MCC Geoscience Inc. by Dr. Tom McCandless, who is an independent consultant to Solstice Gold Corporation.
2 This announcement contains information with respect to the Meliadine gold deposits owned by Agnico Eagle Mines, in respect of which the Company has no interest or rights to explore or mine. Readers are cautioned that the Company has no interest in or right to acquire any interest in any such properties, and that mineral deposits on adjacent or similar properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company’s properties and there is no certainty of the same or similar deposits on the Company’s properties.
About Solstice
Solstice is a new gold-focussed exploration company created through the spinout by Dunnedin Ventures Inc. of 806km2 (100%) of the district scale Kahuna Project (“Kahuna” or the “Project”) and certain other rights covering an adjacent 860km2, all with no underlying option or earn in payments. Kahuna is located in Nunavut, Canada only 26km from Rankin Inlet and approximately 7km from the Meliadine gold deposits owned by Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. Solstice has 66.8 million shares outstanding and is well financed with $8 million in the treasury.
Solstice is committed to responsible exploration and development in the communities in which we work.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
R. (Bob) Singh, P.Geo, is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 standards responsible for reviewing the technical content of this news release.
On Behalf of Solstice Gold Corp.
David Adamson, PhD
Executive Chairman
For further information please visit our website at www.solsticegold.com or contact:
Marty Tunney, PEng
President
info@solsticegold.com
Forward Looking Statements
Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our exploration programs, plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements may be identified by, but not limited to, words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects", “plans” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release also include, but are not limited to, the extent and timing of described programs, such as RAB drilling, ground magnetics and till sampling. There can be no guarantee that continued exploration at Kahuna, which is at an early stage of exploration, will lead to the discovery of an economic gold deposit. The Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.
This announcement contains information with respect to adjacent or similar mineral properties in respect of which the Company has no interest or rights to explore or mine. Readers are cautioned that the Company has no interest in or right to acquire any interest in any such properties, and that mineral deposits on adjacent or similar properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company’s properties. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance and all investors are urged to consult their investment professionals before making an investment decision. Investors are further cautioned that past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
