Blue Star Gold Corp. announces a new critical mineral discovery (HI) on its Roma Project in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut (Figure 1).
Highlights of the Current Exploration Program
- Inaugural critical minerals exploration program in the prospective High Lake Greenstone Belt
- First Blue Star drill hole assessing the HI VMS target intercepted a 17.1-metre interval of semi-to-massive sulphide mineralization (Figure 2); assays are pending
- Follow-up drilling is underway to assess the large target zone
- Drilling continues at gold targets on the Company’s Ulu Project, including Mikigon and Nutaaq
“Due to the abundance of mineral showings throughout our prospective landholdings, the current exploration program is assessing both critical mineral and gold targets. The first drill hole on the HI target has potentially resulted in an exciting new base metal discovery. Our team is very encouraged by similarities in the drill core to MMG’s High Lake deposit, located ~12 kilometres to the south. Follow-up drilling is underway, and we look forward to assay results which are expected in August. The proposed Grays Bay Road, a major infrastructure development in Nunavut that is currently undergoing permitting, is located only 6 kilometres to the east of the HI discovery.”
Grant Ewing, CEO of Blue Star
Discussion of HI Results
Fieldwork confirmed the presence of massive sulphide mineralisation in a surface gossan occurring in felsic volcanic rock. Sampling of sub-cropping massive sulphide mineralisation hosting a 0.6-metre-wide section of massive sphalerite returned 17.75% zinc (“Zn”). A fixed loop electromagnetic survey (“EM”) was subsequently completed identifying a strong conductor, with a resulting Maxwell-modelled plate measuring 320 metres x 100 metres in size, plunging north approximately 180 metres below the surface (Figure 3). The gossan and surface sampling are located up-dip, and ~200 metres south of the strong conductor.
The initial drill hole targeting the HI conductor was completed to a depth of 291 metres. Rock units encountered include the overlaying Proterozoic diabase sill, a late Archean granitoid unit, and a package of sericite-altered felsic tuffs hosting a seventeen (17) metre zone of stringer to massive sulphide mineralisation. Within the mineralised zone, a 1.7-metre interval of massive sphalerite and buckshot pyrite, and a 1.3-metre interval of massive pyrrhotite with chalcopyrite were intersected (Figure 2). The mineralised section is co-incident with the modeled strong conductor. Follow-up drilling is underway.
Noranda first identified the area in 1975 and drilled two shallow holes beneath the main gossan the following year. The 1976 holes intersected stringer to massive sulphide mineralization with sub-ore grades (Assessment Report 08558), and Noranda subsequently dropped the claims.
Comparison to the High Lake Deposit West Zone
The High Lake VMS deposit, located approximately 12 kilometres to the south-southeast of HI, is comprised of the A/B, D, and West Zones. Of particular interest is the West Zone, the most recent VMS discovery in the High Lake Belt, as it was also a blind discovery based on a strong EM conductor. The West Zone discovery hole was a 19.4-metre stringer to massive sulphide interval grading 3.85% copper (“Cu”), 1.38% Zn, 0.89 gram per tonne (“g/t”) gold (“Au”), and 104 g/t silver (“Ag”). The resource of the West Zone is approximately 9.1 Mt of 1.97% Cu, 4.4% Zn, 0.42% lead (“Pb”), 1.29 g/t Au, and 96 g/t Ag. (The Northern Miner, January 23, 2006). The High Lake VMS deposit hosts ~14 Mt grading 2.5% Cu, 3.8% Zn, 0.4% Pb, 84 g/t Ag, and 1.3 g/t Au (MMG Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves Statement 30 June 2023). There is no guarantee that the results of the HI VMS discovery will be similar to those of the High Lake Deposit West Zone or that continued exploration will result in the definition of an economic resource.
Exploration Program Progress and Next Steps
The 2024 exploration drilling program is ongoing. Drilling continues at gold targets on the Ulu Project (Mikigon, Nutaaq) and the HI discovery. The next steps for the gold component of the current drill program will be assessing other targets in the Flood Zone area, and the Central and Zebra Zones. To date, ~1,725 metres of the planned drill program have been completed.
Prospecting samples are grab samples which are selective by definition and have been collected from outcrop, subcrop and felsenmeer. Samples are sent under chain of custody to ALS Geochemistry in Yellowknife, NT for sample preparation which are then forwarded to ALS Canada Inc. in North Vancouver, BC for final analysis. Samples are prepared using code PREP-31 (crushing and pulverising) and analysed using codes Au-AA26 (50-gram fire assay with atomic absorption finish) and ME-MS61 (48 element four acid digestion with ICP-MS finish). Over limits for non-gold elements are ore grade four acid digestion with ICP-AES finish. Drill samples follow the same procedures.
Gray’s Bay Road and Port Project (GBRPP)
The project envisions a deepwater port built on Coronation Gulf and a road connecting Nunavut to the Northwest Territories. The proposed all-season road would travel within and immediately adjacent to Blue Star’s projects, providing excellent accessibility. This future access will dramatically lower the operating costs in the region, connect Northern products to markets around the world, and enable supplies to reach the area at a lower cost, for a longer season, and with greater reliability.
Darren Lindsay, P. Geo. and Vice President Exploration for Blue Star, is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.
About Blue Star Gold Corp.
Blue Star is a mineral exploration and development company focused in Nunavut, Canada. Blue Star’s landholdings total 270 square kilometres of highly prospective and underexplored mineral properties in the High Lake Greenstone Belt. The Company owns the Ulu Gold Project, comprised of the Ulu Mining Lease and Hood River Property, and the Roma Project. A significant high-grade gold resource exists at the Flood Zone deposit (Ulu Mining Lease), and numerous high-potential exploration targets (gold and critical minerals) occur throughout the Company’s extensive landholdings, providing Blue Star with excellent resource growth potential. The site of the future deep-water port at Grays Bay is 40 – 100 km to the north of the properties, and the proposed route corridor for the all-weather Grays Bay Road passes close by the Roma and Ulu Gold Projects.
Blue Star is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol: BAU, the U.S. OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol: BAUFF, and on the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol: 5WP0. For information on the Company and its projects, please visit our website:Â www.bluestargold.ca.
For further information, please contact:
Grant Ewing, P. Geo., CEO
Telephone: +1 778-379-1433
Email: [email protected]
Neither the 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.
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