Projects

Hermitage Flexure

The Hermitage Project was the first regional target identified by the Company off the main Cape Ray Shear Zone. The Company identified this region as being highly prospective for gold exploration following a review of targets in Newfoundland that have strong exploration potential, however, have been neglected historically.

Figure 1: Newfoundland and Labrador Government Antimony Lake sediment map showing the Hermitage Project

This is part of AuMEGA’s strategy to continuously improve and build upon the pipeline of future exploration targets. The Hermitage Project covers approximately 27 kilometres of continuous strike length along the Hermitage Flexure, a large crustal scale structure, which is a splay off the main Cape Ray Shear Zone. The Hermitage Flexure, and subsequently the Company’s Hermitage Project are structural anomalies in having a strike in the complete perpendicular (northwest-southeast) direction. The Company believes this oblique structural environment has potential to create major dilation zones that are akin to the geological setting of other major gold deposits globally.

The main splay continues to the north and hosts the Cape Ray Gold Project as well as Marathon Gold’s (TSX.MOZ) Valentine Lake Project (4.8 million oz Au). The second splay continues to the east and hosts AuMEGA’s Hermitage Project as well as New Found Gold’s (TSXV.NFG) newly discovered high-grade Queensway Project. Previous gold exploration in the area was conducted by Teck, Falconbridge and INCO in the late 1980s.

In May 2023, the Company released results from a limited prospecting and sampling program at Hermitage. The results from 101 field samples confirmed the first-known presence of significant gold in bedrock mineralisation for the Company at Hermitage1, building upon anomalous historical samples within the broader mineral tenements.

The sample results identified an anomalous gold trend 400 metres across strike and located over five kilometres along strike from an anomalous historical grab sample. Key anomalous gold mineralisation prospecting samples included:

  • 7.31 g/t gold (MR001252 – in situ sample)
  • 2.10 g/t gold (MR000861 – in situ sample)
  • 1.04 g/t gold (MR001259 – in situ sample)

In September 2023, the Company announced results from the first project-scale reconnaissance prospecting, mapping and sampling program at Hermitage2. Prospecting and geological mapping was carried-out from May through August 2023 with a total of 709 grab samples collected over nearly the entire 27-kilometre strike area.

The results demonstrated multi-gram gold across a wide area through the presence of two separate gold showings. Seventeen samples returned greater than 100 ppb gold, validating postulated arsenic-gold and antimony-gold associations in this geological domain. Key samples included:

  • 2.15 g/t gold (MR001835 – outcrop sample) with 72.73 ppm bismuth
  • 1.39 g/t gold (MR001833 – outcrop sample) with 135 ppm bismuth
  • Six samples greater than 100 ppb gold over seven kilometres away from the Company’s 2022 high-grade discovery3
Figure 2: 2024 prospecting program at Hermitage

Results from the second phase of the 2023 broad prospecting program at the eastern portion of Hermitage were returned in November 20234, further validating strong antimony-gold and arsenic-gold associations across the entire Hermitage property. Key anomalous gold mineralisation prospecting samples included 897 ppb gold in MR002786 (outcrop) with 1.44% arsenic and 66.58 ppm antimony, and 215 ppb gold in MR002592 with 0.80% arsenic.

In March 2024, the Company announced the identification of a major geological structure at Hermitage, dubbed the “North Limb Fault”. The interpreted North Limb Fault is spatially associated with multigram gold mineralisation identified through Company prospecting and mapping and strikes parallel to the limb of a regional-scale fold structure across almost the entire 27-kilometre strike-length of the property.

Figure 3: Hermitage North Limb Fault overlayed with prospecting results

In 2024, the Company staked additional mineral licences that it did not previous hold within the Hermitage Project area. The Company now holds the entire ground within the project area.

Through 2024, the Company is planning a high-resolution airborne magnetic survey to improve definition of the North Limb Fault and the countless second and third-order structures that are apparent in the project area. Additionally, the Company plans on spending the upcoming Canadian summer focused on comprehensive geological mapping and sampling in the most prospective areas identified thus far. These works are designed to define specific targets to advance to the intermediate stage and set us up for RC drill testing in early 2025.

  1. Refer to ASX Announcement 18 May 2023 – MZZ Announces High-Grade Results from Hermitage Prospecting ↩︎
  2. Refer to ASX Announcement 13 September 2023 – Prospecting Results Demonstrate Strong Potential at Hermitage ↩︎
  3. Refer to ASX Announcement 20 April 2022 – Till Sampling Identifies Numerous Gold Targets at Malachite ↩︎
  4. Refer to ASX Announcement 13 November 2023 – Additional Positive Results Phase 2 Prospecting at Hermitage ↩︎