Sirios hits visible gold at Eclipse in first 2024 Cheechoo drill hole

Sirios Resources (TSXV: SOI; OTCQB: SIREF) reports visible gold in the first hole of the 2024 drilling program on the high-grade Eclipse area of its 100%-owned Cheechoo gold property, in Quebec.

Hole CH24-305 intersected multiple specks of coarse visible gold hosted in a chloritized quartz vein at 256.7 metres downhole in tonalite, the company said in a Feb. 28 press release. Additionally, more than 100 grains of visible gold were encountered in a mafic dyke at 258 metres depth.

The positive exploration results come as the region sees an exploration spending boom with junior, mid-tier and senior miners looking to make gold and lithium discoveries.

Sirios says its geologists observed a 2.6-metre mineralized gold zone from 256.2 to 258.8 metres depth, including the gold-rich chloritized quartz vein, several deformed quartz veinlets with additional gold grains, and the 1-metre-wide gold-bearing mafic dyke.

Gold specks in a chloritized quartz vein at 256.7 metres down hole CH24-305. Credit: Sirios Resources

The Eclipse zone, west of the main Cheechoo area, was not included in the updated 2022 resource estimate, which contained 1.4 million oz. of indicated gold and 500,000 oz. of inferred gold. Data from the current 1,000-metre drill program at Eclipse will be included in the next update.

The Cheechoo gold property is in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, 200 km east of Wemindji and less than 10 km from the Newmont’s (NYSE: NEM, TSE: NGT) nearby Éléonore gold mine. The project’s latest resource update delineated, for an open pit model, indicated resources of 1.4 million oz. of gold contained in 46.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.94 grams gold per tonne, as well as inferred resources of 500,000 oz. of gold contained in 21.1 million tonnes at a grade of 0.73 grams gold.

The project is in a prospective geological setting, including the Opinaca metasedimentary and the La Grande volcano-plutonic sub-provinces, providing a regional context like the Éléonore gold mine.The Cheechoo mineralization is often associated with millimetre-to-centimetre-thick quartz-feldspar sheeted or stockwork veins and veinlets, with a very low quantity of sulphides, featuring free and coarse gold. This mineralization is typical of a reduced intrusion-related gold system, with several high-grade gold zones included in a low-grade envelope. Sirios has flagged the as-yet unexplored potential for lithium mineralization at Cheechoo, given the presence of kilometric pegmatite dykes.

On Monday, Fury Gold Mines (TSX, NYSE: FURY) said it would acquire Newmont’s 49.978% interest in the nearby Éléonore South project – a key growth asset for Fury – for $3 million and Newmont’s 30.4 million shares of Sirios for $1.3 million. However, Newmont said last week it planned to sell six non-core assets to help cut US$1 billion in debt in the near term as it digests its US$19.2 billion acquisition of Newcrest. Assets on the block include the Éléonore mine, and the Musselwhite and Porcupine mines in Ontario, as well as the Coffee project in the Yukon Territory. 

Sirios shares gained 20% in early trading to achieve an intra-day high of 6¢ per share Wednesday, having touched 4¢ and 9¢ in the past 12 months. It has a market capitalization of $15.2 million.