Drilling at Marvel’s Blackfly identifies 4 gold trends and multiple visible gold occurrences

2021.08.05

For a junior gold explorer, hitting visible gold during a drill program is the best of all possible outcomes, right up there with a discovery hole returning high-grade assays.

For the third time since drilling started in June at its Blackfly gold project in northwestern Ontario, Marvel Discovery Corp (TSXV:MARV, FSE: O4T1, IMTFF:OTC PINKS) has put out news saying that drilling has intersected “VG”.

According to the Vancouver-based company,

Hole BF19-21 encountered a quartz vein with galena and minor chalcopyrite and several specks of VG at 39.3m, hosted within sheared and strongly bleached diorite (Figure 1).

Visible gold was also noted in BF21-15 which targeted a newly discovered zone (Mosquito Zone) 100m southwest of the main Blackfly Zone. Discovered by mapping and sampling in 2021, VG was noted at a downhole depth of only 8m.

“Visible gold is always a very good indicator in drill core when finding it in multiple holes,” said President and CEO Karim Rayani, in the Aug. 3 news release. He added: 

“The geological team reports that holes completed to date all look visually encouraging with quartz-veining, mineralization, alteration and shearing. Our first hole into mineralization discovered during our 2021 sampling and mapping program also reported VG. To date we now have four sub-parallel gold mineralization trends that have been confirmed by drilling.”

The news lifted the shares of Marvel, which trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange as MARV, to an all-time high Tuesday of 21 cents a share. Over the past year MARV’s share price has more than doubled.

Blackfly

Marvel’s Blackfly property is located in the Atikokan gold mining camp, within the Marmion Lake fault zone, approximately 13.6 kilometres southwest of Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef gold deposit.

One of Agnico’s main exploration projects, Hammond Reef has an estimated 3.32 million ounces of gold in reserves (123.5 million tonnes grading 0.84 g/t gold), plus 2.3 million ounces in measured and indicated resources (133.4 million tonnes grading 0.54 g/t gold).

Resurging interest in the Atikokan camp led to the development of Hammond Reef and Agnico’s recent efforts to stake lands close to this multi-million-ounce deposit.

The Hammond Reef gold property lies on the Hammond shear zone, which is a northeast-trending splay off the Quetico fault zone and intimately associated with gold mineralization.

Assessment file records indicate that the original Blackfly gold discovery was made in 1897, making the occurrence one of the earliest found in the Atikokan gold camp. The project’s 45-foot shaft was sunk in 1898 shortly after gold was discovered. 

Several companies have since added to the property’s database, including Rebair Gold Mines Ltd. (1945 to 1948), Steeprock Mines Ltd. (1949, and again in 1961), Aavdex Corporation (2004) and TerraX Minerals Inc. (2009 to 2012).

Initial work documented by D.K. Burke in 1941 reported two gold vein shoots, a northern and a southern one. The southern shoot averaged 11.9 g/t Au over a thickness of 0.33m along a strike of 21.6m, and the northern shoot averaged 13.44 g/t Au over 0.27m over a 32m strike length.

The most recent work was conducted by Terra-X during 2010-2012, which included compilation of much of the historical reports and data, diamond drilling and surface geochemistry.

According to Terra-X’s assessment report, the lineament containing the Blackfly vein has alteration and mineralization traceable over a 4.4-km strike length, as shown by the distribution of samples collected along it.

The best gold values from this lineament occur within the historical work, where TerraX’s grab samples included results of 167 g/t and 85.6 g/t Au.

The project, comprising 64 unpatented mining claims covering 1,296 hectares of land, was acquired by Marvel (formerly International Montoro Resources) in September 2020 via an option agreement.

To earn a 100% interest in the property, the company must make escalating payments totaling $65,000 in cash and issue 500,000 shares plus an additional 500,000 warrants. It must also spend a total of $153,600 in exploration on the property over a four-year period.

2021 exploration

This year’s exploration program at Blackfly is a continuation of work initiated in 2020, which included a compilation of historical information, high-resolution airborne magnetics and time-domain electromagnetic data collection.

Several geophysical anomalies were identified from the geophysical report, and targets for follow-up were recommended.

Marvel’s geological team began the 2021 program work of prospecting, bedrock mapping and rock sampling. Trenching is being done for further definition of the gold mineralization associated with the known anomalies and geological structures.

Drilling commenced on June 24, with nine diamond drill holes out of 16 completed to date for 1,116.25m. Drilling has concentrated around the historical shaft area with four holes drilled at the Blackfly Northeast Zone.

The first round of assays was released in early June, consisting of 78 samples with coarse visible gold noted in one sample that returned 24.3 g/t gold.

On July 8, the gold junior received an additional 168 assay results, the third of three rounds from this year’s prospecting and mapping program. Highlights of surface samples:

• 29 samples returned assays greater than 500 ppb gold;
• 12 samples graded from 1.00 g/t and up to 2.99 g/t gold;
• 9 samples in excess of 3.00 g/t gold; and
• 3 samples assayed greater than 30 g/t gold

To date 456 samples have been submitted to the lab for analysis. Channel and surface samples from 2021 mapping and sampling are also pending.

According to Marvel one of the holes, BF21-20 was drilled at the Blackfly Northeast zone where TerraX Minerals Inc. intersected 10.96 g/t Au over 2.0m in 2011. Hole BF21-20 encountered strong ankerite-silica-pyrite+/-sericite altered diorite with galena in several quartz veins.

Newfoundland additions

Alongside its Blackfly field program, Marvel Discovery Corp has assembled a sizeable land position, about 60,000 hectares, right in the thick of the Exploits Subzone of Central Newfoundland — potentially one of the world’s last easily accessible, district-scale gold camps. 

See below for Marvel’s map of the area including the major faults shown as heavy black lines.

The company has been busy snapping up claims and adding to its land package.

In June, Marvel acquired 420 claims totaling 10,250 hectares, 45 km south of Gander, close to the boundary between the Exploits Subzone and the Gander Zone.

The new ground, dubbed Gander South, is around 10 km east of the Dog Bay-Appleton-GRUB Line fault system, which extends from northern coast of Newfoundland 200 km southwest through Gander, and hosts New Found Gold’s area play-leading Queensway project.

Two days later, on June 10, Marvel enlarged its Gander South property by adding 274 claims totaling 6,850 hectares. The new claims, located 10 km north of Gander South, and contiguous to New Found Gold’s Queensway project, upsized the Gander South project to 17,100 ha, making Marvel a major player in the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt.

In late June, the company took a commanding land position within the Hope Brook area by staking 763 claims (19,075 hectares) located contiguous to First Mining Gold and the Sokoman Minerals-Benton joint venture.

Of significance is the Hope Brook gold mine, which was in production between 1987-1997, producing 752,163 ounces of gold plus a copper concentrate.

Marvel’s latest acquisition, announced in July, comprises 478 claims totaling 11,875 ha. The new claims, rolled into Marvel’s latest addition to its Newfoundland portfolio, named Gander North, are located 25 km east of New Found Gold’s Queensway project and are contiguous to Sassy Resources’ (CSE:SASY) Gander North project, whose management includes Shawn Ryan of Yukon White Gold fame.

In addition to Gander North, Gander South and Hope Brook, Marvel has two other projects within the Exploits Subzone of the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt.

The Slip Lake property hosts gold mineralization with historical sampling of up to 44.5 g/t Au on surface. It is located 17.5 km northwest of New Found Gold’s Queensway project.

The Victoria Lake property is tied onto Marathon Gold’s Valentine Lake deposit, exhibiting a similar style of gold-bearing veins. Preliminary work on the project located several quartz-arsenopyrite veins returning grab samples ranging in value from 15.5 g/t to 24.9 g/t gold.

Conclusion

Marvel Discovery Corp has everything we like to see in a gold junior, starting with a great property in an established gold jurisdiction with plenty of upside. The Atitokan gold camp in Ontario is one of the country’s most prolific, and the Blackfly project is one of the camp’s earliest gold occurrences, dating as far back as 1897.

The property is in a highly enriched gold neighborhood, located within the Marmion Lake fault zone about 14 kilometers from Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef gold deposit, which hosts an estimated 3.32 million ounces of gold in reserves.

Marvel’s mission is to see whether the historical exploration around the Blackfly mine has more to offer. So far the results look promising.  

Drilling commenced on June 24, with nine diamond drill holes out of 16 completed to date for 1,116m. Drilling has concentrated around the historical shaft area with four holes drilled at the Blackfly Northeast Zone.

Visible gold has been discovered in a number of surface samples and in multiple drill holes, a very good sign that MARV may have hit upon a gold system of yet to be determined size. Four sub-parallel gold mineralization trends have been confirmed by drilling.

The company understands it’s never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Management has been casting a prospective eye over one of the hottest gold camps in the world right now, the Exploits Subzone of Central Newfoundland, and is acquiring claims close to the action.

This includes Gander North, located 25 km east of New Found Gold’s Queensway project and contiguous to Sassy Resources’ also-named Gander North project, the upsized Gander South project, and Hope Brook, located contiguous to First Mining Gold and the Sokoman Minerals-Benton joint venture.

Marvel has compiled a huge land base in Central Newfoundland, that can be gradually explored as funds allow, or claims could be hived off to raise capital for upcoming drill programs without having to go to the market and diluting the share float.  We also like the discovery potential of Blackfly, and are encouraged by what Marvel has achieved so far. Plenty of news flow left to come from MARV before the year is out.

Marvel Discovery Corp.
TSXV:MARV, FSE: O4T1, IMTFF:OTC PINKS
Cdn$0.18, 2021.08.04
Shares Outstanding 73.8m
Market cap Cdn$13.7m
MARV website 

Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com
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