Summary:
Growth of Sugar South and subsequent Reserve conversion marks the first new zone introduced into Ore Reserves under Vault’s ownership and demonstrates the untapped exploration potential.
Mineral Resources remain open in multiple directions, including down plunge and dip of Sugar Main, Middle Zone, and Sugar South lodes with in-mine exploration opportunities to be pursued once production is advanced.
5km mineralised mine corridor provides a high value target horizon with surface stripping of the veins to the south of the Sugar South toward Lynx continuing.
Sugar South mineralisation remains open along strike and down dip with mineralisation extending over a 5km strike. Recent drilling has returned two of the highest grade intersections on the property, including 2.44m at 119 g/t (SZ-25-391) and 1.29m at 282 g/t (SZ-25-485)5 at the southern margins, 500m from Sugar Main lodes making the southern mine corridor a high value exploration horizon for near mine Mineral Resource growth.
To enhance future targeting and drill program design, surface stripping and sampling of the outcropping veins has commenced from Sugar South, further south towards the Lynx Zone.
The Sugar Zone Deposit is interpreted as an orogenic, mesothermal gold deposit located in a zone of high strain within the Dayohessarah Greenstone Belt. The Deposit is hosted in mediummetamorphic grade (amphibolite) rocks that exhibit ductile deformation and have been intruded by felsite and porphyry sills. The gold is associated with silica-sulphide-potassic alteration.
The deposit is hosted within a major shear zone. The Sugar Deformation Zone trends northwest-southeast and dips between -65 degrees and -80 degrees.
In the Sugar Zone Gold Deposit, gold mineralization occurs in quartz veins, quartz stringers and quartz flooded zones predominantly associated with narrow porphyry sills, porphyry contact zones, hydrothermally altered mafic metavolcanics and, rarely in weakly altered mafic metavolcanics. The mineralization occurs in three parallel zones, the Upper, Lower and Footwall Subzones, that range in thickness from 1.5 to 10 m, strike at 140° and dip between -65° and -75° to the west. The three subzones are separated by 20 to 30 m of non-mineralized metavolcanics. The Sugar Deformation Zone is a high strain deformation zone associated with the mineralization with a northwest trend and dips west at 65o to 75o . The mineralization has been defined for over 1.5 km strike length and to a vertical depth of over 1,200 m and remains open along strike and at depth. Fine to coarse-grained specks and blebs of visible gold are common in the Sugar Zone quartz veins, usually occurring within marginal, laminated or refractured portions of the veins. Quartz veins and silicified rocks also contain varying amounts of pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, molybdenite and arsenopyrite.
Other mineralized zones have been observed between, above and below the Sugar Zone Upper and Footwall Subzones, in diamond drilling. Most of these intercepts are believed to be quartz veining originating in either the Upper or Footwall Subzone, that have been diverted from the sheared part of the zone, up to 15 m from the main bodies of mineralization. One of these zones is the Lynx Zone, which lies east of the southern end of the Sugar Zone.
The Middle Zone, located between the Sugar and Wolf Zones, may represent the extension of the Sugar Zone to the north. The zone occurs within a highly strained package of massive and pillowed flows exhibiting various degrees of biotite alteration. Gabbro sills and flows are common about the zone. Similar to the Sugar Zone, a weak Upper and Footwall Zone may locally be developed. The zone typically ranges from 1.5 to 10.0 m in thickness.
Middle Zone gold mineralization is often associated with quartz veins and veinlets hosted within a package of altered mafic volcanic and feldspar porphyry. The gold mineralization is often accompanied by 1-5% pyrrhotite and pyrite with local sections of minor galena and sphalerite. Galena is normally indicative of higher grades and the presence of visible gold.
The auriferous Wolf Zone lies along strike of the Sugar Zone, and may represent the northern extension of the SDZ. It is defined as highly strained packages consisting of variously altered mafic volcanic flows and gabbros. The zone ranges in true thickness from 0.5 to 8.0 m.
The Wolf Zone is made up of highly sheared mafic metavolcanics, and a network of intrusive, intermediate quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes/sills. Alteration in the mafic volcanic and gabbro units consists mainly of silicification (both pervasive and quartz veining), diopside alteration and magnesium rich, brown biotite alteration. Alteration within the intermediate porphyry units consist of mostly silicification, with small amounts of magnesium-rich brown biotite, and no diopside. The zone is observed in trenches to pinch and swell over 30 m.
Wolf Zone gold mineralization mostly occurs in quartz veins, stringers and quartz flooded zones predominantly associated with porphyry zones, and hydrothermally altered basalts and gabbros. Fine-grained specks of visible gold are occasionally observed in the Wolf Zone quartz veins. The visible gold itself is often observed to be concentrated within thin fractures, indicating some degree of remobilization. Quartz veins and floods also contain varying amounts of pyrrhotite, pyrite and occasional galena. The presence of galena is a strong indicator of the presence of visible gold. Pyrite and pyrrhotite form most of the total sulphides, but do not appear to be directly related to the presence of gold mineralization.
Sugar Zone mineralization is characterized by discrete boudinage/laminated quartz veins presenting a characteristic saccharoidal texture. This texture supports a second prograde metamorphic event in which gold mineralization was focused along these discrete veins; mineralization rarely occurs outside of these veins. Gold mineralization is typically associated with galena, sphalerite, molybdenum, and rarely Fe-sulphides.
Dimensions
The Sugar Zone resource extents are 3,200m strike, 70m across strike and 1,200m below surface and open at depth. These extents host approximately 15 interpreted ore lodes. The lodes vary between 0.2 to 2m in width.