Mining
Monday, August 26th, 2024 5:01 pm EDT
Key Points
- Exploration Targets and Expansion: Founders Metals is developing key exploration targets at the Antino gold project in Suriname, including Lower Antino, Lawa, and the Southern Froyo extension. They plan to start a 1,500-meter drill program at Lower Antino in mid-September 2024.
- High-Grade Gold Discoveries: The company has identified significant gold anomalies and high-grade gold samples at these targets, including up to 340 g/t Au at Lower Antino and 57.4 g/t Au in the Southern Froyo extension, indicating strong potential for additional discoveries.
- Corporate Update: Founders’ management and board sold company shares to address tax obligations related to stock price appreciation. These insider transactions were organized to minimize market impact and will be filed on SEDI.
Founders Metals Inc. has provided a corporate update and outlined regional exploration targets at the Antino gold project in southeastern Suriname. The company’s surficial team is successfully developing key targets for future surface exploration and drilling, including Lower Antino, Lawa and the Southern Froyo extension. Founders intends to expand its drill program to include an initial 1,500 metres (m) at Lower Antino, commencing mid-September.
Founders’ management and board of directors recently sold company shares for taxation purposes connected with the exercise of restricted share units and resulting tax implications due to the company’s stock price appreciation over the last 18 months. Founders’ management organized a block trade with an existing institutional shareholder at market value ensuring no undue pressure on the stock. The related insider transactions will be filed on SEDI later today.
Highlights
Lower Antino
- Lower Antino is a high-priority target with over 25 per cent of Founders grab samples grading over 0.3 gram per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and up to 20.4 g/t Au;
- Historical results include auger samples with up to 49.3 g/t Au and very high-grade grab sample results, including two samples collected from shear-zone hosted quartz veins grading 144 g/t Au and 340 g/t Au;
- Auger sampling reveals new over 2.5-kilometre (km) gold trend hosting similar structures and geological features as the Froyo gold trend in Upper Antino;
- Ground preparation under way for Lower Antino drilling to start in mid-September.
Lawa
- New prospect identified by Founders in May, 2024;
- Completely unexplored area with three major gold-mineralized trends, including two large intrusions along separate structures over a combined 2.7-kilometre strike length.
Southern Froyo extension
- Recent grab sample of 57.4 g/t Au collected 1,500 metres (m) southeast of Froyo indicating the potential for repeat zones of high-grade gold mineralization similar to Froyo along the broader plus-10-kilometre Antino gold trend that extends from Upper Antino to Buese.
“Our regional exploration work continues to highlight the scale of the gold system at Antino and underscores the property’s potential for additional new discoveries,” commented president and chief executive officer Colin Padget. “Our surficial team is making significant progress toward refining existing targets to drill-ready status and identifying new areas of interest for on-the-ground follow-up. We now have a considerable pipeline of high-quality, well-defined targets and plans are in place to increase the number of active drills over the coming months.”
Geology discussion
Lower Antino is a high-priority drill target. Historical auger sampling identified an approximately 1.5-kilometre-wide-and-two-kilometre-long gold anomaly with samples grading up to 49.3 g/t Au. The gold anomaly overlaps a large fold immediately south of the east-west Antino Creek fault. The fold is easily identified in regional airborne magnetics data and has a distinct topographic feature in lidar. Founders’ geologists recently mapped multiple gold-bearing shears uncovered by artisanal mining at Lower Antino with grab sample grades as high as 20.4 g/t Au. The shear-hosted mineralization occurs in, and is associated with, up to two-metre-wide quartz and quartz-carbonate northeast veins with similar alteration assemblages, textures and host-rocks as Upper Antino.
The most recent Founders discovery is the Lawa prospect. This new area has a 2.7-kilometre strike length and demonstrates three significant trends. Lawa includes two, large volume intrusions along separate, distinct mineralizing structures. These intrusions exhibit a moderate to high density of quartz veining, variable pyritization and strong sericite alteration. In addition to the intrusive suite in the northern extent of Lawa, Founders also uncovered a high-grade vein set in the southern extent of the area, with rock assays grading up to 6.7 g/t Au. Further exploration, including up to 1,500 auger samples, two km of trench sampling and 250 rock samples, is planned for fall of 2024 to fully assess the potential and prepare for drilling in H1 2025.
Utilizing both lidar and air magnetics, the surficial team has identified zones that share similarities with the main Froyo gold zone. Founders recently received assay results from a surface grab sample with 57.4 g/t Au between Froyo and Buese, representing the possibility for repeated zones of high-grade gold mineralization within the broader 10-kilometre gold trend at Antino.
About Founders Metals Inc.
Founders Metals is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on advancing the Antino gold project located in Suriname, South America, in the heart of the Guiana Shield.
We seek Safe Harbor.
