As the mercury dips below zero Celsius, even the harsh Canadian winter can’t stop the excitement buzzing in Pickle Lake, Ontario. Renewed activity in the area is pushing Australian gold exploration company, Ardiden Limited, to permit and investigate its South Limb gold prospect, located alongside the historically prolific Dona Lake gold mine. The company will continue drilling throughout the winter of 2020-2021.
A drone captures a bird’s-eye view of the Major Drilling Duralite N500 heli-portable rig on site at Ardiden’s Kasagiminnis property.
Ardiden chose Major Drilling as its preferred drilling contractor to explore for gold at the Kasagiminnis deposit. The drilling teams are very experienced in this region. Their access to equipment, personnel and maintenance facilities keeps the job turning smoothly with a Duralite N500 Heli-portable rig on site.
Resource definition at Kasagiminnis began in August 2020. In September, Major Drilling teams extracted core samples with visible gold. Those results were part of a first-phase, 3,000-meter summer exploration program using seven diamond drill holes to probe the western extensions of the deposit. This summer phase finished incident free with a total of 3,117 meters (10,226 feet) completed over 15 holes from five drill pads.
Members of the drilling team, led by supervisor Marshall Menifee (right), discuss progress at Kasagiminnis.
“These results represent our best results to date from Ardiden’s drilling at the Kasagiminnis Gold deposit,” Rob Longley, Ardiden MD & CEO, said.
In the phase-two winter program, drilling will extend to the east over untested parts of the Kasagiminnis gold deposit.
Indicating the rapid progress at Ardiden’s Pickle Lake Gold Project, Longley posted a then-and-now visual progress report on social media of the expanding exploration work.
“The great results we’re getting from our core work with Major Drilling is building our confidence in the quality of deposits and exploration potential for this region,” Longley said.
Major Drilling explores for gold during Ardiden surface drilling at Pickle Lake, Ontario.
Ardiden’s vast connected landholding of 870km2 at Pickle Lake means that 22 gold deposits and prospects have wide-reaching exploration potential.
Excitement continues to build in the region as gold projects develop and momentum builds even during a disrupted year due to COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts. Longtime Major Drilling supervisor, Marshall Menifee addresses impacts and keeps drills turning through summer and winter conditions.
“We are proud to be part of supporting Ardiden in its goals to reach gold deposits in Pickle Lake,” Menifee said.
A drone captures a bird’s-eye view of the Major Drilling Duralite N500 heli-portable rig on site at Ardiden’s Kasagiminnis property.
At Pickle Lake, Major Drilling teams keep safety at the forefront through using the TAKE 5 risk assessments, the 10 Lifesaving Rules, and the Critical Risk Management programs.
Known as Ontario’s Last Frontier, Pickle Lake is the transportation hub for people and goods servicing 22 remote First Nations communities, a host of outfitting camps as well as exploration and infrastructure projects. A major milestone for Ardiden was announced in April 2020 with the signing of an important gold exploration memorandum of understanding with the Mishkeegogamang First Nation group.
Major Drilling also shares good relationships with First Nations and Inuit groups through multiple joint venture partnerships within Canada. It is an important part of efforts in Environmental, Social & Governance initiatives that help Major Drilling better the communities where it does business.
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