SODANKYLA,
HIGHLIGHTS FROM SCREEN FIRE ASSAYS OF 13.85 METRE HIGH-GRADE INTERVAL IN 22MJ006
One sample from 25.05 to 26.00 metres depth returned a total gold grade of 439 g/t
This sample contained 423 milligrams of coarse gold
This bonanza grade sample was part of a field duplicate pair: o The duplicate twin contained total gold of 15.85 g/t
If all the screen fire results were incorporated into the broader high-grade interval, it would average 28.74 g/t over 13.85 metres
Most of the interval exhibited excellent consistency between original fire assay and screen fire assays
FireFox is working with its consultants and service providers to better understand and characterize the coarse gold at Mustajarvi
'The high-grade gold at Mustajarvi comes with its own special challenges, but the team has done an excellent job implementing a rigorous quality assurance protocol. These screen fire assay results remind us that this system contains significant coarse gold, and any noteworthy drill intercept may contain more gold than we first estimate,' commented
The Company's consulting geochemist and quality control expert, Mary Doherty1, remarked in her evaluation of the new drilling data from Mustajarvi, 'The Firefox sampling, preparation and analytical procedures are very thorough and carefully thought out. The one interval with extremely high gold suggests the presence of coarse gold which is not unexpected and is well characterized. Precision for the other gold assays in the drill hole examined is very good at 7% precision and < 4% bias between sample groups.'
FireFox maintains an ongoing quality assurance program that includes screen fire gold assays on the high-grade intervals encountered at Mustajarvi. In this case, the team selected 8 samples from the 13.85-metre interval for screen fire gold assay. These samples all contained more than 10 g/t gold, as reported from an initial 50-gram fire assay and confirmed by triplicate 50-gram gravimetric 'overlimit' fire assays.
As an additional component of its quality assurance program, FireFox designates approximately 3% of drilling samples as field duplicates. One of the field duplicates fell within this highly mineralized interval. In this instance, the other half of the sawed core is submitted blindly to the lab as a check of the total variability of gold, including that caused by the geological sample medium plus sample preparation and analysis. This resulted in the entire drill core being processed for the 0.95-metre interval in question. Hence, the discovery that this interval contained a coarse gold fragment (a 'nugget').
Native gold tends to be malleable, which means it may not be ground or reduced in size when subjected to pulverizing in a standard lab preparation procedure. The screen fire assay procedure (see details below) evaluates this component of unpulverized material for gold by passing the entire 1,000-gram sample through a 106-micron (Tyler 150 mesh) screen. Gold and other material that has not been sufficiently pulverized will be retained on the screen, then this entire 'plus fraction' is fire assayed, reporting the contained gold in milligrams.
During the screen fire process, the assayers determined that there were 423 milligrams of coarse gold in the sample, a significant part of the 23.2 grams of material collected in the plus fraction. Interestingly, the fine fraction of material, which did pass through the screen, assayed consistently around 16 g/t gold. The weighted average of the gold in the fine fraction plus the gold in the coarse fraction results in a calculated total gold value of the sample of 439 g/t.
Coarse gold is something for which explorers must plan when drilling an orogenic gold system. However, visual logging will never identify all coarse gold in drill core or rock samples. Despite abundant high-grade gold assays, FireFox geologists believe they have recognized visible (coarse) gold in only three drill holes so far on the
Coarse gold occurs in isolated particles, blebs, wires, or inclusions that cannot be quantitatively estimated. The random element of coarse gold dictates that more is present in a mineral system than will ever be identified during drilling. Therefore, once it has been identified on a project, it is incumbent on the technical team to study and characterize the occurrences. This information may be used in the future to build a statistical model to support resource calculations. Based on that kind of work, a qualified person may elect to cap extremely high-grade assays in a resource model. The knowledge that coarse gold exists in a deposit implies that any significant gold intercept is subject to some uncertainty as to the actual contained gold grade.
FireFox's quality control consultant has recommended that the Company maintain its current sampling procedures, laboratory method selection, and quality assurance protocol. As an extra measure of caution, she also recommended that the Company implement additional cleaning sand during sample preparation between samples within zones identified as likely to be high-grade. The wash sand can be assayed for gold to assess possible carryover between samples.
The Company also plans to work with its consultant and certain expert service providers to initiate another study to rigorously characterize the coarse gold in the high-grade zones at Mustajarvi. The exact nature of the follow-up study will remain confidential as it may constitute a competitive advantage for the Company in its ongoing work. Findings from the study will be evaluated and released, likely in 2023.
Geology and Geochemistry of the High-Grade Drill Intercept
Most of the gold mineralization at Mustajarvi occurs in volcaniclastic or tuffaceous rocks (
Methodology & Quality Assurance
The core was transported from the rig to the Company's core storage facility in Sodankyla, where FireFox's exploration team conducted the geological and geotechnical logging and selected the assay intervals. Assay intervals were generally 1 metre but in some circumstances were modified according to lithological boundaries and other factors. FireFox geologists maintained chain of custody and sampling procedures according to best industry practice and with due attention to quality assurance and quality control, including sampling field duplicates and insertion of certified standard and blank samples.
FireFox team members transported the samples to an ALS sample prep lab in Sodankyla. The samples were sawed then crushed to -2 mm, split and pulverized into 1kg pulps, before being shipped to the ALS facility in
In this case, FireFox geologists requested that the samples exceeding 10 g/t gold be re-analysed by a 1,000-gm screen fire assay (Au-SCR24) on a new pulp collected from coarse reject. The following is the laboratory procedure as provided publicly by ALS Geochemistry:
The sample pulp is passed through a 106 -microm (Tyler 150 mesh) stainless steel screen. Any material remaining on the screen (+) 106 -microm is retained and analyzed in its entirety by fire assay with gravimetric finish and reported as the Au (+) fraction. The material passing through the screen [(-) 106 -microm fraction] is homogenized and two sub-samples (50g) are analyzed by fire assay with AAS finish (Au AA26 and Au AA26D). The average of the two AAS results is taken and reported as the Au (-) fraction result. All three values are used in calculating the combined gold content of the plus and minus fractions.
The gold values for both the (+) 106 and (-) 106-micron fractions are reported together with the weight of each fraction as well as the calculated total gold content of the sample.
Calculations:
Au-avg(ppm) = (Au-(1) + Au-(2)) / 2
AuTotal(ppm) = ((Au-avg(ppm) * Wt.Minus(g)) + (Au+(ppm) * Wt.Plus(g))) / (Wt.Minus(g) + Wt.Plus(g))
It should be noted that FireFox audited the local ALS sample preparation lab during 2021 and found it to be operating to a high standard. Additional follow-up interactions with the lab after receipt of these results also identified no problems with lab procedures. The consistency of the gold between the original assays and the screen fire assays, in most cases, is a good indication that the sample preparation is likely not introducing contamination. This is because screen fire assays are prepared from the original crushed reject material, which means that rock was not passed through the grinding mills in the first place. The pulverization process is almost always the source of carryover contamination.
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Email: info@firefoxgold.com
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Forward Looking Statements
The information herein contains forward looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, the extent of work stoppage and economic impacts that may result from the COVID 19 virus, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry.
Forward-looking statements in this release may include statements regarding: the intent to conduct additional drilling; the belief as to the location of the most prospective gold targets; the location of targets for future drill programs; and the current and future work program, including the extent and nature of exploration to be conducted in 2022. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary.
The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the expectations of FireFox as of the date of dissemination and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking statements and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. FireFox does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.
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