FireFox Gold (TSXV:FFOX) has continued to make progress on its core drilling campaign at its wholly-owned Mustajärvi Gold Project in Lapland, Finland. The company reported findings from the initial four drill holes 23MJ001, 23MJ002, 23MJ003, and 23MJ004, all drilled at the East Target. Each hole showed several key intervals of gold mineralization, extending the mineralized region to the northwest, southwest, southeast, and downdip. These holes were tested and all showed assays exceeding 10.0 g/t of gold.

Carl Lofberg, FireFox’s CEO, commented in a press release: “The drill results from Mustajärvi continue to reveal thicker replacement-style gold mineralization that is very near surface. These four holes have filled in some gaps in the heart of the East Target and confirmed an expansion of the system to the south with a 120m step out hole. These results also confirm the presence of at least two directions of controlling structures – the main lode has been confirmed as plunging to the southwest and deeper high-grade intercepts reinforce the importance of the northeast trending vein system. We have much more data on the way, as results from the final four holes of this drill program are still pending and our team has commenced a trenching program at Mustajärvi East.”

The Mustajärvi Project, still in its early stages, is situated on the highway connecting the cities of Kittilä and Sodankylä, around 17 kilometers to the east of Kittilä. To date, FireFox and its predecessor companies have drilled roughly 14,158 meters. The drilling process has demarcated three separate lodes of gold mineralization along a stretch exceeding 1.5 kilometers so far. Recently, the company has shifted its focus more towards the East Target due to its high-grade nature close to the surface. Figure 1 reveals the traces of the recent drill holes and mineralization at the East Target relative to previous drilling and ground magnetic data.

As noted in a press release dated June 14, 2023, the spring 2023 drilling program at Mustajärvi aimed to fill certain gaps in the drilling and to probe extensions to the south, west, and southwest. The initial four holes from this program have enhanced the understanding of the high-grade core of the East Target, and have established control of a crucial fault on the south side of the deposit, which is now confirmed as mineralized.

The findings from drill holes 23MJ001 and 23MJ002 are especially significant. Both were drilled in a scissors-like fashion along a northwest-southeast fence. These holes were designed to test the western side of the shallow high-grade replacement style mineralization and to look for downdip extensions of the Riedel veins known to frequently host high-grade gold.

The results from these first four holes from the spring 2023 drilling program have been encouraging. Further insights from these holes, along with continued drilling efforts, are expected to provide a better understanding of the potential value of the Mustajärvi Gold Project, and will help FireFox in shaping its future exploration strategies.

Highlights from the results are as follows:

• 23MJ001
  • 11.95m averaging 9.69 g/t Au from 5.4 metres down hole (includes 0.3 metres of core loss);
    • including 0.75m at 94.50 g/t Au; and
  • 5.35m averaging 8.09 g/t Au from 37.25 metres down hole;
    • including 0.85 m at 28.87 g/t Au.
• 23MJ002
  • 7.35 m averaging 2.40 g/t Au from 60.0 metres down hole;
    • including 1.0 meter at 10.51 g/t Au; and
  • 9.00 m averaging 1.06 g/ Au from 103.0 metres down hole.
• 23MJ003
  • 9.50 m averaging 2.08 g/t Au from 155.5 metres down hole;
  • 2.45 m averaging 15.22 g/t Au from 248.65 meters down hole;
    • including 1.45m at 24.16 g/t Au.
• 23MJ004
  • 20.45 m averaging at 5.14 g/t Au from 12.0 metres down hole;
    • including 0.75 m at 23.92 g/t Au;
    • including 3.15 m at 13.69 g/t Au;
    • including 0.9 m at 20.83 g/t Au; and
  • 14.8 m averaging 6.00 g/t Au from 54.0 metres down hole;
    • including 3.45 m at 19.43 g/t Au , which includes 1.55 m at 34.72 g/t Au.

Table 1: Significant Drill Intercepts in Drillholes 23MJ001 – 23MJ004

Cutoff Grade 0.5 g/t Au

Table 2: Mustajärvi Drilling 2023 Collar Information (coordinates presented in EPSG:3067)

FireFox Gold Corp. (TSXV:FFOX) (OTCQB:FFOXF) has announced the successful completion of a drilling program at the newly identified high-grade zone in the East Target of the Mustajärvi Project. This spring 2023 project saw the company drilling nine diamond core holes with a cumulative length of 1540.6 metres. These drillings aimed to fill gaps in the modelled near-surface gold shapes and explore possible extensions to the west and southwest.

The program also included drilling at key points in the replacement style gold mineralization found in the East Target, with step-outs of 80m and 220m along the southwest strike. The company is currently analyzing assays of the drill core.

FireFox Gold has also completed a multielement geochemical analysis of the drill core obtained from the 2022 fall drilling campaign. This new data aligns with the earlier drilling results from Mustajärvi; the gold mineralization has consistently high levels of bismuth (Bi), tellurium (Te), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co). Silver (Ag), arsenic (As), and copper (Cu) were found at relatively low levels at Mustajärvi. Notably, Cobalt was found at high levels in the East Target, reaching maximum values of 0.497% and 0.461% over separate 1 metre samples in the 2022 drilling.

Located between Kittilä and Sodankylä and approximately 17 kilometres east of Kittilä, the Mustajärvi Project stretches across the Mustajärvi Shear Zone (MSZ). The Sodankylä Group rocks primarily in the northern part of the shear zone include metamorphosed sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks. Three significant areas of gold mineralization have been identified along a 2.1-kilometer segment of the MSZ, namely the Central Zone, the Northeast Target, and the East Target.

The spring 2023 drilling was focused on the East Target with the main objective to extend known, shallow high-grade mineralization. The high chargeability zone strikes northeast and dips to the southeast, and it was untested until this drill program. Most of the drill holes in this program were shallow due to the near-surface nature of the high-grade target in this area.

FireFox Gold geologists are currently examining the new drill core, with samples still being delivered to the lab for further analysis. More updates are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

FireFox’s CEO, Carl Löfberg, commented in a press release: “This drill program is meant to reveal the potential scale of the gold system we have been drilling at Mustajärvi. The combination of careful structural measurements and detailed interpretation of geophysics directed the team to focus the step-out drilling along a northeast-southwest corridor. Our preliminary impressions are that the new drilling has been successful in extending the mineralized corridor to the southwest. The elevated cobalt that is associated with the gold is a recurring theme at Mustajärvi. While we know the cobalt occurs in pyrite, which is also correlated with the gold, there remains a lot of work to understand whether the cobalt could be economically recovered. We look forward to the receipt of the gold and multielement assays from this latest round of drilling.”

Table 1. Mustajärvi Spring 2023 Collar Information (coordinates presented in EPSG:3067).

FireFox Gold (TSXV:FFOX) has announced the successful completion of a second diamond drilling operation at its wholly-owned Sarvi Gold Project, situated in Lapland, Finland.

The Sarvi Gold Project lies north of Rupert Resources’ Area 1 Project (Ikkari Deposit). The venture is based on the Sarvi exploration permit and encompasses two further permits, Sarvi-2 to the north and Keulakko to the west, making for a total authorized area of 21 square kilometres. The Sarvi permits cover a section of the Kittilä Suite of volcanic rocks, intersected by several interpreted faults.

FireFox’s CEO, Carl Löfberg, commented in a press release: “We continue to advance our portfolio of assets in Lapland, drilling on two of our five permitted projects during the winter 2023 program. Despite a shortened program at Sarvi due to the onset of spring conditions, the winter drilling was very valuable. The team identified sulphide minerals in three of the four holes and drilled an important sediment-volcanic contact. We can see evidence for multiple stages of deformation at the project along with anomalous gold, silver, and a suite of pathfinder elements that has been shown to be important in Lapland. As is the case for numerous projects in this area, outcrop is sparse, so we plan to expand our base-of-till sampling program to support more drilling. In the meantime, we look forward to receipt of the assays for these four holes.”

The recent exploration drilling program at Sarvi comprised four drill holes, spanning 611 meters. These holes were strategically designed to test a blend of geochemical anomalies from base-of-till (BoT) sampling and structural/geological targets. The project’s geological understanding has been enhanced through a combination of detailed magnetics from drone-based and ground surveys, supplemented with nearly 1,600 BoT samples. This latest drilling round identified quartz-carbonate (tourmaline) veining with sulphides, and sulphide-bearing carbonaceous sediments at a contact with mafic volcanic rocks. Notably, drilling in 2022 also discovered sulphide-rich graphite-bearing tuffs and schists that contained unusually high levels of gold and silver.

Unfortunately, the drilling operation was prematurely concluded due to the swift onset of thawing conditions. Results from the assay for all four drill holes are eagerly anticipated.

Geology and Details

Drill holes 23SA001 and 23SA002, positioned 42 meters apart, were drilled in a south-facing drill fence, targeting a steep magnetic gradient that corresponds with a surface rock sample that resulted in 1.47 g/t Au and 1.86% Cu (see FireFox’s news release dated August 24, 2021). These drill holes intersected mafic volcanic rocks, revealing signs of shearing, folding, and locally intense quartz-carbonate veining, inclusive of chalcopyrite, pyrite, tourmaline, and iron carbonate.

Drill hole 23SA003, drilled approximately 1.4 kilometers southeast of 23SA001 and SA002, explored a magnetic high area disrupted by late faulting, with BoT samples showing arsenic and copper anomalies. The drillhole was directed southwards and passed through a substantial section of mafic volcanic rocks.

Drill hole 23SA004, approximately 750 meters north of 23SA003, was aimed at a strong geochemical anomaly in the BoT sampling, marked by high silver, arsenic, bismuth, tellurium, and molybdenum levels. These elements are often enriched in Lapland gold systems. The hole intersected a sediment-volcanic contact with abundant pyrite in graphite-bearing mudstones and black shales, similar to the anomalous gold and silver intercept from the property’s west side in 2022. Following this interval, the drill hole passed through a gradational contact with mafic volcanic rocks (possibly tholeiitic basalts) around 91m downhole. This contact between the sulphide-bearing mudstones and the basalt provides crucial insights for the ongoing work at Sarvi.

Following this, the drilling fleet was relocated to the Mustajärvi Project area to conduct additional drilling around the high-grade East Target.