MacDonald Mines Resumes Drilling at its SPJ Project

TORONTO, May 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: BMK) (“MacDonald Mines”, “MacDonald” or the “Company”) announces that, with strict health protocols in place, it has resumed its 2020 drilling program after temporarily suspending operations due to COVID-19 at its SPJ Project, located 40 km east of Sudbury, Ontario. The Company remains well funded as the Spring 2020 exploration program continues. Results from 2 holes from the winter 2020 drilling program are still pending and will be released when they are received.

The ongoing resource definition drilling program is focused on quantifying the size and grade of the high-grade gold mineralization in the North Pit area of the Scadding Deposit. Results from the 12 holes drilled this winter, prior to the COVID shutdown, indicate that gold mineralization in the North Pit area remains open in all directions and that the thickness of the mineralized zones is consistent at depth. To date, mineralization in the North Pit area has been traced over more than 200 metres down-dip and up to 150 metres laterally along strike (see May 11, 2020 News Release).

2020 Spring Drilling Program
The first stage of the 2020 drilling program is planned to further expand the footprint of mineralization in the North Pit area that remains open in every direction. Further stages will also test the extension of the zone of high-grade mineralization discovered north of the eastern end of the E-W pit in SM-19-022 (see Dec. 9, 2019 News Release). Using the results from the recent IP survey (see below), the Company has recently recognized that folds in the sedimentary rocks are an important control on the location and geometry of some the high-grade gold zones formed at the Scadding Deposit. In the E-W pit area, the presence of folds may have contributed to the thickening and stacking of mineralized zones as indicated by the consecutive intersections of 11.0 g/t gold over 4.98 m and 11.5 g/t gold over 13.2 m in hole SM-19-022. This zone of mineralization appears to be associated with a strong near-surface IP response and, as such, measured IP responses will be used to establish further gold mineralization targets for the spring drill program.