Monarch Mining Corporation reported the final results from its 2021 surface drilling program on its wholly-owned Beaufor Mine gold project, located 20 kilometres east of Val-d'Or, Québec. The results show several high-grade assays such as 46.29 g/t Au over 1.3 m (including 99.7 g/t Au over 0.6 m), 9.71 g/t Au over 2.5 m (including 33.1 g/t Au over 0.5 m), 29.8 g/t Au over 0.7 m and 28.1 g/t Au over 0.5 m. Much of the surface drilling consisted of shallow holes testing the W and 350 zones within 250 metres of surface. Monarch has reported previous surface drill results in the area, including 35.87 g/t Au over 9.8 metres and 11.02 g/t Au over 5.55 m. The Beaufor Mine began producing in the early 1930s and over the years has yielded over 1.1 million ounces of gold.

The mine is currently on care and maintenance, which has given Monarch the opportunity to access the mine area to drill-test targets. In June 2020, the Corporation initiated a 42,500-metre diamond drilling program to test two types of targets: the areas around historical high-grade intersections near the existing underground infrastructure, and isolated resource blocks, which are typically defined by a single drill intersection. Both of these “near-mine” targets can often be tested from the existing underground workings, generally by holes less than 200 metres long.

Currently, 258 holes totalling 43,419 metres have been drilled during the exploration program. Given the positive results obtained, additional holes are now being drilled to allow the zones in question to be converted into reserves and included in a future mine plan. Monarch is continuing exploration definition drilling with five underground drill rigs.

Underground development and rehabilitation are ongoing in the area of the W and 350 zones, which is easily accessible from a surface ramp located 350 metres from the main Beaufor shaft. The surface ramp providing access to the W and 350 zones presently extends to a vertical depth of 180 metres below surface. Sampling consists of sawing the drill core into equal halves along its main axis and shipping one of the halves to ALS Canada in Val-d'Or, Quebec, and AGAT Laboratories in Mississauga, Ontario, for assaying.

The samples are crushed, pulverized and assayed by fire assay, with atomic absorption finish. Samples exceeding 10.0 g/t Au are re-assayed using the gravity method and samples containing visible gold are assayed using the metallic screen method. Monarch uses a comprehensive QA/QC protocol, including the insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates.