First Mining Finance Announces the Final Set of Phase 1 Drilling Results and Provides Corporate Update
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Sept. 11, 2017) - First Mining Finance Corp. (TSX:FF)(OTCQX:FFMGF)(FRANKFURT:FMG) ("First Mining" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the seventh and final set of assay results, comprising 26 drill holes from its Phase 1 infill diamond drill program. (See Tables 1 and 2) at its 100% owned Goldlund Gold Project ("Goldlund"), located near the town of Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario, Canada.
Drilling Highlights:
Hole GL-17-103 intersected 52.0 metres of 2.18 grams per tonne gold
Including 32.0 metres of 3.41 grams per tonne gold
Hole GL-17-069 intersected 66.0 metres of 1.51 grams per tonne gold
Including 28.0 metres of 2.03 grams per tonne gold
Hole GL-17-068 intersected 68.0 metres of 0.91 grams per tonne gold
Including 42.0 metres of 1.36 grams per tonne gold
Hole GL-17-041 intersected 60.0 metres of 1.02 grams per tonne gold
Including 18.0 metres of 2.26 grams per tonne gold
Note: Assaying for the Goldlund 2017 drill programs are being done by SGS Canada Inc. at their laboratories in Red Lake, ON. and Burnaby, BC. Reported widths are drilled core lengths; true widths are unknown at this time. Assay values are uncut.
The primary goal of this year's Phase 1 infill drilling campaign at Goldlund was to upgrade Inferred resources into the Measured and Indicated categories and to gain further knowledge of the geology and gold mineralization at Zone 7 and Zone 1 (See Figures 1 and 2). The latest drilling results yielded significant intersections of gold in 17 of the 26 holes. The Phase 1 program is now complete and comprised a total of 100 holes (24,300 metres) of which 87 holes intersected intervals of significant gold mineralization.
Based on the success of Phase 1 drilling, First Mining has already commenced a Phase 2 drill campaign to identify new areas of gold mineralization and to expand the overall resource base at the Goldlund property. Data collected from the Phase 1 and Phase 2 drilling programs will be incorporated into the calculation of a new resource estimate, which is expected to be completed in 2018. The Company will provide more specific guidance for the Goldlund resource estimate at a later date.
Keith Neumeyer, the Chairman of First Mining, stated, "We are very encouraged by the assay results from the Phase 1 drilling at Goldlund and I believe that further drilling with the Phase 2 program has the potential to add ounces to the existing resource and further advance this project."
CORPORATE UPDATE
Given the success of the current drilling campaign the Company has elected to dedicate the majority of its remaining 2017 drilling and exploration budget to the Goldlund Project. Specifically, the company is continuing with its Phase 2 drilling program at Goldlund targeting granodiorite hosted gold mineralization that lies outside of the current resource area. Therefore, given the change in drilling priorities, the company has elected to defer drilling at the Cameron project until 2018 and has also reduced the scale of the drilling program at Hope Brook.
At Hope Brook, which is located in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Company has commenced on a limited exploration diamond drilling program. Drilling at Hope Brook will comprise of three holes for 750 metres and will focus on identifying new areas of mineralization within the Ironbound Hill target which is located approximately 25 kilometers from the main resource area and eight kilometers from Highway 480. The drilling campaign is scheduled for completion later this month and assay results are expected to be released as they become available.
Also, the Company has recently acquired two claim groups, the Satterly Lake Claims (the "Claims"), totaling 2,368 hectares, are adjacent to the western edge of the Company's Springpole Gold Project ("Springpole"). The Claim groups collectively consist of 17 claims covering gold mineralization drilled by St. Joe Canada in the 1980s. The Claims also surround the Company's Horseshoe Island claims in the Red Lake Mining District, 12 kilometers southwest of Springpole.
Furthermore, First Mining is close to completing an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for its wholly owned Springpole Gold Project, located in northwestern Ontario and the Company expects to release the results of this PEA by the end of the current quarter.
