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Rowena Duckworth
Olympio Metals has sparked excitement in Quebec after intersecting multiple occurrences of visible gold in phase two diamond drilling at its Paquin prospect, part of the company’s Bousquet gold project on the world-class Cadillac Break.
The fourth hole of an eight-hole program snagged visible gold in a 6.25m zone from 182.75m to 189m, hosted in dark smoky-black quartz veining with associated sulphides and strong carbonate-chlorite alteration.
Logging by geologists showed common black quartz veining and sulphides reaching up to 5 per cent, with visible gold grains noted throughout the interval. Pending assays are eagerly awaiting to confirm the visual logging.
Notably, the new hole is not an isolated flash in the pan. It follows up on strong 2025 drilling, which delivered standout grades, including 1.5m running an eye-watering 54.2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 235.5m and another 6.4-metre hit grading a stellar 6.54g/t from 183m.
‘We are delighted to see significant visible gold in the fourth hole of our follow-up program at Paquin.’
Olympio Metals managing director Sean Delaney
Earlier drill holes have already revealed gold specks trapped in quartz veins, suggesting a healthy dose of free gold, which is always the simplest and cheapest to process. The repeat appearance of visible gold in smoky quartz veins at Paquin could therefore be a classic calling card of a high-grade system starting to show its hand.
Olympio Metals managing director Sean Delaney said: “We are delighted to see significant visible gold in the fourth hole of our follow-up program at Paquin. Hole BO-26-63 has confirmed the potential of the main lode at Paquin.”
The gold-laden drill hole was deliberately drilled from a different azimuth to previous holes to better understand the geometry of the lode. The result has strengthened the structural model, intersecting the main lode from a new angle and confirming continuity of the quartz-sulphide system.
Assays from the current program are due next month. While visual gold is never a substitute for laboratory results, the combination of coarse gold, thick quartz veining and strong sulphide development provides a compelling visual indicator.
The geology reads like a textbook Abitibi shear-hosted system, where Archean-aged greenstones of eastern Canada funnel gold into smoky blue-grey quartz veins developed within east–west striking, north-dipping shear zones. The mineralisation at Paquin occurs in silicified and carbonate-altered greywackes, with visible gold associated with the sulphide minerals arsenopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite.
Strategically, Bousquet sits in established mining country, about 30km east of Rouyn-Noranda in Quebec, one of the world’s most mining-friendly jurisdictions. The project area commands a 10-kilometre stretch of the Cadillac Break, a legendary regional structure teeming with world-class gold deposits and more than 110 million ounces to its name.
Just 15km west is the famed Bousquet Mining Camp, where heavyweights such as Agnico Eagle’s 15-million-ounce La Ronde and Iamgold’s 2.4-million-ounce Westwood reside. Olympio believes its Paquin mineralisation echoes the nearby O’Brien project, which has one million ounces of gold.
Olympio holds an option to acquire up to an 80 per cent interest in the Bousquet project, with Bullion Gold retaining a 20 per cent carried interest. To date, the company has completed nearly C$1 million in exploration spending and made C$0.30 million in payments, steadily advancing its foothold in the district.
With phase two drilling ongoing, historical high-grade intercepts already on the board and fresh visible gold now lighting up the core trays, the next catalyst will be the assays.
If the lab confirms what the eye can see, Olympio may have something far more than just another shear-hosted showing along the Cadillac Break.
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