Rudimentary drill found a hidden gold vein just 650 feet underground

A new gold zone just west of the Froome underground mine could keep McEwen Mining’s Fox Complex producing longer than expected. 

One drill core from this Froome West area carried far more gold than miners usually see in underground operations.

The discovery sits about 650 feet west of the Froome workings near Timmins in northern Ontario, in one of Canada’s most productive gold districts. 

Geologists at the company now suspect this modest-looking zone could grow into a deposit on the scale of the nearby Black Fox mine.

Why Froome gold matters now

One key intersection recorded 36.0 grams of gold per metric ton over about 33 feet, including roughly 7 feet grading 160.0 grams per ton. 

That hole hit a zone 26 feet thick that averaged 9.3 grams per ton, showing that the gold continues beyond one interval.

Many gold vein deposits around the world cluster near average grades of about 9 grams per ton, based on a compiled model. 

In that light, Froome West’s new intersections sit firmly in the very rich category even among established hard rock gold camps.

The work at Froome West is led by Robert Glover, P.Geo., Chief Geologist for McEwen’s Ontario operations. 

His role centers on mapping how gold-bearing structures run through the Fox Complex so that drilling follows the most promising trends.

Because this gold lies just off existing workings, engineers can reach it with short tunnels instead of building a whole new mine from the surface. 

That access gives planners flexibility as they prepare to bring the Stock deposit into commercial production in 2026.

Steep, stacked gold system

At Froome West, geologists describe the gold as mineralization, rock where metals are concentrated by moving fluids in the crust. 

Here that mineralization sits in steep, stacked zones, which lets crews mine layers at once instead of relying on a single narrow vein.

Within those zones, the richest gold seems to follow a steep plunge, the direction a mineralized shoot points down into the ground. 

At Froome West that high-grade trend is roughly 50 to 80 feet wide, giving room for sizable mining rooms instead of razor thin tunnels.

“We are excited at the potential of what Froome West holds,” said Glover. Early drilling suggests the Froome West zone remains open both to the west and downward, so each new hole can still expand its footprint. 

Froome West’s geometry mirrors that of the Black Fox deposit about 3,000 feet to the east, where miners followed zones packed with gold. 

Both areas are marked by quartz-carbonate veins, pale mineral-filled cracks that often host visible gold.

Timmins and orogenic gold

Timmins is not just another mining town; it anchors a gold district that has produced more than 80 million ounces over the past century. 

That scale is summarized in a technical assessment, which describes how deposits there cluster along a major crustal fault.

Geologists call many of these deposits orogenic, formed as mountains grew and broke the crust. 

Gold-bearing fluids moved through long fractures tied to the Destor Porcupine Fault, then cooled and left metal behind in cracks and altered rock.

Black Fox is the best known example on McEwen’s ground. Its open pit and underground workings produced about 950,000 ounces of gold by 2021, according to an operations summary.

Froome sits on the same structural corridor as Black Fox, so any new shoot at Froome West taps into the same deep plumbing system. 

That shared architecture is why geologists can talk about a Froome West deposit approaching the scale of Black Fox if drilling adds ounces.

Measuring Froome gold grades

Turning core into numbers starts with an assay, a laboratory test that measures how much metal is in each sample. 

For Froome West, most samples went as whole core to accredited labs in Timmins, with a smaller portion checked in McEwen’s facility.

Many of the Froome West samples were analyzed using PhotonAssay, an x-ray method that tests gold directly in solid cores. 

According to an assay provider, PhotonAssay can measure gold, silver, and copper in hours rather than the days needed for traditional fire assay.

Trust in such high numbers depends on cross-checking, so some Froome West core was also tested with classic fire assay in the company lab. 

By comparing the two methods, geologists can flag any unusual results and tighten the estimated error on each reported intercept.

Carefully documented assays feed into three dimensional models that estimate how much gold sits between existing tunnels and newly drilled holes. 

As Froome West drilling continues, each verified sample helps sharpen that picture and decide where miners drive the next round of development.

Lessons from the Froome gold mine

Within the Fox Complex schedule, a source of high-grade ore close to existing workings can smooth production as older parts of Froome wind down. 

Instead of facing a drop in output when one block is mined out, planners can sequence Froome West stopes to keep mill feed stable.

Froome West evolving into a deposit comparable to Black Fox would confirm that this corridor can host multiple large ore bodies. 

That, in turn, would bolster the case for exploring beyond the present mine outline, both for McEwen and for other operators along this belt.

Generations of mining in the Timmins area mean that skilled workers, suppliers, and support services are already clustered close to the Fox Complex. 

If Froome West delivers the ounces geologists hope for, those people and businesses stand to benefit from a longer run of steady underground work.

Even so, no one knows whether Froome West will match Black Fox in size, because the drill grid still covers only the upper levels. 

What is clear is that this discovery fits the pattern in Timmins, where modest structures have often grown into deposits that shaped the district.

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