Hemlo E-Zone high-grade gold: design and resource notes for mine planners
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Hemlo Mining’s latest drilling at the Williams property in Ontario has defined a new E-Zone about 300 metres west of existing underground infrastructure, with hole 6702503 returning 10.9 metres at 4.65 g/t gold from 165 metres and 5 metres at 15.79 g/t from 534 metres, and hole 6702505 cutting 12 metres at 7.08 g/t from 599 metres. The E-Zone currently extends roughly 1,000 metres vertically and 500 metres east–west, remains open at depth, and is hosted in volcanic–sedimentary rocks with quartz-carbonate vein systems analogous to the long-producing C-Zone. Hemlo plans a 300-metre exploration drift this year to access the zone and infill drilling to test continuity along strike and at depth, with results expected to feed into a mineral resource update later this quarter.
Technical Brief
- Six E-Zone holes completed in 2025 total about 4,240 metres of diamond drilling.
- Hole 6702502 returned 10 metres at 2.24 g/t gold from 545 metres downhole.
- Hole 6702501 cut 10 metres at 2.26 g/t from 206 metres and 5 metres at 19.11 g/t from 505 metres.
- E-Zone mineralisation occurs in volcanic–sedimentary rocks with overlapping, branching quartz–carbonate vein systems.
Our Take
Within our 245 gold‑tagged pieces, very few Canadian assets combine Hemlo’s scale of historical output (25 million oz) with remaining deep mineralisation to about 2 km, which suggests this mine still sits in the upper tier of brownfield optionality in Ontario.
The planned 300 m exploration drift to reach the E‑Zone, only ~300 m from existing Hemlo underground workings, points to relatively low‑risk, short‑cycle capital compared with greenfield gold projects in our database that require entirely new access and services.
A transaction value of up to $1.1 billion for Barrick’s last Canadian gold mine, against Hemlo’s C$2.1 billion market value, implies that any material extension of high‑grade resources at the Williams property could quickly re-rate the asset versus other mature gold camps in our coverage.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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