Page 82 Mining exploration is the life blood of the mining in dustry New sources of minerals are needed to con tinue operations and junior mining companies invest in exploration activities to track down new sources for future mining As Natural Resources Canada puts it Mineral ex ploration plays a key role in ensuring the longterm viability of Canada s mining industry It leads to the discovery and development of mineral deposits that may become future mines creates jobsoften in remote and northern communitiesand attracts sig nifcant investment Moneta Porcupine is a mining exploration company that has existed for over 100 years in the T immins area Its fag ship deposit is the Golden Highway project located 1 10 km east of T immins in Matheson Ontario It is the largest deposit held by a junior min ing company in the T immins area Earlier this year Moneta Porcupine announced an updated underground resource esti mate for the Golden Highway prop erty based on drill core assays dat ing back to 1986 and including newer drilling used for the mineral resource estimate report prepared by Micon In ternational Moneta has possession of all of the drill core from 1986 on at its secure logging facility on Hwy 655 in T im mins This core library is frequently used for reference when conducting geological modelling Only assays from 1986 and subsequent newer drilling were used for the mineral re source estimate and detailed in the new 43101 technical report dated January 2019 Over the last 18 months MonetaPor cupine has reevaluated its mineral resource estimate based on 352000 metres of drilling in 1108 holes The previous low grade 080 gram per tonne gt gold Au resource esti mate based on an open pit mine sce nario has increased to an average of 461 gt Au in the indicated category when calculated for an underground mining operation W e were encouraged by the signifcant increase in grade and the overall size of the updated mineral resource estimate released in January 2019 for the Golden Highway Project said Gary OConnor CEO Chief Ge ologist Based on further analysis of data from the property Micon Interna tional identifed 383400 ounces oz of indicated gold at an average grade 461 gt Au The indicated grade of gold ranged from 419 gt Au at the Windjammer South lo cation to 463 gt Au at the South W est location and 51 1 gt Au at the 55 location An indicated resource can be more confdently reported in terms of quantity grade quality shape size and continuity Micon International also identifed the occurrence of 873300 oz of gold at an average grade of 421 gt Au in the inferred category The grades ranged from 380 gt Au at Windjammer North 412 gt Au at Discovery 421 gt Au at South W est 431 gt at 55 and 459 gt Au at Windjammer South An inferred resource is one that is based on limited sampling and is based on reasonably assumed but limited information The resource characteristics are well established through detailed and reliable explo ration work This makes predictions of economic viability more reliable A measured resource represents the highest level of geologic knowl edge and confdence in a mineral resource estimate The combined indicated and in ferred quantity of gold at the Gold en Highway site totaled approxi mately 13 million ounces leaving Moneta Porcupine management extremely satisfed with the results of the program The evaluation of onsite resources was based on un derground mining extraction Previ ous estimates were estimated on a larger open pit operation At the end of February Moneta Porcupine embarked on its fully funded winter drill program consist Exploration plays key role in ensuring longterm viability