ESGold Corp. has commenced a 5,000-metre surface diamond drilling program across 29 proposed holes at its Montauban Gold-Silver Project in Québec, focusing primarily on the historic mine area.

The drilling campaign follows the receipt of exploration authorization from Québec's Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts. The Montauban Project is ESGold's flagship asset, which is fully permitted, fully funded, and under construction as a pre-production mining operation.

The program is designed to test mineralized zones, validate historical drilling data, evaluate continuity between historical holes and mineralized panels, and investigate potential extensions into insufficiently tested areas. Forage Lamontagne is serving as the drilling contractor, with geological oversight managed by Merouane Rachidi of GoldMinds Geoservices. Core samples will be submitted to SGS and Swastika Laboratories for analysis.

"Montauban has benefited from substantial historical exploration, including previous technical reports that referenced historical estimates of mineralization. Our objective is not to treat those historical estimates as current resources, but to generate new drilling, geological and analytical information that will allow us to test the mineralization documented by earlier work, evaluate continuity between historical holes and determine what additional work may ultimately be required to support a current mineral resource evaluation."

"At the same time, the program will contribute to the continued refinement of our three-dimensional geological model and help delineate future exploration targets across the property."

— André Gauthier, Geological Engineer and Director of ESGold

Historical estimates referenced in previous technical reports are not treated as current mineral resources or mineral reserves by the company, and a Qualified Person has not completed sufficient work to classify them as such. ESGold intends to use the new drilling and analytical data to evaluate these historical figures and determine whether a current mineral resource estimate may be warranted in the future. The company will announce assay results as they are received, verified, and interpreted from the ongoing program.

Read the full announcement: ESGold Commences Diamond Drilling at Its Montauban Project, Québec