Olympio ramps up drilling at historic Quebec gold belt
Brought to you by BULLS AND BEARS
Rowena Duckworth
Perth-based Olympio Metals has returned to drilling at the Bousquet gold project in Quebec and resumed diamond drilling at the Paquin mine, which is expected to build on the highly successful first program completed last year.
The new campaign follows up on the outstanding high-grade results achieved last year, which included catches of 6.40 meters at 6.54 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 183.0 m, an equally spectacular 7.90 meters at 6.20 g/t gold from 138.0 m and an eye-watering 1.50 m at 54.20 g/t gold. 235.5m. These hits confirmed the existence of a robust gold system hosted along Cadillac Break, one of the world’s most productive gold structures.
This year’s program consists of eight diamond holes spanning approximately 1,200 meters and is designed to test both upstream and downstream reaches of mineralization that intersected in a previous drill hole and threw up tantalizing visible gold strands.
‘This program will provide further insight into the shallow parts of the Paquin gold system…’
Olympio Metals managing director Sean Delaney
The two planned drillings will specifically target these extensions, while the remainder of the program will focus on the uppermost 100 meters of the Paquin system, which has conspicuously not been drilled since the 1940s.
Replacing this historical drilling with modern data is an important goal for Olympio. Many of the early discoveries at Paquin were based on outdated survey methods and incomplete sampling; This left large gaps in geological understanding and made the data unsuitable for modern 3D modelling.
The new drilling is intended to provide reliable structural and geological information that can be confidently incorporated into an updated mineralization model.
Geologically, the region contains stacked, smoky blue-gray quartz veins as well as high-grade disseminated sulphides in biotite-altered schistose and ultramafic rocks. It is these structurally controlled quartz veins that host gold and typically have associated sulphides, making them potentially detectable by IP or EM geophysical methods, making them easier to detect.
The Bousquet project is located at Cadillac Break in Quebec’s Abitibi greenstone belt, which has produced more than 110 million ounces of gold. The project is also strategically located within 15km of several multi-million ounce gold mines, including Agnico Eagle’s La Ronde operation and Iamgold’s Westwood mine, highlighting the region’s strong endowment and established mining infrastructure.
Olympio Metals managing director Sean Delaney said: “Following a highly successful initial drilling program in 2025, the Company is excited to resume drilling at Paquin for 2026. This program will provide further insight into the shallower portions of the Paquin gold system where the majority of historical drilling extent remains from the 1940s. “These historical datasets are over 80 years old and are unreliable to include in a 3D model due to outdated research methods and missing sampling intervals.”
Beyond Paquin, Olympio has the option to acquire an 80 percent stake in the broader Bousquet project from Bullion Gold Resources through phased cash, share payments and exploration spending. To date, the company has spent approximately 1 million Canadian dollars in exploration and paid 0.30 million Canadian dollars, steadily advancing its position in the region.
With drilling currently ongoing, Olympio aims to confirm continuity, increase confidence in shallow mineralization and determine whether high-grade drills identified in 2025 extend into areas that have not previously been suitably tested.
In a region known for providing long-lived, high-quality gold mines, the company is positioning itself to see if Paquin can deliver on that lineage as modern drilling replaces decades of data.
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