This major investment is aimed at increasing the gold resource and assessing new high-potential targets  

MONTREAL, Feb. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - MONARQUES GOLD CORPORATION ("Monarques" or the "Corporation") (MQR.V) (MRQRF) (MR7.F) is pleased to announce that it will carry out a total of 50,000 metres of drilling in 2018 at the Beaufor Mine and the Croinor Gold property.

30,000-metre program at Beaufor

The program at the Beaufor Mine will consist of 14,000 metres of definition drilling and 16,000 metres of exploration drilling. The program is designed to follow up on the strong, high-grade results of the last drilling program, which returned intersections of 61.48 g/t Au over 3.9 metres, 39.05 g/t Au over 1.8 metres and 15.44 g/t Au over 3.0 metres from the Zone Q sector, as well as 12.33 g/t Au over 1.6 metres and 14.25 g/t Au over 0.5 metres from the Zone 1700 sector (see press release dated January 11, 2018).

The goal of the new program is to continue to test the mineralization in the deposit extensions and at depth in order to increase the Beaufor Mine mineral resource. The main drill targets for the program are in the following sectors: Zone Q, Zone 1700, Zone 173, the western shear and the Beaufor fault at depth. Expectations for these targets are high based on the latest in-house interpretations and compilations.

"We strongly believe that this major investment in Beaufor could allow us to extend the life of the mine and possibly improve its economic profile," said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarques. "It is also perfectly aligned with our strategy of supporting the growth and profitability of our Abitibi mining operations."

20,000-metre program on Croinor Gold

The latest drilling program on Croinor Gold enabled Monarques to increase the size of the deposit, which remains open along strike and at depth. The program returned numerous intersections with high-grade gold over good widths, such as 13.10 g/t Au over 4.0 metres, including 33.70 g/t Au over 1.0 metre, at a vertical depth of 58 metres in Hole CR-17-574, and 7.84 g/t Au over 9.0 metres, including 37.80 g/t Au over 1.0 metre and 12.70 g/t Au over 0.8 metres, at a vertical depth of 197 metres in Hole CR-17-577 (see press release dated December 14, 2017).

The purpose of the new 20,000-metre program, which will start in March 2018, will be:

• To continue testing the mineralization at depth and to drill at the east and west ends of the deposit;
• To drill within the Croinor Gold deposit in areas with insufficient data, in order to increase the indicated resource of the zones of the block model; and
• To drill high potential targets in the vicinity of the deposit.

"Our understanding of the Croinor Gold deposit improved substantially last year," Mr. Lacoste said. "It is important to note that the results obtained during the last drilling program continued to demonstrate the predictability of our geological model, which should make this next phase of work easier."

"We are committed to creating value for Monarques," he concluded. "We believe that these investments, combined with the resource calculations for the McKenzie Break and Swanson properties, will advance our mining projects significantly. All in all, 2018 is going to be a very busy year for Monarques."

Quality control and qualified person Sampling normally consists of sawing the core into two equal halves along its main axis and shipping one of the halves to the ALS Minerals laboratory in Val-d'Or for assaying. The samples are crushed, pulverized and assayed by fire assay with atomic absorption finish. Results exceeding 10.0 g/t are re-assayed using the gravity method. Certified standards and blanks are inserted into the sampling stream for quality control purposes.

The technical and scientific content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Ronald G. Leber, P.Geo., and Petr Pelz, P.Geo., the Corporation's qualified persons under National Instrument 43‑101.

ABOUT MONARQUES GOLD CORPORATION

Monarques Gold Corp (MQR.V) is an emerging gold producer focused on pursuing growth through its large portfolio of high-quality projects in the Abitibi mining camp in Quebec, Canada. The Corporation currently owns close to 300 km² of gold properties (see map), including the Beaufor Mine, the Croinor Gold (see video), Wasamac, McKenzie Break and Swanson advanced projects, and the Camflo and Beacon mills, as well as six promising exploration projects. It also offers custom milling services out of its 1,600 tonne-per-day Camflo mill. Monarques enjoys a strong financial position and has more than 150 skilled employees who oversee its operating, development and exploration activities.