Prior to VMS tests, Nunavut work was led by North Nutaaq and Auma. Priority gold targets at North Nutaaq and Auma are being tested by two diamond drills in Nunavut as part of the second phase of Blue Star Gold Corp.’s 2026 exploration program, according to a June 23 report. Later this season, the company will shift additional drilling toward critical mineral targets.
Blue Star’s land package spans more than 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of very promising and unexplored mineral resources throughout the High Lake Greenstone Belt. It is located in western Nunavut, approximately 525 kilometers (326 miles) north-northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
The Ulu Gold Project, which includes the Ulu mining license and Hood River property, as well as the Roma and Auma projects farther north in the same wider belt, are all under the company’s ownership within that district-scale position.
The Flood and Nutaaq zones at Ulu contain a total of 2.2 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources with an average of 7.87 grams per metric ton (558,000 ounces) gold, as well as 3.26 million metric tons of inferred resources with an average of 4.54 g/t (476,000 ounces) gold, according to a May calculation. The majority of the updated resource is found in the core Flood Zone deposit.
The larger High Lake Belt position has evolved into a dual-track exploration platform for high-grade gold prospects and volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS)-style important mineral possibilities comparable to those found elsewhere in the belt, even though Ulu continues to be Blue Star’s primary gold asset.
The first phase of Blue Star’s 2026 program, which was conducted from the Ulu camp earlier this season, concentrated on advancing targets thought to be potential for important mineral-rich VMS bodies close to the existing High Lake VMS deposit.
The remaining crucial mineral targets are anticipated to be prepared for drill testing in July, although data from that work is still being evaluated.
The second phase of the 2026 program began with a drill operating at North Nutaaq and another drill coring the Bamako target at the Auma project, while those targets were still being reviewed.Blue Star CEO Grant Ewing stated, “Our off-season work has identified two priority gold targets for the start of Phase 2 drilling this season, with a robust pipeline of exploration targets.” “By mid-July, we plan to mobilize a drill rig to evaluate several of our critical mineral targets.”
North Nutaaq is located around 600 meters north of the Flood Zone deposit along the more than 1,500-meter Nutaaq trend. Two first target structures with estimated strike lengths of over 300 meters each have been identified using geophysical, geochemical, and mapping data.
The purpose of the initial drilling there was to explore adjacent parallel mineralized structures, including one where surface sampling yielded grab samples as high as 115.5 g/t gold, and to follow up on last year’s gold intercept.
Blue Star’s planned 2,000-meter drill program at Auma started further north at the Bamako target, where surface work had identified over 400 meters of gold-bearing veining indicated by high-grade grab samples and visible gold.
In Zone 1, earlier shallow drilling at Auma yielded 2.6 meters of gold with an average of 15.3 g/t. Later work expanded that zone and found more high-grade samples from Zone 3, suggesting that the two locations might be a part of the same larger gold system.
Surface sampling at Bamako yielded grab samples from a site that had not been drill tested prior to this year’s program with grades as high as 151.5 g/t gold.
Blue Star anticipated moving the Auma drilling to Zone 3 and other targets throughout the project after starting at Zone 1.
Outside the two initial drill areas, this year’s field program was also expected to evaluate an approximately 800-meter gold-bearing trend along the east side of the Ulu Fold, where surface sampling, geophysical work, and historical drill logs had outlined another area expected to advance toward drill testing during the second phase of the program.
It was anticipated that further surface work at the Flood Zone deposit will reveal more bedrock beneath the thin glacial till cover for in-depth channel sampling and mapping.
The purpose of that work was to enhance Blue Star’s comprehension of the mineralization and structural restrictions at Flood, encourage the possible surface extension of the existing resource, and guide future mining strategies for the deposit.
In order to corroborate previous blast trench samples that yielded excellent gold grades along more than 100 meters of strike, Blue Star also anticipates finishing channel sampling along the MOV structure in the Avalliq region, north of Roma.A comprehensive program aimed at maximizing discovery potential and promoting resource growth across several high-priority target areas is in place to enable a high-impact exploration season, according to Ewing.
