The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Pretium Resources Inc. Dec. 14 reported that the final set of results from the 2015 regional grassroots drill program returned long intervals of low-grade gold mineralization at depth to the south and southeast of the Valley of the Kings deposit, as well as polymetallic mineralization in new zones 13 kilometers (eight miles) southeast of the project.
Hole SU-671, drilled some 700 meters southeast of the Valley of the Kings deposit, intersected an east-west trending stockwork that included 8.68 meters averaging 9.94 grams per metric ton gold.
This interval was within a broad zone of low-grade gold and elevated silver values.
The high-grade stockwork mineralization remains open to the east.
Hole SU-673, drilled roughly 2,000 meters south of the Valley of the Kings, cut 561.5 meters averaging 0.53 g/t gold.
The gold grades within this broad zone of mineralization were improving at depth with several higher grade intersections near the bottom of the hole.
Pretium said the results from holes 71 and 73, in conjunction with exploration work completed to date, demonstrate that the Valley of the Kings, West Zone and other zones to the east and southeast - Flow Dome, Bridge and Kitchen View - are part of a hydrothermal system that has a larger area extent than previously thought.
Drilling in the Bowser area, located about 15 kilometers (nine miles) southeast of the Valley of the Kings, was focused on testing a circular magnetic feature identified with a regional airborne electromagnetic survey completed during the 2015 regional exploration program.
Holes SU-674 and SU-675 intersected a thick interval of Salmon River sediments - host rock to the Eskay Creek deposit, which is located 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) to the northwest -that contained bedded pyrite.
Both holes also intersected varying thicknesses of low-grade zinc and anomalous molybdenum mineralization.
In the Kirkham Zone, located some 13 kilometers (eight miles) southeast of the Valley of the Kings, five holes tested high-grade surface showings.
SU-682 returned significant silver and lead values in a shear hosted, quartz-carbonate stockwork.
Another stockwork located 2,000 meters to the southwest returned surface values of 3 percent copper and 3,700 g/t silver across 0.71 meters.
These showings suggest the potential for finding intrusion-related, structurally controlled mineralization, particularly in the more competent volcanic units below the sediments.
Pretium said the 2015 regional exploration program was successful in extending known gold zones and establishing several new ones, some that could potentially host volcanogenic massive sulfide, replacement or epithermal-style mineralization.
The 2015 surface exploration drill program consisted of approximately 20,000 meters of drilling which targeted porphyry-epithermal-style mineralization to the east of the Brucejack Project.
Of this, the majority was targeted at or in the vicinity of the Flow Dome Zone approximately 1,000 meters east of the Valley of the Kings.
Pretium said high-grade intersections along with long intervals of low-grade mineralization encountered at Flow Dome show this zone to be an extension of the Valley of the Kings deposit.
In addition to drilling, the grassroots exploration program included airborne geophysical surveying and prospecting.
Pretium said results from the program will be used to prioritize targets for follow-up regional exploration programs.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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