GT Gold raises 2018 Saddle drill funds

GT Gold Corp. March 21 announced it has raised the money to fund a planned C$6.7 million drill program aimed at expanding the high-grade gold at the Saddle South discovery on its Tatogga property and follow-up on several other targets on this exciting gold-silver project in the British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

The private placement financing involved the issuance of 9.05 million GT Gold shares at C72 cents per share. The C$6.5 million raised gives GT Gold about C$9.5 million in cash, more than enough to fund the currently planned exploration program at Saddle.

The 2018 program is slated to include 17,500 meters of drilling focused on expanding the high-grade gold-silver veins systems cut during the maiden drill program carried out at Saddle last year, as well as test the discovery made late in 2017 at Saddle North.

The 16,000-meter discovery drill program completed in 2017 included 86 holes primarily focused on the Saddle South discovery.

Highlights from the high-grade gold cut during this drilling include 7 meters of 51.53 g/t gold and 117.38 g/t silver; 12.2 meters of 14.75 g/t gold; 3.4 meters of 48.85 g/t gold; 8.3 meters of 20.02 g/t gold; and 3 meters averaging 31.79 g/t gold and 1,141 g/t silver.

GT Gold said Saddle South is open in several directions, but particularly to the east and to depth.

The first hole drilled in the Saddle South East expansion area cut 5.8 meters averaging 12.12 g/t gold. The company is initially planning one hole in this area.

Roughly 10,000 meters of the 2018 program will involve infill drilling and expanding the main Saddle South discovery zone to depth.

The company is also planning about 6,000 meters of drilling at Saddle North, a porphyry copper-gold-silver target that the company only briefly tested with drilling last year.

High-grade vein-hosted gold was intersected in two holes drilled at Saddle North late in the 2017 program – TTD057 cut 2.58 meters averaging 13.55 g/t gold starting at a depth of 240 meters and TTD063 cut 0.6 meters averaging 7.59 g/t gold from a depth of 171.3 meters.

The most exciting find at Saddle North, however, was porphyry mineralization that shows the potential to be large and high-grade.

Hole TTD062, which targeted a high intensity geophysical anomaly about 2,000 meters east of TTD057, cut porphyry copper-gold-silver mineralization that began at surface and strengthened steadily with depth.

From 23.5 meters to the bottom of the hole, TTD062 cut 210.5 meters averaging 0.14 g/t gold and 0.16 percent copper, including 33.7 meters of 0.22 g/t gold and 0.24 percent copper over the bottom 33.7 meters of the hole.

TTD064, drilled 1,000 meters west of TTD062, cut narrower and richer porphyry-style copper-gold-silver mineralization.

From a depth of 134.6 meters, hole 64 cut 18.4 meters averaging 1.35 g/t gold, 1.42 g/t silver and 0.37 percent copper.

Geophysical surveys have revealed a very large induced polarization chargeability anomaly at Saddle North that indicates the potential for a massive mineralized system.

"The Saddle North copper-gold-silver porphyry is the latest discovery to emerge from the broader Saddle target area," said GT Gold President and CEO Kevin Keough. "We are excited by the early results and the potential of this large system. We believe it is largely un-eroded and, along with continued exploration of the impressive high-grade gold-silver systems at Saddle South and on the western end of the Saddle North Trend, we intend to make it a focus in 2018."

–SHANE LASLEY