Newmont steps up Plateau gold exploration

Goldstrike Resources Ltd. April 30 reported that Newmont Mining Corp. is funding up to 10,000 meters of drilling at the expansive Plateau gold property in the Yukon.

Early last year, Newmont cut a C$53 million deal to earn up to a 75 percent stake in the expansive and gold-rich Plateau property by paying Goldstrike C$8 million and investing C$38.8 million to explore the gold property over the next decade. The agreement included a C$6 million private placement financing under which the gold-focused major purchased 12.71 million Goldstrike shares at C47.4 cents each.

A C$6 million exploration program carried out last year focused on understanding and modeling the controls of the high-grade gold mineralization Goldstrike had previously identified at Plateau.

Through a combination of data compilation, drilling and applying Newmont's proprietary exploration techniques, the program identified multiple key target areas and new surface gold mineralization along the 70-kilometer- (43 miles) long Yellow Giant trend, confirming a district-scale gold mineralized system on the Plateau property.

Given the success of the 2017 program, Newmont has opted to move forward with a joint venture at Plateau and is the manager of this exciting gold project.

During a joint venture meeting held on April 24, the partners agreed to complete up to 10,000 meters of drilling this year focused on the high-quality targets identified last year.

This program is expected to exceed all historical drilling meters combined.

Follow-up exploration is also planned for areas that indicate significant exploration potential on both newly staked claims and extensive areas of the original property that remain under-explored.

Diamond drilling will take place on up to nine target zones across the roughly 70-kilometer- (43 miles) long property.

Goldstack, Gold Dome, Gold Rush, Big Bang and Devils Gate are the primary targets of this program.

The discovery hole at Goldstack, drilled in 2013, cut a mineralized shoot averaging 10.91 grams per metric ton gold over 10 meters within a larger intersection of 2.28 g/t gold over 53 meters.

Other highlights from some 3,600 meters of drilling previously completed at Goldstack include 17.5 meters of 13.25 g/t gold and 45.5 meters of 6.05 g/t gold.

This year's drilling will focus on extending this high-grade gold, which remains open to the west and at depth.

Previous drilling at Gold Dome, which is about 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southwest of Goldstack, cut 9.03 meters averaging 7.6 g/t gold. Over 1,200 meters have been drilled at the zone since 2013.

This year's drilling at Gold Dome will target extensions of gold mineralization encountered with the roughly 1,200 meters of drilling previously completed there; and exploring a previously untested area about 500 meters to the south.

The Gold Rush, which is located on the Plateau North portion of the 662-square-kilometer (256 square miles) property, was Goldstrike's primary exploration target prior to discoveries made at Plateau South.

The 2017 program marked the first time since 2012 the Plateau North was drilled.

Goldstrike said extensive soil sampling completed at Plateau North last year extended previously known anomalies and defined new ones.

Of the approximately 1,400 soil samples collected in and around the Gold Rush area, 22 contained greater than 1 g/t gold, with one sample containing 26 g/t gold.

A 2,000-meter-long trend has been tightly defined by soil samples with anomalous gold, arsenic and antimony and broader less defined trends have been indicated by reconnaissance soil and rock grab sampling. Goldstrike said electromagnetic geophysical and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveys have defined multiple structures along the Gold Rush trend.

This year's drilling at Gold Rush will focus on these geochemical and geophysical anomalies.

Other potential 2018 drill targets include: Big Bang East; Goldbank; Devil's Gate; Gold Rush West; Bonanza North; and Goldback.

–SHANE LASLEY