Sabina taps new gold zone at Back River

Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. Aug. 20 reported a significant new gold discovery, the Nuvuyak zone, about 1,000 meters west of the Goose main deposit at the company's Back River gold project in Nunavut.

Hole 18GSE545 cut 39.5 meters of 11.58 grams per metric ton gold at Nuvuyak, a target hosted in a strongly quartz veined, altered and mineralized iron formation sequence, and has a number of strong similarities to the high-grade Umwelt "Vault" zone.

Sabina said this successful drilling at Nuvuyak demonstrates the potential for further discoveries across the wider Back River property.

"Continued high-grade gold discoveries are an essential element in defining world class mineral districts, said Sabina Gold & Silver President and CEO Bruce McLeod. "We believe we can continue to grow our gold resources by aggressively exploring along both our better-known gold trends and the newly emerging gold trends that have been targeted for priority drilling."

In 2015, the company submitted applications to develop and operate a 3,000-metric-tons-per-day mine at Goose, one of the properties that comprise the larger Back River project.

The proposed mine on the Goose property is forecast to produce roughly 2.3 million ounces of gold over an 11.8-year mine life.

The Goose Main, Llama and Unwelt deposits host 7 million metric tons of proven reserves averaging 5.98 g/t (1.35 million oz) gold and 5.36 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 6.72 g/t (1.16 million oz) gold.

These deposits are found along a 7,000-meter-long trend that is bracketed by Llama to the west and Goose Main to the east.

Early interpretations recognize the potential for a large-scale mineral trend extending from Goose Main may transect large portions of the central Goose property, much of which is largely underexplored. The Nuvuyak gold zone discovery intercept is located along this trend 850 meters west of the Goose Main.

"Nuvuyak may be the most significant discovery on the property since the discovery of the Umwelt deposit," said McLeod. "The discovery continues to highlight the strength of the gold system at Back River and the long-term value of the asset."

Sabina said this summer's drilling to test high impact targets at the Goose property is progressing very well. As a result, the company has increased the program from 10,000 to 12,000 meters, which will include additional drilling on the Nuvuyak trend.

–SHANE LASLEY