Drill taps thick porphyry at Saddle North

GT Gold Corp. Sept. 10 announced a major porphyry copper-gold-silver discovery in the first hole drilled this year at the Saddle North target on the company's Tatogga property in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

Starting at a depth of 78.87 meters, hole TTD085 cut 822.19 meters averaging 0.42 grams per metric ton gold, 0.26 percent copper and 0.62 g/t silver. This long intercept included 430 meters of 0.67 g/t gold, 0.41 percent copper and 0.89 g/t silver from 493 meters to 897.5 meters.

The steeply dipping tabular porphyry intrusion encountered in hole 85 has been intersected in three other holes – TTD090, 093 and 098 – drilled at Saddle North this year, indicating a strike length of at least 400 meters and true widths in excess of 700 meters.

"These terrific hole 85 results, and visual intercepts in holes 90, 93 and now hole 98, indicate possibly the most important new copper-gold-silver porphyry discovery in the northern part of the Golden Triangle since the discovery of the nearby Red Chris deposit, which is within sight of our property," said GT Gold Vice President of Exploration Charles Greig.

The porphyry potential at Saddle North was recognized last year and GT Gold briefly tested this target with drilling at the end of the season.

The first hole to test this potential, TTD062, tapped this porphyry-style mineralization beneath glacial cover toward the eastern end of the Saddle North trend. The 210.53-meter intercept from bedrock surface to the bottom of hole 62 ran 0.14 g/t gold, 0.28 g/t silver, and 0.16 percent copper. These grades strengthened at depth, with the bottom 33.73 meters averaging 0.22 g/t gold, 0.36 g/t silver and 0.24 percent copper.

Hole TTD085, which undercut the 2017 discovery hole, shows the grades tend to strengthen at depth.

Hole TTD064, a second 2017 hole drilled about 1,000 meters west of hole 62, cut 18.4 meters of similar mineralization that averaged 1.35 g/t gold, 1.42 g/t silver and 0.37 percent copper, including 7.4 meters of 2.28 g/t gold, 2.03 g/t silver and 0.56 percent copper.

GT Gold says the porphyry style mineralization encountered at Saddle North is reminiscent of what Imperial Metals is mining at Red Chris, a copper-gold operation about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) to the southeast.

"The scale and grade of the Saddle North intrusion is outstanding, and we believe the best of it is intact, at surface beneath thin glacial sediments, and to depth," said Greig. "We see tremendous upside for expansion, and again, as was the case with Red Chris, further grade increases at depth."

Assays from holes 90, 93 and 98 are pending.

While testing the potentially large gold-copper-silver porphyry target at Saddle North, GT Gold continues to expand the high-grade gold-silver zone at Saddle South, which lies about 2,000 meters to the west.

Before this year's drilling began, Saddle South had been traced for about 700 meters along strike over a width of 150 meters. So far this season, GT Gold has expanded this to about 1,000 meters in the east-west direction and approximately 350 meters north-south.

The most recent hole reported from Saddle South, TTD079, cut 40.89 meters of 9.55 g/t gold from a depth of 534 meters, including 6.62 meters of 24.7 g/t gold and 212 g/t silver from 559.8 meters.

"The company now has enviable options before it: near-surface bulk-tonnage and potential deep high-grade underground-style gold at Saddle South, coupled with a massive new copper-gold-silver porphyry system right next door," said Greig.

–SHANE LASLEY