High-grade Vertigo gold exploration resumes

White Gold Corp. April 17 is testing expansion targets at its Vertigo gold discovery, marking the launch of a C$13 million exploration program this year on the company's 439,000-hectare (1.08 million acres) land package in Yukon's White Gold District.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based explorer is testing expansion targets at the road-accessible Vertigo discovery with a GT Probe, a track-mounted rig that drives a cased hole through the soil to collect a sample from the bedrock interface more efficiently and with less surface disturbance than traditional trenching.

The GT Probe will also be testing the other targets recently defined on the JP Ross property which demonstrate strong similarities to Vertigo.

"We are eager to follow up on the Vertigo, and test other nearby targets defined late last season through detailed soil sampling, which demonstrate similar geochemical and structural signatures to the Vertigo," said White Gold Corp. CEO David D'Onofrio.

Situated about 19 miles (30 kilometers) north of the company's Golden Saddle deposit on the White Gold property, Vertigo was discovered on the JP Ross property during the company's 2018 regional program.

Vertigo lies within a 2,000- by 650-meter-long corridor identified last year with Gt Probe and surface soil sampling. Follow-up rotary air blast (RAB) and reverse circulation (RC) drilling completed last year encountered high-grade gold along 300 meters of this corridor.

The Vertigo discovery hole, JPRVERRAB18-001, cut 3.05 meters of 56.25 grams per metric ton gold from a depth of 3.05 meters, part of a 10.67-meter intercept averaging 17.34 g/t gold.

Results from the other rotary air blast holes that initially tested this target include:

• 1.53 meters of 103.90 g/t gold in JPRVERRAB18-006, part of a 6.1-meter intercept averaging 31.35 g/t gold.

• 3.05 meters of 45 g/t gold in JPRVERRAB18-011, part of 15.2-meter intercept that averaged 9.65 g/t gold; and

• 24.38 meters of 23.44 g/t gold from surface in JPRVERRAB18-014.

Follow-up reverse circulation drilling confirmed and expanded the high-grade gold tapped by the RAB drills, highlights include:

• 82.3 meters of 3.21 grams per metric ton gold, which includes 1.52 meters of 103.9 g/t gold and 400 g/t silver from surface in hole JPRVERRC18-006;

• 6.1 meters of 14.23 g/t gold, which includes 3.05 meters of 38.56 g/t gold from surface in JPRVERRC18-009; and

• 6.1 meters of 18.59 g/t gold and 188.8 g/t silver from a depth of 24.38 meters, and 4.57 meters of 6.82 g/t gold from a depth of 44.2 meters in JPRVERRC18-013.

Surface grab samples of 139.9 g/t, 134.6 g/t and 132.9 g/t gold have been collected over a 685-meter stretch at Vertigo.

Soil sampling, prospecting and geophysical surveys have traced the system at Vertigo 1,700 meters west of the drilling and the early GT Probe work is designed to define high priority drill targets in this direction.

The company will deploy an RC rig to follow up on Vertigo expansion targets, which is expected to get underway in early May.

White Gold Corp. is also planning to carry out 10,000 meters of diamond drilling this year. Expected to get started in June, this drilling will evaluate the geometry and expand the mineralized structures at this exciting discovery.

While expanding Vertigo, the company will be testing other similar targets across the JP Ross property with the GT Probe and other work to assess the size and intensity of the anomalies and define 2019 drill targets.

Topaz, a road-accessible prospect immediately south of the Vertigo, is among the targets to be tested this year.

Soil sampling has outlined a 500- by 1,500-meter gold anomaly at Topaz with a geochemical signature similar to Vertigo. Rock samples collected from this area returned assays as high as 2.79 g/t gold.

Sabotage, a 1,500- by 5,000-meter trend about 7,500 meters northwest of Vertigo, is another target the company is excited to follow-up on.

A 450- by 500-meter area of discreet gold-in-soil anomalies identified with detailed sampling carried out last year will be one of the targets tested within the Sabotage trend.

At least 12 other target areas along the Sabotage trend will be detail soil sampled in 2019 with follow up GT Probe and other exploration work as warranted.

Frenzy, a 1,500- by 3,500-meter trend immediately east of Sabotage, will also be targeted with follow-up exploration this year.

Detailed infill soil sampling identified two intriguing targets at Frenzy, one at the south end of the trend and the other on the north end.

White Gold plans to carry out detailed soil on at least six other target areas along the Frenzy Trend in 2019, with follow up GT Probe and other work as warranted.

Additional detailed soil sampling will also be conducted on multiple other target areas across the JP Ross property including Suspicion, about 4,500 meters southeast of Vertigo; Stage Fright, a target just north of Sabotage; Psycho, about 6,000 meters northeast of Vertigo; and XMan about 12,000 meter north of Vertigo.

The company plans to test these tertiary targets with GT Probe sampling, geophysical surveys, prospecting, and trenching as warranted.

Overall, the company expects to complete 17,000 meters of diamond drilling and 7,500 meters of reverse circulation on its White Gold District properties this year.

This work, which is backed by the financial and technical support from partners Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. and Kinross Gold Corp., is expected to include additional drilling around the Golden Saddle deposit on the White Gold property and at the VG deposit on the company's newly acquired QV property.

"We are very excited to have kicked off our 2019 program deploying the GT Probe which has proven to be highly effective in defining drill targets and was instrumental in all four of our discoveries in 2018," said D'Onofrio. "We are equally as excited to continue expanding both our flagship Golden Saddle deposit and the recently acquired VG deposit, and to follow up on our other 2018 discoveries, and to test our new high priority regional targets for the first time in 2019."

–SHANE LASLEY