Spring Back River drilling taps high-grade

Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. June 19 reported initial results from a roughly 6,400-meter spring drill program recently completed at the Back River gold project in Nunavut.

The eight holes drilled at Back River this spring targeted three areas at Goose property, one of seven properties that make up Sabina's larger Back River project.

A 2015 feasibility study details plans for developing a mine at Goose that is expected to average 198,100 ounces of gold annually over an 11.8-year mine.

The first hole reported from this year's drilling, 19GSE569, targeted the Umwelt-Vault zone.

The Umwelt deposit currently hosts 9.1 metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 6.99 grams per metric ton (2.03 million ounces) gold, plus 1.91 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 11.01 g/t (676,000 oz) gold. Portions of these resources are included in the current feasibility study for both open pit and underground development.

Previous drilling at Vault, a high-grade extension at the lower limits of the Umwelt underground reserves, has encountered some of the highest-grade drill intercepts on the Back River property.

The objective of this year's drilling at Umwelt-Vault is to target a particularly robust core of the Umwelt deposit.

Hole 19GSE569, cut 21.75 meters of 14.97 g/t gold about 180 meters up-plunge from the Umwelt Vault zone. The purpose of this hole was to build on previous high-grade results by continuing to demonstrate continuity within a high-grade corridor in the Umwelt underground.

"The presence of a significant high-grade core within the Umwelt underground could provide opportunities for early advancement of underground resource extraction that could have positive impacts on the economics of the project," said Sabina Gold and Silver President and CEO Bruce McLeod. "This scenario would require further definition drilling and studies. However, these results continue to improve our confidence in this robust underground zone."

In addition to Umwelt-Vault, the spring drilling at Back River targeted an extension of Llama, a deposit included in the 2015 feasibility study for the Goose Mine; and at Nuvuyak-Hook, a recently discovered zone of gold mineralization near the Goose deposit.

"At the Goose project, our work has continued to add value by providing better confidence in our geological models and understanding of our deposits as well as identifying areas of opportunity to enhance future mine plans," said McLeod. "Additionally, our regional work has continued to demonstrate how important Back River is as a district which we believe will be a multi-generational mining camp."

Sabina said the current turnaround time from the assay laboratory is upward of six weeks and results from the balance of the spring drilling are still pending.

–SHANE LASLEY