Drills continue to grow Nuvuyak discovery

Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. Aug. 6 reported additional high-grade gold intercepts at the Nuvuyak discovery at the company's Back River gold project in Nunavut.

The eight holes drilled at Back River this spring targeted three areas at Goose – Nuvuyak, Hook and Umwelt-Vault – 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.

Three drill holes targeted the emerging Nuvuyak gold zone while the fourth drill hole targeted a section of the Hook gold structure, just west of the Goose Main deposit.

Nuvuyak, situated about 1,000 meters down-plunge of Goose Main, was discovered by Sabina last year.

The Nuvuyak discovery hole, 18GSE545, cut 39.5 meters averaging 11.58 grams per metric ton gold.

In July, Sabina reported that hole 19GSE566 cut multiple gold intersections at Nuvuyak from 719 to 836 meters, including 3.5 meters of 18.71 g/t gold, 19 meter of 2.59 g/t gold, 3.2 meters of 4.2 g/t gold and 18 meters of 10.04 g/t gold.

In its latest batch of results, Sabina said 19GSE566W2, a wedge hole off 19GSE56, also cut multiple high-grade intercepts within a broadly mineralized envelope at Nuvuyak.

Significant values, over a more than 150-meters section of alteration and mineralization include 6.95 meters of 10.15 g/t gold, 9.25 meters of 14.7 g/t gold and 8.6 meters of 10.52 g/t gold.

Two additional holes – 19GSE564 and 19GSE568 – targeted a deeper section of the Nuvuyak gold structure.

Hole 19GSE564, which cut 2.85 meters of 11.97 g/t gold, extended Nuvuyak mineralization vertically by more than100 meters.

Hole 19GSE568 cut 4.1 meters of 8.36 g/t gold down-plunge of the Nuvuyak discovery hole.

Together, this drilling has tested Nuvuyak for 370 meters along strike. Sabina says this discovery exhibits many of the geologic and mineralogic characteristics of the existing Goose property deposits – Llama, Umwelt and Goose Main.

"At the Nuvuyak discovery, we believe we have confirmed the potential for a significant new deposit with the elements of high-grade gold in thick packages of iron formation that we see at the other Goose deposits (Umwelt, Goose Main and Llama)," said Sabina Gold President and CEO Bruce McLeod. "We are continuing to assess and evaluate the results from this spring and the last two years to better understand options around resource optimization and extension and the potential. This work is being done with a view to impact not only growth at Goose and in the region in general, but also to potentially enhance the economics of the already robust initial project."

In addition to the holes at Nuvuyak, the company reported results from 19GSE570, a single exploration hole drilled to investigate the mineralizing controls at the Hook target area prior to additional testing of the down plunge prospective iron formation.

This hole cut 5.35 meters of 2.74 g/t gold and 4.65 meters of 2.11 g/t gold within the lower iron formation. Sabina said the Hook area has seen previous, wider spaced drilling but remains under-drilled and represents an attractive opportunity for discovery of moderate depth mineral zones located between Nuvuyak and the Goose Main deposit.

Summer field programs at Back River have uncovered a 50- by 20-meters bedrock exposure at the Goose Main deposit, which has enabled detailed studies of mineralogy, stratigraphy and structure to further increase confidence in the deposit scale mineralizing controls.

Sabina said these studies are ongoing and suggest the conditions leading to the abundant gold depositional event are consistent across the Goose and other Back River properties, which underscores the prospective nature of the district. Through this process, the company said targeting criteria are being refined and strengthened for future exploration.

–SHANE LASLEY