The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2019 – Published Nov. 1, 2019
A drill expands the porphyry gold-copper mineralization at the Saddle North discovery on GT Gold's Tatogga property in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
GT Gold Vice President of Exploration Charles Greig at Tatogga.
A C$17.6 million strategic investment by Newmont Goldcorp has provided GT Gold Corp. the capital to accelerate exploration on its Tatogga gold property in northwestern British Columbia.
GT Gold said this investment is a strong endorsement of the potential of the Saddle South and Saddle North discoveries it has made on this property toward the north end of the Golden Triangle.
Highlights from drilling at Saddle South during 2017 and 2018 include: seven meters of 51.53 grams per metric tons gold; 12.2 meters of 14.75 g/t gold; 3.4 meters of 48.85 g/t gold; and 8.3 meters of 20.02 g/t gold.
Despite these intriguing high-grade intercepts, Newmont Goldcorp is likely more interested in the much larger gold potential at Saddle North, the primary target of a 10,000-meter initial phase of 2019 drilling that got underway in June.
The roughly 8,200-meter discovery drill program carried out at Saddle North during 2018 cut very wide zones of gold-copper-silver mineralization.
Highlights from the 10 holes drilled last year at Saddle North include: 822.2 meters of 0.42 g/t gold, 0.26 percent copper and 0.62 g/t silver in TTD085; 904.1 meters of 0.51 g/t gold, 0.3 percent copper and 0.93 g/t silver in TTD093; 323.8 meters of 0.43 g/t gold, 0.32 percent copper and 1.09 g/t silver in TTD108; and 1,149.7 meters averaging 0.62 g/t gold, 0.36 percent copper and 1.17 g/t silver in TTD109.
The first phase of 2019 Saddle North drilling targeted extensions to the copper-gold-silver mineralization encountered in hole TTD108; and deeper extensions of the higher-grade core mineralization encountered in holes such as TTD093 and TTD109.
GT Gold said two of the early holes, TTD112 and 116, cut excellent and increasing grades existing between the near-surface mineralization through moderate depths to the deeper and generally highest grade mineralization at Saddle North.
TTD112 cut 685 meters of 0.7 g/t gold, 0.44 percent copper and 1.09 g/t silver from a depth of 21 meters; including 500 meters of 0.91 g/t gold, 0.55 percent copper and 1.34 g/t silver from 206 meters.
TTD116 cut 431 meters of 0.46 g/t gold, 0.33 percent copper and 0.91 g/t silver from 17 meters; including 0.61 g/t gold, 0.42 percent copper and 1.09 g/t silver from 150 meters.
"We have shown that high-grade copper-gold mineralization occurs closer to surface than was previously known and have linked these zones with the deep and very high-grade copper-gold mineralization intersected last year in holes TTD093 and 109 with intersections in holes TTD112 and 116," said GT Gold Vice President of Exploration Charles Greig.
GT Gold also carried out airborne and ground geophysics, mapping, soil geochemical sampling and prospecting Quash Pass, a promising copper-gold-silver target about seven kilometers (4.3 miles) southwest of Saddle.
Once the initial phase of drilling is complete, GT Gold prioritized targets for a second phase of 2019 drilling.
The company completed roughly 25,000 meters of drilling in two phases during 2018 and targeted a similar scale program for this year.
In September, Paul Harbidge, former senior vice president of exploration for Goldcorp Inc., assumed the role of president and CEO of GT Gold.
"We are honored to have attracted a candidate with such impressive experience and credentials, and we look forward to leveraging his technical expertise and project leadership experience as we continue to advance our discoveries and exploration at Tatogga," said GT Gold Executive Chairman Ashwath Mehra.
To make room for Harbidge, Steve Burleton stepped down from his executive posts at GT Gold but continues as a consultant for the company.
"I am pleased that we have accomplished a great deal over the last year," reflected Burleton. "The discovery of Saddle North, with the recent investment by Newmont Goldcorp, means we are well funded to further advance our exciting exploration programs. I firmly believe that Paul's experience will allow GT Gold to achieve our next milestones at this pivotal time in our history."
As a result of the 11.5 million flow-through shares acquired in May, Newmont Goldcorp holds 9.9 percent of GT Gold's outstanding shares.
EDITOR'S NOTE: GT Gold recently reported that drills have traced the Saddle North deposit to a depth of nearly one mile. For more information on the recent results from the 2019 exploration program at Tatogga, see GT Gold continues to expand Saddle North in the Oct. 18 edition of North of 60 Mining News.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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