Banyan taps gold at Airstrip expansion

Banyan Gold Corp. Nov. 18 reported that the first four holes of its second phase of 2019 drilling at the Aurex-McQuesten project in the Yukon has tapped gold mineralization in an expansion area of the Airstrip target.

The initial phase of 2019 drilling at Aurex-McQuesten included 494 meters of infill drilling at the Airstrip (formerly referred to as McQuesten) zone and 504 meters of discovery drilling at Powerline, a gold zone about 1,000 meters south of Airstrip.

Previous drilling at Airstrip has outlined a roughly 90-meter-thick package of near surface and on surface gold mineralization along about 500 meters of strike. The 2019 phase-2 program is designed to extend this zone to 1,000 meters along strike.

The first four holes of the resource expansion drilling encountered gold mineralization:

• MQ-19-47 cut 74.2 meters averaging 0.48 grams per metric ton gold, including 0.9 meters of 5.99 g/t gold;

• MQ-19-48 cut 89.4 meters of 0.43 g/t gold, including 1.8 meters of 3.77 g/t gold;

• MQ-19-49 cut 36.2 meters of 0.61 g/t gold, including 2.3 meters of 4.54 g/t gold; and

• MQ-19-50 cut 38 meters of 0.43 g/t gold, including 4.2 meters of 2.16 g/t gold.

"These first results continue to define broad intervals of near-surface gold mineralization expanding the Airstrip zone," said Banyan Gold President and CEO Tara Christie. "Drilling was designed to test the continuation of mineralization by 500 meters along strike, meaningfully adding tonnage and defining higher-grade shoots."

The 2019 phase-2 program at Aurex-McQuesten included 3,385 meters of diamond drilling in 26 holes, plus 497 meters of reverse circulation drilling in five holes. In addition to expansion at Airstrip, this drilling targeted expansion areas at the Powerline discovery.

Aurex-McQuesten is a road accessible property about 56 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Mayo and roughly 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Victoria Gold Corp.'s Eagle gold mine.

–SHANE LASLEY