The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – December 1, 2019
This year's drilling at the Amethyst Gold Breccia on Benchmark Metals' Lawyers project in northern British Columbia has encountered high-grade mineralization, including three meters averaging 30.2 g/t gold and 1,361 g/t silver.
Benchmark Metals Inc. Nov. 21 reports that it continues encounter strong gold-silver mineralization with drilling at the Amethyst Gold Breccia (AGB) Zone at its Lawyers project in northern British Columbia.
Amethyst Gold Breccia is one of four mineralized areas – AGB, Cliff Creek, Dukes Ridge and Phoenix – that have been identified within a 3,000-meter radius in the central portion of the greater than 20-kilometer- (12.4 miles) long Lawyers trend.
Three of these zones – Cliffs Creek, Phoenix and AGB – produced 171,200 ounces of gold and 3.6 million oz of silver from a small underground mine project that operated for four years beginning in 1989.
One hole drilled by Benchmark this year, 19AGBDD007, cut two discrete zones of mineralization. Starting at 122 meters this hole cut 42.2 meters of 1.1 grams per metric ton gold and 41.6 g/t silver in Upper Zone; and 15 meters of 6.01 g/t gold and 282.6 g/t silver from a depth of 230.1 meters in Lower Zone. The Lower Zone intercept included a three-meter high-grade section averaging 30.2 g/t gold and 1,361 g/t silver.
Hole 19AGBDD007 was drilled below the workings from historical mining at AGB and 60 meters north of 19AGBDD001, a hole reported earlier this year that cut 25 meters of 2.79 g/t gold and 117.4 g/t silver from a depth of 210 meters.
Hole 19AGBDD002, drilled 200 meters south of 19AGBDD007, cut 67 meters of 1.16 g/t gold and 30.6 g/t silver from a depth of 52 meters.
Intersecting such high grades in the immediate vicinity of workings further bolsters Benchmark's notion that AGB was not thoroughly explored and developed during operation of the Cheni Mine.
"Drilling at AGB continues to yield fantastic results below and along strike from the historical mining," said Benchmark Metals CEO John Williamson. "Our drilling is demonstrating strong continuity of the mineralizing system beyond its previously known extents and identifying historically unrecognized bulk tonnage potential, representing a significant opportunity to add gold and silver ounces to the Lawyers project."
Benchmark completed 2,749 meters of drilling in 10 holes at AGB this year, representing the first subsurface exploration of this zone since the Cheni Mine closure in 1992.
–SHANE LASLEY
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