The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
As 2019 assay results roll in, Skeena readies drill rigs for 2020 North of 60 Mining News – February 14, 2020
Skeena Resources completed roughly 15,000 meters of drilling during its 2019 phase-1 drill program at Eskay Creek, which got underway in the fall and continued into the winter.
Skeena Resources Ltd. Feb. 11 announced strong gold and silver grades tapped during infill drilling in the 21A and 21E zones toward the southern end of the open pit resource at the Eskay Creek mine project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Over a 14-year span ending in 2008, an underground mine operated by Barrick Gold Corp. produced roughly 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160 million oz of silver averaging 45 grams per metric ton gold and 2,224 g/t silver, which at the time made Eskay Creek the world's highest-grade gold mine and fifth-largest silver mine by volume.
While large quantities of underground resources remain at Eskay Creek, Skeena has focused on deposits that can be mined from the surface since acquiring the property from Barrick in 2017.
According to a calculation completed early in 2019, Eskay Creek hosts 12.71 million metric tons of surface mineable indicated resource averaging 4.5 g/t (1.82 million oz) gold and 117 g/t (47.79 million oz) silver; and 13.57 metric tons of surface mineable inferred resource averaging 2.2 g/t (984,000 oz) gold and 42 g/t (18.46 million oz) silver.
This resource calculation does not include any of the results from the 15,000 meters of resource upgrade and expansion drilling carried out during the 2019 phase-1 drill program at Eskay Creek.
Highlights from the latest batch of assay results from 2019 drilling in the 21A zone include:
• 31.3 meters of 1.53 g/t gold and 247 g/t silver in hole SK-19-172.
• 18.3 meters of 15.02 g/t gold and 70 g/t silver in SK-19-171A.
Skeena says infill drill holes such as SK-19-172 continue to improve upon historically defined grades within the 21A zone.
Highlights from the latest batch of assay results from 2019 drilling in the 21E zone include:
• 21 meters of 1.51 g/t gold and 355 g/t silver in SK-19-201.
• 25 meters of 2.83 g/t gold and 44 g/t silver in SK-19-208
Skeena has fours surface drill rigs on the Eskay Creek property and expects to begin its 2020 phase-1 infill and exploration drilling program at this northwestern British Columbia gold-silver property in the coming days.
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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