The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
New resource outlines 750k deposit averaging 10.9 g/t gold North of 60 Mining News – May 1, 2020
HighGold geologists at Johnson Tract, a Southcentral Alaska project that hosts 2.14 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 10.93 g/t (750,000 oz) gold-equivalent.
Geologist Jessica Edwards collects samples from the Difficult Creek target on HighGold Mining's Johnson Tract gold project.
HighGold Mining Inc. April 29 published the first NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the JT deposit, a modern industry compliant calculation that confirms the robust nature of this gold-silver-copper-zinc deposit on the company's Johnson Tract property in Southcentral Alaska.
According to this new calculation, JT hosts 2.14 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 6.07 grams per metric ton gold, 5.8 g/t silver, 5.85% zinc, 0.57% copper, and 0.71% lead. When you account for the value of the silver and base metals, this comes to 10.93 g/t (750,000 ounces) gold-equivalent, at a 4 g/t gold-equivalent cut-off grade.
The deposit includes a high-grade core of 1.25 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 8.77 g/t gold, 6.9 g/t silver, 6.86% zinc, 0.69% copper, and 1.04% lead. This equates to 14.54 g/t (583,000 oz) gold-equivalent, at an 8 g/t gold-equivalent cut-off.
"We are extremely pleased with the resource estimate, which positions the JT deposit among the highest-grade undeveloped gold projects in North America," said HighGold Mining President and CEO Darwin Green.
This resource calculation is very similar in both size and grade to a historic estimate completed by Wetmin Resources Ltd. in 1994.
The 88 historical holes that went into Westmin's historical calculation and nine holes drilled by HighGold last year has outlined a steeply dipping deposit that is typically between 25 to 50 meters thick, extends for roughly 300 meters along strike and excellent continuity of grade from surface to a depth of 275 meters.
Westmin, which was considering shipping ore from Johnson Tract to its mill at the Premier Mine in northwestern British Columbia, completed extensive metallurgical work on JT deposit mineralization. This testing predicts high metal recoveries and concentrates low in deleterious elements, including forecasted total gold recovery of up to 96%.
"In addition to attractive grades and favorable metallurgy, the JT deposit has several attributes that are attractive for underground development, including excellent width, strong continuity, subvertical geometry, and geotechnically competent mineralization," said Green. "We view this resource as our starting point and, after laying dormant for 25 years with no exploration until HighGold's recent 2019 drill program, it provides an excellent springboard for what lies ahead for the project."
While HighGold is still refining its Johnson Tract drill plan, priorities for the 2020 program are expected to include further expansion of the JT deposit; exploring Northeast Offset, which is interpreted to be a fault-displaced depth continuation of JT; follow up on a silver-copper-zinc-rich zone discovered in the footwall of the JT deposit last year; and test Difficult Creek, a target about 4,500 meters northeast of JT with similar mineralization based on limited drilling.
"The company's focus will now turn to further drilling, with the intent of expanding the Johnson Tract deposit and testing multiple well-developed peripheral targets," said Green. "With C$11 million in working capital, the company is fully-funded to carry out its 2020 exploration plans."
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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