The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Holes drilled NE of resource cut gold- and copper-rich zones North of 60 Mining News – October 16, 2020
Crews build a pad for resource expansion drilling at HighGold Mining's Johnson Tract gold property in Southeast Alaska.
HighGold Mining Inc. Oct. 15 reported that step out drilling continues to expand the gold-rich resource at the Johnson Tract project in Southcentral Alaska, including a copper-rich zone in the footwall of the JT deposit.
According to a calculation earlier this year, the JT deposit hosts 2.14 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 6.07 grams per metric ton (417,000 ounces) gold, 5.8 g/t (397,000 oz) silver, 5.85% (275.3 million pounds) zinc, 0.57% (26.8 million lb) copper, and 0.71% (37.6 million lb) lead.
This year's drill program at Johnson Tract is targeting five resource expansion targets at and around this high-grade deposit – JT Deposit Expansion, Northeast Offset, North Trend, Footwall Discovery, and Southwest Extension.
In September, HighGold reported results from the first two holes of this program, including a 74.1-meter intercept in hole JT20-092 averaging 17.89 g/t gold, 0.48% copper, 7.28% zinc, 1.31% lead, and 7.1 g/t silver.
The latest batch of assays include results from two JT Deposit Expansion holes – JT20-095 and JT20-096 – on the northeast side of the deposit.
• JT20-095 cut 41 meters averaging 1.8 g/t gold, 4 g/t silver, 1% copper, and 3.1% zinc, including 4.2 meters of 10.4 g/t gold, 5 g/t silver, 0.5% copper, and 9% zinc.
• JT20-096 cut 20.1 meters averaging 11.5 g/t gold, 4 g/t silver, 0.5% copper, and 3.1% zinc, including four meters averaging 43.7 g/t gold.
In addition to expanding the northeast side of the JT deposit, JT20-096 cut 14.2 meters averaging 2.7% copper, 1% zinc, and 34 g/t silver in the deeper Footwall Copper Zone.
"Resource expansion drilling at the main JT Deposit continues to deliver solid results of high-grade mineralization in these step-outs," said HighGold Mining President and CEO Darwin Green. "We are equally pleased with the emergence of a significant thick zone of copper-silver rich mineralization in the footwall to the JT Deposit, in drilling done to follow up on last year's late-season discovery. "
In addition to the immediate expansion of JT, the company reported the first results from drilling at Northeast Offset, a target located 500 to 800 meters northeast of JT.
Hole JT20-094 cut three significant intercepts at Northeast Offset: 1.2 meters averaging 15.2% copper, 173 g/t silver, and 0.8 g/t gold; 4.3 meters of 0.2 g/t gold, 7 g/t silver, 1.2% copper, and 0.4% zinc; and one meter of 3.5 g/t gold, 3 g/t silver, and 1.2% copper.
Northeast Offset is the target of roughly a third of HighGold's 2020 drill program at Johnson Tract and the company reports that drilling is ongoing at this target.
"With only six holes reported so far for the 2020 program, initial results reveal promising developments at each of the priority target areas, including at the earlier stage Northeast Offset target," said Green. "Three drills continue to test these targets in addition to surface crews advancing our regional exploration prospects."
So far, HighGold has completed roughly 14,500 meters of drilling at Johnson Tract this year. Given the encouraging results, the company has again increased the scope of the program and the company now plans to complete 17,000 meters of drilling this year.
In addition to drilling, crews have carried out a large-scale regional reconnaissance program across the 21,036-acre (8,513 hectares) property. The objective of the mapping, prospecting, sampling, and geophysical surveying carried out this year is to develop drill targets at other prospect areas for testing in 2021.
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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