The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Copper- and zinc-dominate zones surround gold-rich center North of 60 Mining News – January 22, 2021
Johnson Tract Project Manager Brodie Sutherland and Chief Exploration Geologist Nathan Steeves inspect freshly drilled core at HighGold's Johnson Tract gold project in Alaska.
HighGold Mining Inc. Jan. 21 reported that the latest batch of results from the 2020 drill program at its Johnson Tract project in Alaska has confirmed the expansion potential of the main JT deposit, as well as the deeper Footwall copper-silver zone.
"We continue to be encouraged by the continuation and strength of the JT deposit mineral system at depth and by the emergence of the Footwall copper-silver zone, a new area of copper-silver rich mineralization with resource potential that contributes to the overall metal endowment at Johnson," commented President and CEO Darwin Green.
Situated on Cook Inlet Region Inc., or CIRI, land roughly 125 miles southwest of Anchorage, the 20,942-acre Johnson Tract property was explored extensively in the 1990s but had been sitting idle prior to HighGold Mining's exploration in 2019.
Based on historical drilling and nine holes completed by HighGold in 2019, 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.
Most of the 32 holes completed by HighGold during the 2020 season targeted JT and nearby expansion zones.
The latest batch of results are from holes that encountered zinc- and copper-rich zones in the down-plunge and up-plunge extents of the JT, as well as a deeper copper-silver zone identified earlier last year.
"The current batch of drill results are base-metal dominant and highlight the presence of copper and zinc-rich domains within the polymetallic gold-rich JT deposit," said Green.
Highlights from this drill include:
• 11 meters averaging 8.6% zinc and 0.4% copper in hole JT20-120, targeting the down-plunge expansion of JT.
• 18.3 meters averaging 5.9% zinc, 64 g/t silver and 0.1% copper in hole JT20-121, targeting the up-plunge expansion of JT.
• 12 meters averaging 2.8% copper and 51 g/t silver in hole JT20-110, targeting the Footwall copper-silver zone.
In addition to the base metals-dominant mineralization, this year's drilling also continued to the gold-rich mineralization the JT deposit is better known for. This includes JT20-092, an earlier reported 2020 hole that cut 74.1 meters averaging 17.89 g/t gold, 0.48% copper, 7.28% zinc, 1.31% lead, and 7.1 g/t silver.
The mineralization associated with the JT Deposit has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 meters and a down-plunge distance of 400 meters and remains open for expansion along strike to the northeast and southwest, and at depth.
"As new data is received, HighGold's geological and structural model continues to evolve. Based on the new data, it appears that a significant portion of the mineral system is open to expansion down-plunge and is not cut-off at depth as interpreted by previous operators," said Green. "With approximately C$18 million in the treasury, the Company is fully funded to further test the limits of these zones and other targets in 2021."
Assays remain outstanding for 12 holes drilled during the 2020 program.
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.
Reader Comments(0)