The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Enduro sees evidence of large porphyry at Northern BC project North of 60 Mining News – February 12, 2021
A helicopter approaches a hole drilled at NW Zone during Enduro Gold's 2020 program at the Newmont Lake project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Enduro Metals Corp. Feb. 9 reported that assay results show that the first four holes of the 2020 drill program at its Newmont Lake project in Northern British Columbia tapped shallow high-grade gold associated with longer intervals of bulk-tonnage mineralization.
"That is exactly what we want because ultimately near-surface high-grade gold mineralization in the Golden Triangle is commonly spatially associated with a porphyry deposit," said Enduro Metals CEO Cole Evans. "Furthermore, porphyry deposits are rarely isolated events and often form in clusters."
The 17 holes drilled at Newmont Lake last year were designed to expand the footprint and increase the amount of known gold mineralization along the McLymont Fault, a regional structure now recognized as an important conduit for gold mineralization on the 638-square-kilometer (246 square miles) Newmont Lake property.
The first four holes were drilled at NW Zone, which hosts 1.4 million metric tons of historical resource containing 6.79 million pounds of copper, 200,000 ounces gold, and 291,000 oz silver.
Highlights from this drilling include:
• 146.3 meters averaging 0.5 grams per metric ton gold, 1 g/t silver, and 0.07% copper from a depth of 30.2 meters in hole NW20-01, including 2.7 meters averaging 17.15 g/t gold 16.2 g/t silver, and 1.18% copper from 70.3 meters.
• 103.3 meters averaging 0.7 g/t gold, 0.8 g/t silver, and 0.04% copper from a depth of 15.5 meters in hole NW20-03, including one meter averaging 20.75 g/t gold, 4.3 g/t silver, and 0.46% copper.
• 138.6 meters averaging 0.7 g/t gold, 1.2 g/t silver, and 0.08% copper from a depth of 115.6 meters in hole NW20-04, including 33.6 meters averaging 2.1 g/t gold, 4.1 g/t silver, and 0.24% copper.
NW20-04 was drilled 160 meters southwest of NW20-09, a previously reported 2020 hole that cut 8.9 meters averaging 31.09 g/t gold, 6.5 g/t silver, and 1.07% copper. Enduro says this marks the discovery of an intrusion-related veins system.
Enduro says the wider intervals of gold mineralization intersected this year have similarities to mineralization seen in the neighboring Sulphurets Camp, which hosts Seabridge Gold Inc.'s KSM and Snowfield projects.
"Mineralization is developing similar in style to deposits such as KSM, Iron-Cap, Snowfields, and Treaty Creek located 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the southeast," said Evans. "However, the Newmont Lake property has seen a small fraction of the exploration seen by those other deposits, and even our deepest drill holes to date would barely scratch the surface of a large porphyry deposit that are typically a kilometer or more in vertical extent."
The company says the majority of the holes it drilled have ended in broad, bulk-tonnage gold mineralization, with indications that mineralization may continue to significant depths.
Enduro also reports that it has discovered the strongest gold-copper geochemical anomaly so far at Newmont Lake near the edge of a retreating glacier adjacent to the NW Zone and NE Extension. In addition, data from a ZTEM geophysical survey previously completed by Romios Gold Resources has identified a strong conductor extending to a depth of at least 500 meters directly underneath the newly discovered gold and copper anomaly.
As a result, the company now believes there is strong, geological, geochemical, and geophysical evidence for the presence of a large gold-copper porphyry system adjacent to the skarn and epithermal veining at NW Zone and NE Extension.
"It's exciting to see the geophysics, geochemistry, alteration, structure, and geochronology all lining up consistent with what one may expect from a large porphyry deposit," said Evans.
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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