The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Waste facility gold and silver grades rival project's resource North of 60 Mining News – June 4, 2021
Mine development material with 4 g/t gold and 100 g/t silver was considered waste when compared to the 45 g/t gold, and 2,200 g/t silver averaged during historic mining at Eskay Creek.
Skeena Resources Ltd. May 31 reported results from four more holes that demonstrate a waste rock storage facility from previous mining at the Eskay Creek project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle hosts significant quantities of gold and silver.
An underground mine operated by Barrick Gold Corp. from 1994 to 2008 recovered roughly 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160 million oz of silver from ore with average grades of 45 grams per metric ton gold and 2,224 g/t silver.
The underground mine development was largely tunneled in the often-mineralized rhyolite in the footwall of the mudstone sequence that is host to the very high-grade gold and silver mineralization at Eskay Creek. Although the volcanic rocks tunneled through possessed enough gold and silver to be considered high-grade at most mines today, the rhyolite-hosted mineralization was considered uneconomic due to the low prices of precious metals while the former Eskay Creek Mine was in operation.
As a result, this development rock was deposited into the Albino Waste Facility southwest of the mine to be stored underwater.
Earlier this year, while there was still ice to support a drill rig, Skeena completed initial testing of the gold- and silver-enriched waste material and tailings stored at Albino.
On May 25, Skeena reposted that the first four holes of this program encountered:
• 16.01 meters averaging 4.17 g/t gold and 160 g/t silver in hole SK-21-841.
• 12.16 meters averaging 4.18 g/t gold and 190 g/t silver in SK-21-842.
• 22.8 meters averaging 4.16 g/t gold and 204 g/t silver in SK-21-843.
• 19.76 meters averaging 3.13 g/t gold and 127 g/t silver in SK-21-844.
The remaining four holes of the program encountered similar grades:
• 15.2 meters averaging 3.97 g/t gold and 130 g/t silver in SK-21-845.
• 13.68 meters averaging 8.68 g/t gold and 330 g/t silver in SK-21-846.
• 14.19 meters averaging 3.19 g/t gold and 115 g/t silver in SK-21-847.
• 19.76 meters averaging 2.62 g/t gold and 82 g/t silver in SK-21-848.
The Albino facility covers roughly 128,900 square meters. Considering the more than 15-meter thickness of waste material indicated by the initial drilling, this could provide a sizable source of already mined material at grades similar to those in the resource being considered for a future open-pit mine at Eskay Creek.
The eight holes completed during the first phase of drilling at Albino were drilled on 50-meter centers, testing only about 5% of the entire waste facility.
Although more holes were planned, deteriorating ice conditions forced an early end to the spring drilling. Based on the encouraging results from the initial eight holes, Skeena plans to resume drilling at the Albino Waste Facility toward the end of this year.
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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