The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
First hole hits highest grade gold-silver ever at Johnson Tract North of 60 Mining News - October 6, 2021
HighGold Mining geologists have mapped and sampled a series of large gossan alteration zones at DC prospect that collectively extend over a 1,500- by 3,000-meter area.
HighGold Mining Inc. Oct. 6 reported a 6.4-meter-wide intercept of bonanza grade gold and silver in the first hole it has ever drilled at Difficult Creek, an exploration target about 2.5 miles (four kilometers) northeast of the JT deposit on the company's Johnson Tract project in Alaska.
According to an early 2020 calculation 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 divided between testing resource expansion targets at and around this high-grade deposit and regional targets across the 20,942-acre property.
The DC prospect at Difficult Creek is a high-priority regional exploration target that was tested by three holes in the 1980s. The first two of these holes cut:
• DC83-001 cut 7.8 meters averaging 4.3 g/t gold, 78 g/t silver, and 2.7% zinc.
• DC83-002 cut 36.3 meters averaging 3.57 g/t gold, 15.5 g/t silver, 1.8 % zinc.
HighGold's first DC prospect hole, DC21-010, cut 6.4 meters averaging 577.9 g/t (18.58 oz/t) gold, 2,023 g/t (65 oz/t) silver, 2.15% zinc, and 0.3% copper down dip of hole DC83-001. This incredible intercept included a 1.26-meter subsection averaging 2,860 g/t (91.95 oz/t) gold, 9,990 g/t (321.2 oz/t) silver, 5.04% zinc, and 0.88% copper.
"Without a doubt, this is a game-changing drill hole that firmly establishes the DC prospect as a second center of high-grade mineralization and validates our conviction in the multi-deposit potential at Johnson Tract," said HighGold Mining President and CEO Darwin Green. "The bonanza grade intersection in hole DC21-010 represents the highest grade drilled to date on the JT project, which is a significant achievement given the number of outstanding drill intersections generated previously in the main JT deposit area."
The DC prospect is characterized by a series of large gossan alteration zones similar in style to the JT deposit that collectively extend over a 1,500- by 3,000-meter area. HighGold says the widespread extent of mineralization exposed by erosion across this large area supports the potential for a large and partially blind mineralized system linking the various DC prospect zones together.
So far this year, HighGold has drilled seven holes at the Middle DC zone, including step-outs down-dip and along strike of hole DC21-010. These holes were completed as part of 17 first-pass holes drilled to test multiple target areas defined across the larger DC prospect area.
"We look forward to the pending assay results from additional step-out drill holes and the ongoing exploration of this exciting early-stage prospect," said Green.
The bonanza grade gold and silver encountered in hole DC21-010 has elevated the importance of the DC prospect. The mineralized zone at Middle DC is open to expansion at depth and along strike and will be a major area of focus for the company.
In addition to the 17 holes drilled at regional targets this year, as of the end of September, HighGold had completed 17 holes at the JT deposit. So far, assays have only been returned for one hole at JT and partial assays for hole DC21-010 at DC.
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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