The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Middle DC mineralized horizon may extend for 1,200 meters North of 60 Mining News – December 3, 2021
The mineralized dacite horizon at Middle DC, which appears to extend 1,200 meters to the Milkbone target, is largely hidden beneath a cap of less mineralized andesitic volcanic rocks.
HighGold Mining Inc. Dec. 2 reported that its first pass drilling at Difficult Creek is beginning to outline the potential for this prospect area on its Johnson Tract property in Alaska to host a large high-grade polymetallic gold system similar to the JT deposit about 2.5 miles (four kilometers) to the southwest.
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.
HighGold's 16,198-meter 2021 drill program at Johnson Tract tested both resource expansion targets at and around JT deposit, as well as regional targets across the 20,942-acre property. The regional portion included 5,285 meters of drilling in 17 holes at the Difficult Creek, or DC, prospect area.
In October, HighGold reported bonanza grade gold in the first assay results from the company's inaugural drilling at DC.
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. 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," HighGold Mining President and CEO Darwin Green said at the time.
While not quite as spectacular as DC21-010, the latest batch of six holes drilled as part of the scouting program at DC tapped shorter intervals of strong gold and silver mineralization, as well as broad sections of lower-grade gold associated with significant base metal mineralization.
Highlights from this drilling include:
• 5.8 meters averaging 4.93 g/t gold, 15.5 g/t silver, and 0.24% copper in hole DC21-011.
• 9.8 meters averaging 4.23% zinc and 0.52 g/t gold in hole DC21-013.
• 91.7 meters averaging 0.17 g/t gold 0.75% zincin hole DC21-015.
• 1.1 meters averaging 110 g/t silver and 0.6 meter averaging 5.18 g/t gold and 4.04% zinc in separate veins intersected in DC21-016.
Hole DC21-011 was drilled down-dip of DC21-010; DC21-013 was designed to cross a northeast-trending fault structure, immediately west of the main Middle DC showing; and DC21-015 tested a reconnaissance target northwest of Middle DC.
DC21-016 was the first hole to test a high-grade silver-gold-zinc vein field at the Upper DC target, which was discovered by HighGold geologists during surface exploration carried out last year. Highlights from the rock samples collected from this 250- by 700-meter vein field during 2020 include: 1,800 g/t silver, 0.4 g/t gold, and 0.5% zinc; 1,280 g/t silver, 1.9 g/t gold, and 0.9% zinc; and 517 g/t silver, 1.1 g/t gold, and 2.8% zinc.
"The 17-hole drill program across the DC prospect was designed as a first-pass test of multiple targets," said Green. "With seven of 17 holes reported to date, the Middle DC area has emerged as a zone of significant mineralization with excellent potential to expand. Particularly encouraging is recognition that mineralization appears to be preferentially developed within dacite fragmental volcanic rocks – the same rocks that host the JT Deposit."
The company says the mineralized dacite horizon appears to extend 1,200 southwest to the Milkbone target, where a float sample averaging 184 g/t gold and soil samples as high as 8.3 g/t gold have been collected. Most of this horizon is obscured beneath a cap of less mineralized andesitic volcanic rocks.
Assays are pending from an additional 10 holes drilled in the Middle and Upper target areas of the roughly 1,500- by 3,000-meter DC prospect.
"With approximately $26 million in working capital, the company is fully funded to explore this exciting new target area while at the same time continuing the systematic expansion and advancement of the main JT Deposit situated 4 kilometers to the southwest," said Green.
In the meantime, HighGold is awaiting results from most of the drilling completed at JT deposit this year. Once all the assays are returned, the company will have a new resource calculated for JT that incorporates t roughly 30,000 meters of new drilling completed at and around this deposit during 2020 and 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.
Reader Comments(0)