The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Drills expand gold-silver mineralization in merging deposits North of 60 Mining News – February 4, 2022
Benchmark Metals is completing more than 100,000 meters of resource expansion, upgrade, and exploration drilling at its Lawyers gold project in Northern British Columbia.
Benchmark Metals Inc. Jan. 28 reported that the latest results from its 2021 drill program is continuing to expand Cliff Creek South, a newly discovered expansion area of the Cliff Creek deposit on the company's Lawyers gold project in Northern British Columbia.
According to a calculation published in May, the Cliff Creek, AGB, and Dukes Ridge deposits at Lawyers host 40.3 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.19 grams per metric ton (1.55 million ounces) gold and 38.7 g/t (50.2 million oz) silver; plus 16.2 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.19 g/t (620,000 oz) gold and 34.7 g/t (18.1 million oz) silver.
The largest of the three deposits, Cliff Creek, hosts 30 million metric tons of the indicated resource averaging 1.18 g/t (1.13 million oz) gold and 36.6 g/t (35.4 million oz) silver, plus 12.9 million metric tons of the inferred resource averaging 0.95 (393,000 oz) gold and 34.1 g/t (10.1 million oz) silver.
The 2021 drilling at Cliff Creek has focused on upgrading and expanding the resource.
The latest batch of results is from nine infill and expansion holes at Cliff Creek South.
Highlights from this drilling include:
• 12.12 meters averaging 1.79 g/t gold and 162.3 g/t silver from a depth of 110 meters in hole 21CCDD028.
• 124 meters averaging 1.21 g/t gold and 30.7 g/t silver from a depth of 372 meters in hole 21CCDD044.
• 95.55 meters averaging 1.3 g/t gold and 47.9 g/t silver from a depth of 402 meters in hole 21CCDD049.
• 177.2 meters averaging 1.73 g/t gold and 117.9 g/t silver from a depth of 176 meters in hole 21CCDD061.
Benchmark says these new drill results continue to expand beyond the limits of the 2021 resource and demonstrate strong continuity of mineralization from surface to a depth of more than 450 meters. The company says Cliff Creek South remains open with the potential for open-pit resources at surface as well as high-grade material at depth for underground mining.
"Expansion and infill drilling at the south end of the Cliff Creek Deposit continues to generate significant, long intersections of gold-silver mineralization," said Benchmark Metals CEO John Williamson. "Drilling is providing continuity and extending gold-silver mineralization to greater depths."
Benchmark also recently reported results from 27 holes drilled at Dukes Ridge, which has now become connected to the northeast side of Cliff Creek.
According to the 2021 calculation, Dukes Ridge hosts 2.62 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.91 g/t (77,000 oz) gold and 34.1 g/t (2.9 million oz) silver.
Highlights from the Jan. 24 batch of assay results from Dukes Ridge include:
• 31.5 meters averaging 1.45 g/t gold and 13.7 g/t silver from a depth of 24 meters in hole 21DRDD001.
• 49.1 meters averaging 1.86 g/t gold and 40 g/t silver from a depth of 241 meters in hole 21DRDD005.
• 10.67 meters averaging 3.45 g/t gold and 181.8 g/t silver from surface in hole 21DRRC005.
• 13.72 meters averaging 1.423 g/t gold and 67.8 g/t silver from a depth of 57.9 meters in hole 21DRRC007.
Holes 21DRDD001 and 21DRRC005 were drilled on the northwest margins of Dukes Ridge, in the area of the connector zone linking this deposit to Cliff Creek.
"The Dukes Ridge area is providing significant expansion potential from the recent drill program. The area remains open in all directions with infill drilling replacing gaps in the mineral resource at surface with higher-grade gold and silver material," said Williamson. "January 2022 drilling has started at Dukes with two drill rigs focused on proving-up more mineralization at surface and expending gold-silver areas beyond 220 meters vertical depth."
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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