White Gold 2021 soil sampling success

White Gold Corp. April 21 reported that regional exploration work on its more than 1-million-acre (422,730 hectares) land package in Yukon's White Gold District has identified significant copper, gold, and other multi-element soil anomalies within the Hayes and Pilot properties.

"Our regional exploration program normally constitutes a significant portion of our annual exploration budget and has continued to identify prospective new targets across our large district scale land package," said White Gold Vice President of Exploration Terry Brace. "Given the lack of rock outcrop and the unglaciated terrane in this part of the Yukon soil sampling has proven to be an extremely effective early-stage exploration tool as demonstrated by these latest results."

The Hayes property is located approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Western Copper and Gold Corp.'s Casino copper-gold project and is contiguous with, and immediately east of, White Gold's Betty property, where 2021 maiden diamond drilling at the Betty Ford target intersected significant near-surface gold mineralization including 3.46 grams per metric ton gold over 50 meters.

During 2021, the company collected 1,200 soils samples from three areas of the Hayes property. The most encouraging results were from the 2,000- by 1,500-meter north grid, which lies about five kilometers (three miles) south of the Yukon River.

The sampling identified a broad geochemically zoned multi-element soil anomaly with a central core measuring from 750 to 1,000 meters in diameter that is enriched in bismuth and arsenic. This core is surrounded by a halo of anomalous silver, lead, and zinc. Anomalous copper occurs in the southern portion of the core, and a relatively small area of anomalous molybdenum occurs near the core's northern margin.

The Pilot property is located approximately 55 kilometers (34 miles) south-southwest of Newmont Corp.'s Coffee gold project and comprises 260 quartz claims covering 5,435 hectares (13,430 acres).

Since acquiring Pilot in 2016, White Gold has collected 8,434 soil samples on the property, including 1,015 infill soil samples last year. The 2021 samples were found on two separate grids, a larger northern grid (1,800 meters by 2,250 meters) and a smaller grid (400 meters x 900 meters) located in the central part of the property.

The sampling at Pilot has identified three geochemically distinct gold-arsenic, copper, and gold-bismuth-molybdenum zones. The gold-arsenic zone includes several subparallel north-south trending anomalies that appear to be structurally controlled, and individual anomalies can be traced for more than 1,000 meters along strike. Located about 1,000 meters to the west, the copper zone consists of a 2,000-meter-long bow-shaped copper anomaly. White Gold says this arc is mirrored in the westernmost gold-arsenic anomaly, indicating that similar structural or stratigraphic controls may be present. The gold-bismuth-molybdenum anomaly, which lies approximately 2,000 meters to the south, is more circular in shape. The source of the soil anomalies is presently unknown due to a lack of detailed geological mapping and prospecting, as well as a lack of trenching or drilling.

"All of the significant grass roots discoveries in the White Gold District were initially identified through soil sampling," said White Gold CEO David D'Onofrio.

The White Gold CEO explains that these soil anomalies throughout the region show the potential of this massive and massively underexplored district.

"We are encouraged by these results, especially with respect to their proximity to other significant deposits and new discoveries and are eager to follow up," D'Onofrio finished.

White Gold plans follow-up work at the Hayes and Pilot soil anomalies, which have not seen detailed exploration, trenching, or drill testing.

Details of the company's 2022 exploration program are expected in the coming weeks.