The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Excellent potential to add gold, silver to resource at Lawyers North of 60 Mining News – July 29, 2022
A geologist investigates a rock outcrop at AGB, one of three deposits on the Benchmark's Lawyers gold-silver project in BC.
Click on image for larger map.
Benchmark Metals Inc. July 27 announced plans to drill multiple new targets near the AGB deposit on the company's Lawyers gold-silver project in Northern British Columbia.
One of three deposits currently delineated at Lawyers, AGB hosts 11.37 million metric tons of pit-constrained measured and indicated resources averaging 1.05 grams per metric ton (384,000 ounces) gold and 43.9 g/t (16.1 million oz) silver.
Benchmark has identified multiple intriguing targets adjacent to AGB consisting of soil geochemistry anomalies that are coincident with geophysical anomalies in areas lacking outcrop exposure.
"These new targets demonstrate similar geochemical and geophysical characteristics to the known zones of mineralization in close proximity to the high-grade AGB Deposit," said Benchmark Metals CEO John Williamson.
The largest and possibly most intriguing of these targets is a large undrilled resistivity geophysical anomaly immediately east of AGB. This resistivity body is interpreted as possible silicification related to mineralization associated with a large, steeply dipping fault system.
In addition to the target lying alongside AGB, three soil anomalies have been outlined about 3,000 meters to the north. These anomalies, which are found within the same structural corridor as AGB, have VLF geophysical signatures very similar to the deposit.
Benchmark says these blind targets, which lie both parallel to and along-strike of the north-trending faults controlling mineralization at AGB, have not seen any drilling and have strong discovery potential to add additional gold and silver ounces, given their proximity to existing deposit areas at Lawyers.
"The new targets exhibit significant new discovery potential and are high priority drill areas," Williamson added.
In addition to preparing for another round of drilling at Lawyers, Benchmark is finalizing a preliminary economic assessment based on the new resource calculated earlier this year.
The three deposits at Lawyers – AGB, Cliff Creek, and Dukes Ridge – host 67.38 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 1.26 grams per metric ton (2.74 million oz) gold and 24.4 g/t (52.9 million oz) silver; plus 4.87 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 2.39 g/t (378,000 oz) gold and 39.4 g/t (6.2 million oz) silver.
The mine plan outlined in the PEA is anticipated to include starter pits that leverage the higher-grade, near-surface gold-silver mineralization outlined at AGB and Cliff Creek.
The potential starter pit at AGB contains 7.5 million metric tons averaging 1.74 g/t (418,000 oz) gold-equivalent, which accounts for the value of both the gold and silver. The likely Cliff Creek starter pit hosts an additional 5.2 million metric tons averaging 1.74 g/t (292,000 oz) gold-equivalent.
"The higher-grade core zones at surface will have a positive impact on economics in the forthcoming Preliminary Economic Assessment," Benchmark Metals Vice President of Engineering Ian Harris said earlier 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.
Reader Comments(0)