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Extends Sebakwe zone by fivefold, cuts VG at Big Missouri North of 60 Mining News – August 26, 2022
The Sebakwe discovery zone lies roughly 600 meters beyond the Premier Mill on the left side of this photo.
Visible gold cut in hole P22-2428 at the Big Missouri deposit on the Premier project near Stewart, British Columbia.
Ascot Resources Ltd. Aug. 24 reported that drilling has cut additional strong gold mineralization at Sebakwe, a discovery zone about 600 meters southwest of the mill on the company's Premier mine project in the Golden Triangle region of British Columbia.
Discovered during 2021, this mineralization appears to represent an unmined structure immediately north of the Northern Light and Premier deposits at Premier.
Highlights from two holes drilled at Sebakwe during 2021 include:
• One meter averaging 29.6 grams per metric ton gold and 5.3 g/t silver from a depth of 328.5 meters in hole P21-2385.
• 7.1 meters averaging 36.17 g/t gold and 20.6 g/t silver from a depth of 368.3 meters in hole P21-2385.
• 0.9 meters averaging 39 g/t gold and 25.8 g/t silver from a depth of 324.5 meters in hole P21-2386.
Ascot initially planned to complete roughly 4,000 meters of drilling in 10 holes from surface this year to further test and expand upon the 2021 discovery. Based on encouraging visual indications of mineralization and structure, however, this was increased to 6,110 meters in 15 holes.
In July, the company announced results from the first six holes of this program; highlights include:
• One meter averaging 25.9 g/t gold and 21 g/t silver from a depth of 413 meters in hole P22-2389
• One meter averaging 193 g/t gold and 41.8 g/t silver from a depth of 315 meters in hole P22-2393.
• 4.5 meters averaging 4.77 g/t gold and 18.2 g/t silver from a depth of 331 meters in hole P22-2393.
• Three meters averaging 17.78 g/t gold and 20.1 g/t silver from a depth of 366 meters in hole P22-2393.
The latest batch of results are from the remaining nine holes; highlights include:
• 2.73 meters averaging 11.83 g/t gold and 56.3 g/t silver from a depth of 335.5 meters in hole P22-2394.
• 3.2 meters averaging 6.33 g/t gold and 6.6 g/t silver from a depth of 290.1 meters in hole P22-2396.
• 1.45 meters averaging 8.25 g/t gold and 15.7 g/t silver from a depth of 290.6 meters in hole P22-2400.
"Following on our previous drilling success at Sebakwe, we have now increased the mineralized strike length fivefold from 70 metres to 350 metres, with mineralization still open in several directions," said Ascot Resources President and CEO Derek White. "In just 15 holes drilled this season, we have achieved our main objectives in establishing the high-grade tenor, identifying more coarse, visible gold, and growing the mineralized zone with step-out drilling."
Based on the Sebakwe Zone drill results, Ascot says the Initial modeling work has identified at least two zones of gold mineralization. These zones have been modeled with a north-westerly dip and are located under Lesley Creek to the east of the Premier mill. These veins are concentrated in the more densely drilled area towards the southwestern end of Sebakwe along a strike length of approximately 120 meters and for 100 meters down-dip. The company says similar vein zones at the northeastern end of Sebakwe have been observed but must be followed up with more drilling to confirm dimensions, continuity, and grade.
"We look forward to the future of the Sebakwe Zone and continuing to demonstrate it as an accretive, near-mine exploration success and potential to grow our resource base for development near planned underground infrastructure," said White.
In addition to results from Sebakwe, Ascot provided an update of surface drilling at Big Missouri, where multiple occurrences of visible gold have been identified in the core, boding well for the pending assay results.
To date, 27 holes have been completed for a total of 2,384 meters at Big Missouri.
"Drilling is ongoing at Big Missouri, and we have been encouraged by multiple occurrences of visible gold in the drill core," White said. "We will report the corresponding assays as they become available."
Big Missouri is slated to provide the first ore to the mill when Ascot begins a new era of gold production at the Premier Mine.
A feasibility study completed in 2020 detailed a financially robust mine that is expected to produce roughly 1.1 million ounces of gold and 3 million oz of silver over the first eight years of mining.
Toward the goal of pouring first gold by early 2024, which is nearly a year later than previously anticipated, development work at the S1 portal at Big Missouri is progressing well.
"We have advanced underground development at Big Missouri over 450 metres to date and have reached initial mineralized areas, allowing for detailed face sampling," the Ascot CEO added.
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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