The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Along new trend named after late Alaska geologist Bill Ellis North of 60 Mining News - September 12, 2022
A drill tests the DC prospect during HighGold's 2021 program at the Johnson Tract gold project in Alaska.
William T. Ellis
HighGold Mining Inc. Sept. 12 announced that its 2022 drilling is extending high-grade gold mineralization at Ellis Zone, a recently identified mineralized trend associated with the bonanza-grade gold drilled last year at the Difficult Creek (DC) prospect on the company's Johnson Tract property in Southcentral Alaska.
Johnson Tract is currently anchored by JT Deposit, which hosts 3.49 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.33 grams per metric ton (598,000 ounces) gold, 6 g/t (673,000 oz) silver, 5.21% (400.8 million pounds) zinc, 0.59% (43.1 million lb) copper, and 0.67% (51.5 million lb) lead.
When you calculate the value of all the metals into gold equivalency, this comes to 1.05 million oz of indicated resource averaging 9.39 g/t gold-equivalent.
Discovery drilling completed late in the 2021 season, however, indicates that the DC prospect area about 2.5 miles north of JT could be the higher-grade and potentially larger prize at Johnson Tract.
Hole DC21-010 cut 6.4 meters averaging 577.9 g/t (18.58 ounces per metric ton) gold, 2,023 g/t (65 oz/t) silver, 2.15% zinc, and 0.3% copper.
Geological modeling carried out during the winter months indicated this bonanza-grade gold is associated with an east-west striking trend of steeply dipping mineralization named after the late Bill Ellis.
"This emerging new zone of high-grade mineralization has been named the Ellis Zone in honor of the late Bill T. Ellis, who played a key role in the initial discovery and advancement of the Johnson Tract project and was a major force in the Alaska exploration community," said HighGold Mining CEO Darwin Green.
An account of Ellis' life and nearly half a century of exploring Alaska's mineral potential can be read at Bill Ellis blazed trail of Alaska discovery in the March 25, 2022 edition of North of 60 Mining News.
To follow up on the bonanza gold tapped last year at Ellis Zone, HighGold began its 2022 drill program with shallow-step out holes along strike to the east, west and down-dip from hole DC22-010.
"A priority of our 2022 drill program was to follow up on last year's late season discovery at the DC prospect to determine if the mineralization continued to depth and laterally along strike," said Green. "This has been confirmed in our initial step-outs, which have returned multiple intersections of high-grade mineralization, including subintervals of multi-ounce grade."
Highlights from the first eight holes drilled this year at Ellis Zone include:
• 14.7 meters averaging 4 g/t gold, 18 g/t silver, 0.27% copper, and 4.18% zinc, including a 5.6-meter subsection averaging 7.8 g/t gold, 36 g/t silver, 0.49% copper, and 9.17% zinc.
• 42.8 meters averaging 3.4 g/t gold, 23 g/t silver, 0.21% copper, and 2.06% zinc in hole DC22-036, including an 18.4-meter subsection averaging 7.29 g/t gold, 50 g/t silver, 0.44% copper, and 3.92% zinc.
• 11.9 meters averaging 21.68 g/t gold, 30 g/t silver, 0.61% copper, and 4.2% zinc in hole DC22-043, including a 3.9-meter subsection averaging 54.2 g/t gold, 71 g/t silver, 1.26% copper, and 8.29 zinc.
So far, drilling has traced Ellis Zone mineralization for rough 100 meters along strike and from surface to a depth of 100 meters. The Ellis Zone remains open along strike and at depth.
"We look forward to receiving the balance of the assays from the initial 25-hole detailed grid drilling program and completing additional larger step-outs along strike and to depth," said Green.
HighGold says Ellis Zone will be a primary target as drilling at Johnson Tract extends into fall.
As of the end of August, the company had completed 5,397 meters of drilling during the 2022 season at the Southcentral Alaska gold property. Of the 36 holes completed, 28 were drilled at the DC prospect, six at the associated Milkbone prospect, one at the Kona prospect, and one in the JT Deposit area.
HighGold plans to complete at least another 5,000 meters of drilling with two rigs turning in September and October.
The company had originally planned to complete 13,000 meters of drilling this year at Johnson Tract but got a late start to 2022 drilling due to a heavy snowpack in the spring. The company now estimates that it will be able to complete 10,000 to 11,000 meters at the Alaska gold property this year.
For the balance of the season, one rig will remain dedicated to expanding Ellis Zone for the rest of the drill season, while the other drill rig will test important resource growth targets at the main JT Deposit.
"We anticipate drilling through to the end of October as we continue to grow, what is shaping up to be a potentially significant new zone at the Johnson Tract project," said Green.
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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