The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Wide gold-silver intercepts in 21A and 23 pit extension zones North of 60 Mining News – October 28, 2022
Skeena Resources' 2022 drill program at Eskay Creek is focused largely on expanding near surface resources in and around the open pit mine detailed in a feasibility study for the Northern British Columbia gold-silver project.
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Skeena Resources Ltd. Oct. 25 reported that drilling continues to cut thick intervals of gold-silver mineralization at expansion zones off the side of the proposed open-pit mine on the company's Eskay project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
A feasibility study completed in September details an open pit mine at Eskay Creek that would produce 2.42 million ounces of gold and 66.7 million oz of silver over an initial nine years of mining.
Further details on the feasibility study can be read at Study affirms robust Eskay Creek Mine in the September 9, 2022, edition of North of 60 Mining News.
This mine plan is based on 46.5 million metric tons of open pit minable measured and indicated resources averaging 2.6 grams per metric ton (5.2 million oz) gold and 63.2 g/t (94.6 million oz) silver.
With the goal of extending the longevity of the mine outlined in the feasibility study, Skeena's 2022 drill program is testing areas near the proposed open pit.
In September, the company released the first batch of assays from 2022 drilling at the 23 Zone discovery off the southeast side of the planned open pit at Eskay Creek. Highlights from this drilling include:
• 21 meters averaging 2.27 g/t gold and 2.3 g/t silver in hole SK-22-1006.
• 47.5 meters averaging 1.31 g/t gold and 1.3 g/t silver in hole SK-22-1008.
SK-22-1090, an infill drill hole at 23 Zone, cut 96 meters averaging 1.13 g/t gold and 6.6 g/t silver from a depth of 1.5 meters. Skeena says this hole demonstrates excellent downhole continuity and extends mineralization to surface, which will have a potentially positive impact on the future open-pit strip ratio once the updated resource and engineering studies are completed.
Additional holes targeting the surficial mineralization at 23 Zone are expected to be carried out in future drilling campaigns.
The latest batch of Eskay Creek drill results include assays from holes drilled in 21A Zone, which lies south of the planned open pit and southwest of 23 Zone.
Highlights from previously released results from drilling at 21A Zone include:
• 11.7 meters averaging 1.77 g/t gold and 200 g/t silver in hole SK-21-983.
• 34 meters averaging 8.78 g/t gold and 13 g/t silver in hole SK-21-997.
• 46.77 meters averaging 1.74 g/t gold and 1.7 g/t silver in hole SK-22-1028.
• 12.12 meters averaging 47.5 g/t gold and 73.4 g/t silver in hole SK-22-1093.
The latest batch of results include assays from SK-22-1069, which cut four mineralized intervals in the 21A Zone:
• 26.5 meters averaging 1.94 g/t gold and 32.3 g/t silver from a depth of 18.5 meters.
• 21 meters averaging 2.59 g/t gold and 7.9 g/t silver from a depth of 57.5 meters.
• 29.9 meters averaging 0.98 g/t gold and 6.4 g/t silver from a depth of 127 meters.
• 13.6 meters averaging 1.97 g/t gold and 9.3 g/t silver from a depth of 237.7 meters.
Hole SK-22-1071, which was drilled about 70 meters northwest of SK-22-1069 cut 109.8 meters averaging 1.12 g/t gold and 4.7 g/t silver from a depth of 159.2 meters.
Due to the wide spacing of holes drilled in this area, Skeena says it is currently unclear if this intercept is an extension of the 21A Zone or is a new discovery analogous to the 23 Zone.
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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