The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Including 1m of 199 g/t gold in Big Missouri expansion target North of 60 Mining News – January 27, 2023
Visible gold in a one-meter section of core from Day Zone hole P22-2459 averaging 198.5 g/t gold.
Click on image for larger Day Zone drilling cross-section.
Ascot Resources Ltd. Jan. 23 reported that its 2022 drilling at the Big Missouri deposit and nearby Day Zone continues to confirm and discover high-grade gold zones that could provide ore for the upgraded and expanded mill at its Premier gold-silver mine project near Stewart, British Columbia.
Home to a past-producing gold mine that last operated in the 1990s, Premier already had a mill, crushing and grinding circuits, tailings storage area, and hydroelectric grid power access – to resume operations.
A feasibility study completed in 2020 envisions four underground mines – Big Missouri, Silver Coin, Premier, and Red Mountain – providing ore to an updated version of the existing mill. At 2,500 metric tons per day, this operation is expected to produce roughly 1.1 million ounces of gold and 3 million oz of silver over the first eight years.
This initial output from a new era of Premier mining is based on 3.63 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 5.45 grams per metric ton (637,000 oz) gold and 19.1 g/t (2.23 million oz) silver within the Big Missouri, Silver Coin, and Premier deposits; plus 2.55 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 6.52 g/t (534,000 oz) gold and 20.6 g/t (1.69 million oz) silver at the nearby Red Mountain project.
On Jan. 19, Ascot closed a C$200 million (US$150 million) financing package needed to complete development and begin producing gold and silver at the revamped Premier Mine by early 2024.
"Having recently closed our financing for approximately C$200 million to complete construction of the Premier gold project, exploration results such as these are much more meaningful as they continue to reveal high gold grades and new zones of mineralization which could be exploited in the early years of the mine life," said Ascot Resources President and CEO Derek White.
Much of Ascot's 2022 drilling was carried out in and around Big Missouri, a deposit that will deliver ore to the mill early on in the next generation of mining at Premier.
Situated about six kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the mill, Big Missouri hosts 809,000 metric tons of the Premier reserves averaging 7.15 g/t (186,000 oz) gold and 12.2 g/t (317,000 oz) silver.
The 4,752 meters of surface drilling completed in 50 holes at Big Missouri this year targeted layers of gold mineralization in and around planned stopes to be mined at the deposit.
Highlights from previously reported assays from the 2022 drilling at Big Missouri include:
• Two meters averaging 71.28 g/t gold and 23 g/t silver from a depth of 57.7 meters in hole P22-2405.
• Eight meters averaging 15.91 g/t gold and 31.5 g/t silver from a depth of 90.5 meters in hole P22-2420.
• 10.69 meters averaging 31.92 g/t gold and 22.21 g/t silver from a depth of 90 meters in hole P22-2428.
• 14.5 meters averaging 6.75 g/t gold and 12.4 g/t silver from a depth of 26 meters in hole P22-2444.
• Three meters averaging 30.98 g/t gold and 9.4 g/t silver from a depth of 112 meters in hole P22-2445.
The latest batch of results is from four holes drilled from a pad just south of where the Big Missouri underground mine portal is located and 12 holes drilled from two pads at Day Zone, a high-grade gold target on the western side of the Big Missouri ridge.
• Eight meters averaging 6.13 g/t gold and 2.95 g/t silver in hole P22-2449, including two meters averaging 14.7 g/t gold and 4 g/t silver (Day Zone).
• Eight meters averaging 25.56 g/t gold and 10 g/t silver in hole P22-2459, including one meter averaging 198.5 g/t gold and 59.6 g/t silver (Day Zone).
• 1.5 meters averaging 43.3 g/t gold and 20.9 g/t silver in hole P22-2460 (Day Zone).
• 4.19 meters averaging 9.11 g/t gold and 10.88 g/t silver in hole P22-2462 (Big Missouri).
• 5.07 meters averaging 8.84 g/t gold and 10.45 g/t silver in hole P22-2464 (Big Missouri).
"The headline intercept of 199 grams per tonne is the highest-grade interval Ascot has drilled at the Day Zone since its initial discovery in 2020 and aligned well with the predicted orientation of mineralization," said White. "We continue to be impressed with the resource expansion potential and are very excited about the exploration options for 2023 and enhancing the continuity and expansion of resources to the west of Big Missouri."
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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