The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Targeting high-grade zones near deposits slated for mining North of 60 Mining News
Ascot's 2023 drill program will target zones that could add high-grade ore for processing through the mill at Premier.
Ascot plans to resume underground development at Big Missouri this summer, which will provide stations for closer-spaced drilling at this first deposit to be mined at Premier.
Ascot Resources Ltd. May 11 announced plans for up to 14,000 meters of resource expansion and upgrade drilling during the 2023 season at its Premier gold mine project in Northern British Columbia.
Situated near the mining town of Stewart at the southern tip of BC's Golden Triangle, Premier is home to a past-producing gold mine that last operated in the 1990s.
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.
This year's resource upgrade and expansion program will begin with an initial 10,000 meters of drilling in and around the Premier and Big Missouri deposits.
"Similar to previous programs, drilling in 2023 will be primarily focused on step-out targets with the goal of resource expansion near known areas and adding accretive gold ounces into future mine plans without the need for much incremental underground development."
Drills are expected to begin turning in the Premier deposit area before moving to the higher elevation Big Missouri area when the snow completely melts.
Ascot has budgeted for an additional 4,000 meters of late-season drilling that will be targeted depending on the first phase of drilling.
The company will also carry out an induced polarization geophysical survey over three areas – north of the Premier mill, at the Day Zone, and the Dilworth deposit at Big Missouri.
The drilling and geophysics are being funded by a C$4 million (US$3 million) financing that closed in April.
"Having recently closed a flow-through private placement, we are now eager to use the proceeds to advance our 2023 exploration program at PGP, both for surface drilling on high-priority targets such as the Day Zone and Sebakwe Zone, and also various IP geophysics projects for further target identification," said Ascot Resources President and CEO Derek White.
The drilling at Premier will be aiming to follow up on exciting results from the last two years at the Sebakwe zone, where high-grade intercepts outlined significant potential to the north of established resource areas.
Highlights from drilling at Sebakwe include:
• One meter averaging 29.6 g/t gold and 5.3 g/t silver from a depth of 328.5 meters, and 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.
• One meter averaging 193 g/t gold and 41.8 g/t silver from a depth of 315 meters, 4.5 meters averaging 4.77 g/t gold and 18.2 g/t silver from a depth of 331 meters, and three meters averaging 17.78 g/t gold and 20.1 g/t silver from a depth of 366 meters in hole P22-2393.
• 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.
The westernmost holes from the 2022 drill program intercepted a younger dyke that terminated mineralization in this direction. Drilling to the west of the dyke is sparse to non-existent, and Ascot says there is high potential for the Sebakwe zone to continue in this direction.
Additional drilling will target early mining areas at the Premier deposit.
Drilling at Big Missouri is primarily designed to expand the emerging Day Zone at the western and northwestern sides of the Big Missouri deposit.
Drilling in 2021 and 2022 established a north-south striking zone of mineralization with high-grade intercepts underlining the potential of this zone.
Highlights from previous 2022 drilling at Big Missouri include:
• Eight meters averaging 6.13 g/t gold and 2.95 g/t silver in hole P22-2449.
• Eight meters averaging 25.56 g/t gold and 10 g/t silver in hole P22-2459.
• 1.5 meters averaging 43.3 g/t gold and 20.9 g/t silver in hole P22-2460.
The Day Zone strikes north toward the Martha Ellen deposit, which hosts 130,000 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.47 g/t (23,000 oz) gold and 48 g/t (201,000 oz) silver, plus 653,000 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.12 g/t (129,000 oz) gold and 34.3 g/t (424,000 oz) silver.
A roughly 1,000-meter unexplored gap lies between the Day zone and Martha Ellen deposit.
Additional drilling at Big Missouri will target early mining areas at this deposit.
Underground development at Big Missouri, slated to be the first deposit mined when Ascot starts a new era of mining at Premier, will resume this summer, and underground drill stations will become available as mining progresses.
Ascot plans to target resource areas from underground as soon as possible with shorter drill holes that can be aimed with higher precision compared to longer surface drill holes.
In addition to drilling, Ascot continues to advance mine development with the goal of commissioning the mill at Premier by the end of this year and reaching commercial production at the gold-silver mine early in 2024.
To fund this final push to production, Ascot closed a C$200 million (US$150 million) financing package in January that includes a C$150 million (US$110 million) gold and silver streaming agreement and a C$45 million (US$33 million) strategic investment from a Peruvian firm, ensures the company has plenty of time to be feeding ore into the upgraded and expanded mill at Premier by the end of next year.
The company sees the exploration and resource definition drilling at the Sebakwe and Day zones as opportunities to add high-grade ore to the mine plan, which could bolster production and extend the life of Premier with potential ore near existing and planned mine development.
"Similar to previous programs, drilling in 2023 will be primarily focused on step-out targets with the goal of resource expansion near known areas and adding accretive gold ounces into future mine plans without the need for much incremental underground development," said White.
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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