The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Begins 2023 drill program at KSM-like project in Northern BC North of 60 Mining News – June 2, 2023
Seabridge plans to complete more than 12,000 meters of drilling this year to follow up on the 2022 success below the Bronson Slope resource on the Iskut copper-gold project.
Seabridge Gold Inc. May 30 announced the start of a more than 12,000-meter drill program to test high-level porphyry copper-gold targets on the company's Iskut property in Northern British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
"We are excited to get our program started early in the field season after last year's success at Iskut," said Seabridge Gold Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk.
Located about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Seabridge's world-class KSM mine project, Iskut is home to the 1980s-era Johnny Mountain gold-silver-copper mine. Over the past four years, Seabridge has focused its exploration on discovering a large porphyry intrusive responsible for the high-grade skarn that was mined at Johnny Mountain.
Prior to Seabridge's acquisition, 187 million metric tons of measured and indicated resource averaging 0.36 grams per metric ton gold and 0.12% copper have been outlined by a previous explorer at the Bronson Slope target at Johnny Mountain, and Seabridge's drilling has identified the potential for deeper and larger gold-copper porphyry deposits.
This potential was further affirmed last year in hole SGS-22-05, which encountered a quartz-magnetite breccia pipe below the Bronson Slope resource. This hole cut 288.5 meters averaging 0.7 g/t gold, 0.28% copper, and 4.1 g/t silver from a depth of 10.5 meters, including 174.4 meters averaging 0.86 g/t gold, 0.34% copper, and 3 g/t silver from 23.6 meters.
The 2023 drilling at Iskut, however, will start at Snip North, which may be part of a larger porphyry copper-gold system at Iskut.
Regional magnetotelluric (MT) geophysical surveys show a distinct structural feature that connects Bronson Slope, Quartz Rise, and Snip North. All the recognized mineral occurrences at Iskut are interpreted as high-level expressions of copper-gold porphyry systems aligned along this regional structural trend, which shows similar characteristics to the cluster of porphyry systems Seabridge has defined at KSM.
An MT survey is being completed this year at Snip North to investigate alteration and geochemical anomalies identified by 32 shallow holes historically drilled. This year's deeper drilling aims to identify the source of this alteration and related copper-gold concentrations. The initial objective is to complete 3,500 meters of drilling in three to four holes at Snip North, which could then be expanded depending on results.
"At Snip North, we have extensive evidence of copper-gold mineralization in historical drilling and deep penetrating geophysical surveys," Fronk said. "As the season matures and snow melts, we'll move upslope, following a pronounced regional structural tend, to continue work below the Bronson Slope target."
This drilling below Bronson Slope will make up the main part of the 2023 drilling at Iskut.
Seabridge says the copper and gold concentrations by last year's drilling within and on the margins of this breccia pipe are evidence the source intrusion could host a significant mineral system.
The 2022 drilling also identified copper and gold grades in sedimentary rocks outside of the Bronson Slope mineral resource. Resource expansion potential will be evaluated from results in the shallow parts of holes targeting the deeper breccia pipe and its intrusive source.
"Our team is enthusiastic that both these targets are new copper-gold rich porphyry systems," Fronk added. "In addition, we think there is significant potential to expand the existing Bronson Slope mineral resource."
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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