The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Deepest Dukes Ridge holes cut wide gold mineralized intercepts North of 60 Mining News – September 1, 2023
Optimization studies completed since the 2022 PEA for Lawyers indicate that underground mining of deeper gold at Dukes Ridge and Cliff Creek could significantly improve the economics of the proposed operation at Lawyers.
Thesis Gold Inc. Aug. 29 reported that assays from its first three 2023 holes at Lawyers further confirm the potential to expand high-grade gold mineralization to depth at the Dukes Ridge deposit on this property in Northern British Columbia's Toodoggone Mining District.
The batch of assays from deep drilling at Dukes Ridge marks the first news flow since Thesis and Benchmark Metals Inc. completed a merger that consolidates the adjacent Lawyers and Ranch gold-silver projects into a single district-scale asset.
Prior to the merger, the companies had individually launched 2023 drill programs – Thesis began a 30,000-meter program on the Ranch property, and Benchmark initiated a 20,000-meter program at Lawyers.
The drilling at Lawyers is primarily focused on further evaluating and expanding the deep high-grade gold and silver zones below the proposed open pits at Cliff Creek and Duke's Ridge.
A preliminary economic assessment completed about this time last year envisions ore from open-pit mines at three Lawyers deposits – AGB, Cliff Creek, and Dukes Ridge – feeding a centrally located mill that would produce 1.7 million ounces of gold and 26.7 million oz of silver over an initial 12 years of mining.
This PEA is based on 67.38 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 1.26 grams per metric ton (2.74 million oz) gold and 24.39 g/t (52.9 million oz) silver; plus 4.87 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 2.39 g/t (378,000 oz) gold and 39.41 g/t (6.2 million oz) silver.
Optimization studies completed since the PEA was finalized indicate that underground mining could significantly improve the economics of the proposed operation at Lawyers.
This year's drilling is focused on realizing this optimization potential.
"We defined clear drilling objectives for our exploration program this year," said Thesis Gold President and CEO Ewan Webster. "Drilling at Lawyers was planned to maximize this approach with the possibility to access higher-grade material earlier in the mine schedule, optimize the strip ratio for open pits, and enhance the resource estimates for an updated project study. The assay results from the first three Dukes Ridge drill holes revealed high-grade intervals that demonstrate we are delivering on those objectives, and we are particularly encouraged because Dukes Ridge is the deposit closest to daylighting."
Highlights from the first three holes at Lawyers include:
• 45 meters averaging 1.03 g/t gold and 51.5 g/t silver from a depth of 376 meters in hole 23DRDD001.
• 68 meters averaging 1.25 g/t gold and 65.7 g/t silver from a depth of 370 meters in hole 23DRDD002.
• 53 meters averaging 2.12 g/t gold and 105 g/t silver from a depth of 388 meters in hole 23DRDD003.
These results are the deepest ever reported from the Dukes Ridge deposit and demonstrate the continuity of gold mineralization at depth.
"We still have several holes pending, and the consistency of grades from visual mineralization is promising," Webster added. "So far, we've drilled over 24,000 metres of our company's planned 50,000-metre season."
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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