The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Ascot's 2023 program defines ore for pending start at Premier North of 60 Mining News – January 5, 2024
Underground mine development toward various stoping areas is currently underway at Big Missouri, the source of the first ore for the pending restart of gold production at Premier.
Aerial view of the underground mining stopes, mine development, drill pad locations, and hole traces of the 55 holes included in the latest batch of Big Missouri drill results.
Ascot Resources Ltd. Jan. 3 reported that the 72 infill and exploration holes drilled from surface last year at Big Missouri confirmed and expanded the underground stopes at this first deposit to be mined at the company's Premier gold project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Lying about nine miles (15 kilometers) north of Stewart, BC, Ascot's Premier gold project is home to a past-producing gold mine that last operated in the 1990s.
A feasibility study completed in 2020 detailed plans to develop four underground mines – Big Missouri, Premier, Silver Coin, and Red Mountain – that will feed ore to an upgraded mill at Premier. 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 of mining.
This mine plan 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.
Big Missouri, which lies about 3.7 miles (six kilometers) north of the Premier mill, hosts 809,000 metric tons of the probable reserves averaging 7.15 g/t (186,000 oz) gold and 12.2 g/t (317,000 oz) silver.
Underground development began at Big Missouri in 2022, and crews are currently mining and stockpiling ore from this deposit in preparation for first gold production, expected before the end of March.
During the 2023 season, Ascot drilled 72 holes to fill in gaps and extend stopes in areas designated for early mining at Big Missouri.
In November, Ascot released the results from 17 holes drilled at Big Missouri last year. Highlights include:
• 9.72 meters averaging 22.3 g/t gold in hole P23-2484, including 1.91 meters averaging 98.1 g/t gold.
• 6.48 meters averaging 98.84 g/t gold in hole P23-2490, including 0.9 meters averaging 691.5 g/t gold.
• 5.65 meters averaging 17.72 g/t gold in hole P23-2494, including 1.6 meters averaging 31.9 g/t gold.
The latest batch of assays are from the remaining 55 Big Missouri holes. Highlights include:
• 5.57 meters averaging 8.26 g/t gold in hole P23-2499, including 1.27 meters averaging 15.75 g/t gold.
• 7.35 meters averaging 8.26 g/t gold in hole P23-2506, including 1.44 meters averaging 30.88 g/t gold.
• 6.94 meters averaging 9.89 g/t gold in hole P23-2509B, including 1.19 meters averaging 51 g/t gold.
• 1.99 meters averaging 58.18 g/t gold in hole P23-2532, including 0.99 meters averaging 77.45 g/t gold.
"Our 2023 surface drilling program finished on a high note, with many planned stope shapes at Big Missouri being confirmed and, in some cases, expanded. We look forward to exploiting this material in the coming months and processing it at the Premier mill, where we anticipate starting pre-commissioning shortly," said Ascot Resources President and CEO Derek White. "Similar confirmatory and expansion results were achieved in 2023 at the Prew Zone of the Premier Deposit, where underground access development is also being progressed."
Prew Zone is the first area to be mined at the Premier deposit, which lies adjacent to the mill.
Highlights from the 2023 drilling at Prew include:
• 6.5 meters averaging 23.37 g/t gold in hole P23-2465.
• 4.9 meters averaging 32.85 g/t gold in P23-2468.
• 6.87 meters averaging 18.93 g/t gold in hole P23-2475.
Overall, the drilling shows the location and geometry of the mineralization at Prew is well defined, providing a good starting point for Premier deposit mining.
"Overall, the 2023 drill program enhances our confidence in the geological model, which is all the more important as we become Canada's next gold producer," 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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