The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Consistent high-grade Golddigger attracts Rob McEwen investment Mining Explorers 2023 - January 18, 2024
All 98 holes drilled along the 1,800-meter Surebet corridor on Goliath Resources' Golddigger project during 2023 cut at least one of three stacked high-grade gold zones – Surebet Zone, Bonanza Shear, and the newly discovered Golden Gate Zone.
The more than 34,000 meters of drilling Goliath Resources Ltd. carried out at Golddigger during 2023 cut three stacked horizons of high-grade gold mineralization that has shown the Surebet Zone on this Northern British Columbia property lives up to its name.
Lying about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Stewart, BC, the 52,756-hectare (130,363 acres) Golddigger property covers a 56-kilometer (35 miles) stretch of the famed Red Line, a geological contact zone that runs alongside most of the major Golden Triangle deposits.
Goliath's 2023 Golddigger exploration focused primarily on Surebet, a roughly 1,800-meter-long discovery zone that hosts three stacked zones of high-grade gold – Surebet Zone, Bonanza Shear, and the newly discovered Golden Gate Zone.
Based on modeling following the 2023 season, roughly 6.8-million-cubic-meter zone that averages 9.04 grams per metric ton gold-equivalent, which accounts for the value of both the gold and silver; and Bonanza Shear is a roughly 15-million-cubic-meter zone averaging 8.14 g/t gold-equivalent; and Golden Gate is an approximately 1.1-million-cubic-meter zone averaging 3.94 g/t gold-equivalent.
Golden Gate, a 2023 discovery underlying Surebet Zone and Golden Shear that appears to be a feeder zone that served as conduit for gold-rich fluids that mineralized the other two horizons.
The success of the 2023 program at Golddigger attracted the attention of mining legend Rob McEwen, who now owns more than a 5% stake in Goliath.
"We are extremely honored and pleased to have Mr. McEwen participating in this financing as a lead order, which demonstrates that our new discovery has attracted the attention of an esteemed investor and experienced miner," said Goliath Resources CEO Roger Rosmus.
Crescat Capital, Goliath's largest shareholder, also participated in the C$8.6 million financing and maintains a roughly 18.4% ownership of the gold exploration company's shares.
"We look forward to Mr. McEwen's input and guidance as we further drill out the Surebet discovery and continue to unlock shareholder value at our Golddigger Property," Rosmus added. "[A]s well, we very much appreciate the continued support and guidance from the Crescat Capital team."
The remarkable consistency of high-grade gold-silver intercepts during the 2023 program demonstrates that Surebet is an appropriate moniker for the discovery zone.
All 98 holes targeting this discovery zone last year hit one or more of the three zones and visible gold was observed in the core pulled from 41 of them.
Highlights from the 2023 Surebet drilling include:
• 4.9 meters averaging 3.97 g/t gold and 84.4 g/t silver (5.75 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-23-115 (Surebet).
• Six meters averaging 14.66 g/t gold and 11 g/t silver (14.85 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-23-118 (Bonanza).
• 6.1 meters averaging 11.39 g/t gold and 148.9 g/t silver (14.01 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-23-126 (Surebet).
• 23 meters averaging 18.95 g/t gold and 95.3 g/t silver (21.08 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-23-157 (Surebet).
• 26.9 meters averaging 5.81 g/t gold and 719.1 g/t silver (14.68 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-23-173 (Surebet).
• 7.9 meters averaging 64.88 g/t gold and 8 g/t silver (65 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-23-173 (Bonanza).
• 27 meters averaging 11.07 g/t gold and 23 g/t silver (24.83 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD23-197 (Golden Gate).
Including the 124 holes drilled during 2023, Goliath has completed more than 65,000 meters of drilling in 234 holes at Golddigger.
"In 2023, Goliath successfully completed one of the most aggressive exploration campaigns of any company in the junior mining space. Their approximately 34,000 meters of drilling has now more fully fleshed out the Surebet Zone and has also proven that there is a robust stacked lode system here including the expansive Bonanza Shear and newly discovered Golden Gate Zone," said Quinton Hennigh, a technical and geological director of Crescat Capital. "In addition, Goliath's field teams have identified a plethora of new high-grade quartz-sulfide lodes similar in nature to Surebet scattered across the vast Golddigger project, all ready for drilling in 2024."
In addition to the roughly 34,000-meter drill program carried out at Golddigger, Goliath reports that its surface mapping and prospecting has identified five new strongly mineralized zones – Full House, Kahuna, Outpost, Humdinger and Lower Surebet – directly connected to the Surebet mineralizing system.
Kahuna is a new 600-meter-long extension of Bonanza Shear that lies about 2,000 meters to the northeast of Surebet Zone. Five holes were drilled at Kahuna during 2023.
Outpost hosts polymetallic quartz-sulfide veins, stockworks, and breccias discovered within sedimentary and volcanic rocks about 5,000 meters southeast of Surebet. Two holes were drilled at Outpost last year.
Humdinger has been traced 400 meters on surface southeast of the Surebet Zone and extended towards the west through the Real Deal Zone. Two holes were drilled at Humdinger last year.
Full House, which lies about 5,000 meters north of Surebet, hosts a series of mineralized shear zones sporadically outcropping at surface over 3,000 meters. Two holes were drilled at Full House last year.
Lower Surebet, which lies at the west end of the 1,800-meter-long Surebet Zone, has been traced 400 meters south along Real Deal. Four holes were drilled at Lower Surebet last year.
Prospecting and mapping were carried out across the entire 52,756-hectare (130,363 acres) Golddigger property that covers a 56-kilometer (35 miles) stretch of BC's famed Red Line, a geological contact zone – most of the major deposits in BC's Golden Triangle are found within 2,000 meters of the Red Line.
The 2023 prospecting made four discoveries – Treasure Island, Metallica, Heavy Hitter, and Full Contact – outcropping from the Golddigger Cambria Icefields claims about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Surebet.
Goliath says the mineralized zones in the northern portion of the Cambria Icefields show geologic indicators of an epithermal deposit, which could connect Treasure Island on the west with Metallica and Heavy Hitter on the east. Testing this hypothesis with the 2024 drilling campaign could result in high-grade epithermal-style mineralization over an area extending for more than 20 kilometers (12.5 miles).
"We are extremely proud of our entire team who all stepped up to the plate to make this year's program one to remember for the books," Rosmus said in October.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated after the digital and print editions were produced to include an update to Rob McEwen's equity interest in Goliath Resources, as well as an update to the geological models for Surebet Zone, Bonanza Shear, and the newly added Golden Gate Zone.
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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