The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - April 11, 2024
Completing 1,051 meters of drilling during the winter phase, Sitka Gold will resume its planned 15,000-meter drill program once the Yukon thaws and warmth returns to the territory.
Sitka Gold Corp. April 9 announced it has intercepted visible gold in the second hole drilled during its 2024 winter program at the company's RC Gold project in Yukon, Canada.
Located within the central region of Canada's Yukon Territory, in the prolific Tombstone Gold Belt, RC Gold is found roughly midway between Victoria Gold Corp.'s Eagle Gold mine and the Brewery Creek gold mine project.
At approximately 37,700 hectares (93,000 acres), this highly fertile and largely underexplored land package is situated about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Dawson City, at the headwaters of Clear Creek and Big Creek, a major placer mining district that is serviced by a network of gravel roads and trails.
According to an inaugural calculation completed last year, the Blackjack deposit at RC hosts 33.7 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.83 grams per metric ton (900,000 ounces) gold at a cutoff grade of 0.25 g/t gold; and the Eiger deposit hosts an additional 27.4 million metric tons averaging 0.5 g/t (440,000 oz) gold at the same cutoff.
Combined, the initial inferred resource amounts to roughly 1.34 million oz gold.
Sitka kicked off a 15,000-meter 2024 diamond drilling program at RC Gold in early March. During the spring portion of this program, Sitka tapped VG in its first two holes.
The most recent VG was observed in core from hole DDRCCC-24-58, or hole 58, which was collared approximately 70 meters north of the first hole drilled in the season, DDRCCC-24-057.
Visible gold observed at a depth of 476.9 meters in hole DDRCCC-24-058 at Blackjack.
Drilled to a depth of 534.9 meters, hole 58 tested the down dip extension of hole DDRCCC-23-047, a 2023 hole that cut 219 meters averaging 1.34 g/t gold and is regarded as the best gold mineralized intersection to date on the property.
Although it is currently being logged and cut and prepped for shipping to an assay lab, the company is encouraged by the initial core.
"Observations of visible gold within significant intervals of megacrystic quartz monzonite (intrusive rock) in the first two step out drill holes of our winter diamond drilling campaign at RC Gold are very encouraging and further support that robust gold mineralization remains persistent in this area, which is still open in all directions," said Sitka Gold CEO Cor Coe. "These successful step outs show that mineralization encountered in Hole 47 continues in Hole 57 and 58 and demonstrates the significant potential to expand higher grade gold mineralization to the south and southeast of the current Blackjack deposit, which remains open in all directions, and we are eagerly awaiting the assay results."
Confirming that the well-mineralized quartz monzonite intrusion intersected in hole 47 and 57 continues to depth, Sitka Gold is well underway in accomplishing its key objectives for its 2024 program.
"Our team has done a wonderful job getting an early start on the planned 15,000-meter diamond drilling program for this year," said Coe. "As the only company drilling in the Tombstone Gold Belt this winter, the advantages of having proximity to existing infrastructure, including year-round road access, are hard to ignore and bode well for current and future development of RC Gold."
Aiming to expand and define targets within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex, which hosts the Blackjack and Eiger gold deposits, this initial drilling has essentially achieved that objective.
The mineralization remains open and when drilling recommences, this area will continue to be a focus for expansion of the high-grade Blackjack deposit resource.
Drilling will also target expansion of the resource at the Eiger deposit and continue drilling of the Saddle zone, midway between Blackjack and Eiger, where drilling has indicated excellent potential for another resource.
Finally, the campaign aims to advance drill-ready targets elsewhere at RC Gold property, which hosts nine known intrusions with associated gold mineralization.
As it stands, the winter phase of the 2024 program has now been completed and the drill remains on site; drilling will recommence after a brief hiatus as the spring thaw has begun in the Yukon.
"The Blackjack gold deposit is a strong example of the geological potential of the district-scale and still largely underexplored land package where over 1.3 million ounces of gold has been defined and nine outcropped intrusions associated with gold mineralization have been identified to date," the gold explorer CEO added. "With a gold resource that is poised for significant growth and several additional high priority intrusion related gold targets across the 386 square kilometre property, Sitka is very well positioned to capitalize on a strengthening gold market as we continue with our fully funded 2024 diamond drilling program at RC Gold."
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