The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - July 15, 2024
Goliath's first hole of the 2024 program encountered multiple zones of visible gold mineralization and what appears to be the feeder zone of high-grade gold along the Surebet Corridor on its Golddigger property at the southern tip of British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Goliath Resources Ltd. July 15 announced that the first hole of its 2024 drill program has cut a 22.4-meter porphyritic intrusion with abundant visible gold, molybdenum, and bismuth mineralization that appears to be the feeder source of the vein systems outlined along the Surebet Corridor on the company's Golddigger property at that southern tip of British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Drilling completed by Goliath over the previous three seasons at Golddigger has outlined a roughly 1,800-meter-long corridor at Surebet that hosts three interrelated high-grade gold zones – Surebet, Bonanza Shear, and Golden Gate.
While a resource has yet to be calculated for the Surebet Corridor, a geological model completed early last year estimates that these zones host an estimated 22.9 million cubic meters of mineralized rock averaging 7.74 grams per metric ton gold-equivalent, which accounts for the value of both the gold and silver.
More than 34,000 meters of drilling completed last year significantly expanded the Surebet zones.
Highlights from the 2023 drilling along the Surebet corridor include:
• 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.
• 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.
• 7.9 meters averaging 64.88 g/t gold and 8 g/t silver (65 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-23-180.
• 27 meters averaging 11.07 g/t gold and 23 g/t silver (24.83 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD23-197.
A new model that integrates the 2023 drill data identified six new vein horizons connected to the previously identified zones – Big One, Eldorado, Goldzilla, Hotspot, and Whopper.
Testing for a porphyritic intrusion that is believed to be the feeder to the strong gold mineralization outlined so far in the zones at Surebet is the primary objective of a 15,000-meter drill program slated for Golddigger this year.
A recent report out of the Colorado School of Mines backs Goliath's belief that an extensive porphyry feeder is the source of gold mineralizing fluids along the Surebet Corridor.
As a member and supporter of the Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining (CASERM) – a collaboration between Colorado School of Mines and Virginia Tech aimed at transforming the way that geoscience data is used in the mineral resource industry – Goliath requested that Colorado School of Mines analyze the origin of mineralization at Surebet.
A recent report from the study confirmed that an extensive porphyry feeder source at depth is responsible for the high-grade gold mineralizing fluids at Surebet.
The abundance of visible gold, along with bismuth and up to 2-millimeter chunks of molybdenite, encountered over a 24.4-meter section from a depth of 529.3 meters in GD-24-235, the first drill hole of 2024, further confirms the hypothesis.
"The abundant particles of visible gold observed in this new zone give reason for a lot of excitement, especially given that mineralization is spatially associated with what might prove to be a causative intrusion," said Quinton Hennigh, the technical and geologic director at Crescat Capital, which owns an18.4% stake in Goliath. "Other indicators support this magmatic association including the presence of molybdenum and bismuth-rich minerals in the sulfide assemblage of the vein breccia."
Goliath is calling the apparent porphyry intrusion discovered in hole GD-24-235 the "Mothership Feeder Zone."
In addition to the feeder zone, hole GD-24-235 cut a 12-meter-thick interval of vein mineralization with abundant visible gold starting at a depth of 445 meters, reminiscent of GD-23-197, a nearby hole drilled last year (intercept in highlights above). The hole also encountered a new deep zone with abundant visible gold at 566.7 and 604.5 meters.
"I think the team at Goliath has done a remarkable job of identifying this target using sound science, and they should be congratulated for this remarkable discovery," Hennigh continued.
The company is following up on this newly discovered zone with several holes to test Mothership Feeder at greater depth, including a 900-meter hole currently underway.
Assays are pending from the mineralized intercepts in hole GD-24-235.
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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