The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - July 24, 2024
Drill core from Valley that exceeds the height of Toronto's CN Tower; 558.7 meters averaging 1.26 g/t gold.
Snowline Gold Corp. July 24 announced that the first 2024 holes drilled at the Valley deposit in Yukon not only returned extensive mineralized intervals reminiscent of past 400- to 500-meter results but have also outperformed the initial resource estimate recently reported.
"We are encouraged by such a strong start to our 2024 exploration campaign and excited to have regional drilling underway," said Snowline Gold CEO Scott Berdahl. "Our first two holes of the season at our Rogue project's Valley deposit underscore the strength and consistency of the deposit, particularly when it comes to high-grade, near-surface gold mineralization."
In mid-June, Snowline unveiled its inaugural mineral resource estimate for Valley, which was based on 27,911 meters of drilling from 68 holes over two years. This estimate revealed 76 million metric tons of indicated resources averaging 1.66 grams per metric ton (4.05 million ounces) gold, plus 81 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 1.25 g/t (3.26 million oz) gold at a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t gold – a total of 7.3 million ounces with significant potential for expansion.
Situated within the greater Rogue property, the Valley deposit has rapidly developed into a significant bulk tonnage gold resource.
Encompassing a 60- by 30-kilometer cluster of intrusions known as the Rogue Plutonic Complex, this area at the eastern end of the Tombstone Gold Belt has shown exceptional continuity of strong, non-refractory gold mineralization beginning at surface.
This geological setting has made Valley comparable to the multi-million-ounce reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS) deposit at Kinross Gold's Fort Knox mine in Alaska, though Valley boasts substantially higher grades of gold.
Building on this foundation, Snowline embarked on its largest exploration campaign to date for 2024, with plans to complete 25,000 meters of drilling between five drills.
Of this, 15,000 meters were allocated to advance Valley, pushing to expand the known mineralization and gain a more quantitative understanding of the deposit. This included testing potential extensions of the system in various directions and conducting ongoing metallurgical work, environmental surveys, and scoping studies to inform economic assessments.
The remaining drilling was assigned to an aggressive regional drill campaign designed to test multiple other targets, including a 4,000-meter program at the Jupiter target on the Einarson property, following up on high-grade orogenic mineralization encountered in 2021.
Initial observations indicated promising mineralization, expanding the known width and depth of the system, with assays pending.
"I would also like to congratulate Snowline's team on their exploration success at on our Einarson project's Jupiter target, an orogenic gold system, where careful structural mapping and interpretation informed bold step-out holes that meaningfully expand the mineralized footprint of the target, which remains open in all directions," added Berdahl. "We are excited by these initial observations, and we look forward to the analytical results from current holes along with the rest of the ongoing Phase II drill program at Jupiter."
The balance of drilling is being allocated for a 1,000-meter phase-one program at Aurelius, 1,000 meters at Cujo, and 1,000 meters at Reid.
Early results at Aurelius show encouraging signs of mineralization, setting the stage for further exploration. Similarly, the Cujo target, added to the portfolio in early 2023, saw a 1,000-meter drill program aimed at vectoring toward known intrusions and identifying mineralized zones. Preliminary findings were positive, indicating potential for significant gold deposits.
The Reid target, also acquired alongside Cujo, underwent a 1,000-meter drill program, building on previous exploration results to define the extent of mineralization.
Assays are pending for all these targets, and the comprehensive exploration strategy aims to uncover new zones of mineralization and validate the potential of Snowline's extensive property portfolio.
Plan map of drill results and progress at Valley, highlighting current results in holes V-24-071 and V-24-072. Past analytical results are faded, while instances of visible gold in holes awaiting assay are marked by yellow spheres.
Circling back to Valley, results from the 2023 exploration season continued to "one-up" assays received as each batch seemingly grew longer and more mineralized.
From a 553.8-meter hole averaging 2.48 g/t gold to a 539.4-meter hole averaging 1.2 g/t gold, then a 558.7-meter hole averaging 1.26 g/t gold, to its last reported assays that included a 424-meter interval averaging 1.43 g/t gold, the company is laden with gold-mineralized core.
The latest drill results only keep trend with these extensively mineralized "columns" and highlight the robust potential of this discovery.
Highlights from the first two holes include:
• 449.7 meters averaging 1.77 g/t gold from surface in hole V-24-071, including 169.2 meters averaging 2.89 g/t gold from surface.
• 295.3 meters averaging 2.66 g/t gold from surface in V-24-072, including 100.8 meters averaging 4.67 g/t gold from surface, with 12 meters averaging 8.38 g/t gold from 58 meters.
Drilling at Valley is currently ongoing, with three drill rigs working to update and expand the current resource. To date, roughly 11,000 meters have been drilled in 21 holes, with three additional holes in progress.
Perhaps most excitingly, the company reports that trace instances of visible gold and sheeted quartz vein arrays have been observed both within and beyond the confines of the current initial mineral resource estimate.
"We eagerly await assay results from the many additional holes drilled within and adjacent to the current deposit, and we look forward to seeing results from additional Valley-style gold targets that are set to be drilled soon," finished Berdahl.
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