The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 9, 2024
Seabridge's drilling at Iskut is focused on discovering large porphyry copper-gold deposits similar to those found on its world-class KSM mine project.
Seabridge Gold Inc. Oct. 9 reported that drilling has cut a thick zone of promising copper-gold mineralization at the Snip North target on the company's Iskut project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Seabridge acquired Iskut in 2016 due to the property's potential to host large porphyry copper-gold deposits similar to the company's world-class KSM mine project about 30 kilometers (19 miles) to the east.
The 1980s-era Johnny Mountain mine at Iskut produced gold, silver, and copper from high-grade skarn mineralization.
The property also hosts Bronson Slope, a deposit near Johnny Mountain that hosts 517.3 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.09% (1.06 billion pounds) copper, 0.33 grams per metric ton (5.4 million ounces) gold, and 2.7 g/t (45 million oz) silver, according to a calculation completed in July.
Bronson Slope is one of three district-scale porphyry targets that have been identified at Iskut – Quartz Rise about 5,000 meters to the southeast and Snip North about the same distance to the northwest are the others.
Seabridge says regional geophysical surveys and surface geology have confirmed a district-scale structural corridor that connects Bronson Slope with the Quartz Rise and Snip North targets.
This year's C$12 million (US$8.8 million) program at Iskut is focused largely on following up on discoveries made at Snip North last year. Highlights from 2023 drilling at Snip North include:
• 252 meters averaging 0.61 g/t gold, 0.07% copper, and 1.36 g/t silver in hole SN-23-04.
• 277 meters averaging 0.8 g/t gold, 0.07% copper, and 1.19 g/t silver in hole SN-23-05.
"Last year's new gold discoveries at Snip North gave us clear direction on where to focus our efforts this year," said Seabridge Gold Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk.
The first three holes of the 2024 drilling at Snip North cut even thicker zones of strong copper-gold mineralization indicative of a nearby porphyry intrusive source. Highlights include:
• 303 meters averaging 0.75 g/t gold, 0.1% copper, and 3 g/t silver from a depth of 373 meters in hole SN-24-17.
• 478 meters averaging 0.49 g/t gold, 0.13% copper, and 1.5 g/t silver from a depth of 87 meters in hole SN-24-18.
• 532 meters averaging 0.48 g/t gold, 0.1% copper, and 1.2 g/t silver from a depth of 125 meters in hole SN-24-20.
Seabridge says the drilling completed so far has intersected an intensive and extensive potassium alteration event that is several hundreds of meters thick with known dimensions of 1,500 by 500 meters. Company geologists believe this alteration would most likely have occurred proximal to a magmatic-hydrothermal event generated by a yet-to-be-discovered porphyritic intrusion.
"We're excited by the apparent size of the event we are exploring and the substantial metal content that we have found to date. Our team believes we are now in the process of unlocking the porphyry potential we had in mind when we acquired the Iskut project," said Fronk. "We think this is a discovery in the making."
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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