The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - November 15, 2024
B2Gold has completed 18,380 meters of resource definition and 6,610 meters of exploration drilling at its Goose Mine project in Nunavut this year.
B2Gold Corp. Nov. 13 reported that the 2024 drill program at Back River has confirmed the continuity of high-grade gold mineralization within the Umwelt deposit that will deliver ore to the Goose Mine mill after operations begin in 2025 and cut high-grade gold in deposits outside of the existing mine plan.
Lying in southwestern Nunavut, about 325 miles (520 kilometers) northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the 144,245-acre (58,734 acres) Back River project consists of ten claim blocks – Bath, Beech, Boot, Boulder, Del, George, Goose, Malley, Needle, Wishbone.
B2Gold, which acquired Back River last year through the C$1.1 billion buyout of Sabina Gold & Silver Corp., is developing a 310,000-ounce-per-year gold mine at Goose, slated to begin production before mid-2025.
While the primary objective at Back River is to pour the first gold at Goose Mine by the second quarter, the company invested roughly $28 million (C$39 million) on a Back River exploration program focused on enhancing and growing the significant resource base at the Goose and surrounding regional targets.
Going into 2024, the Goose project hosted 9.7 million metric tons of measured resource averaging 5.75 grams per metric ton (1.8 million oz) gold, 16.6 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 6.18 g/t (3.3 million oz) gold, and 8.4 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.64 g/t (1.8 million oz) gold.
These resources are found in five deposits – Umwelt, Llama, Goose, Echo and Nuvuyak – along a five-mile (eight kilometers) trend at Goose.
Out of the 25,125 meters of drilling completed at Back River so far this year, roughly 18,380 meters targeted the Umwelt and Llama deposits that are within the current mine plan.
B2Gold says the 14,480 meters drilled this year at Umwelt has confirmed the continuity of high-grade mineralization. The company says some of the holes cut higher-grade gold than was predicted by the current mineral resource model.
Highlights from drilling at Umwelt include:
• 11.1 meters averaging 27.28 g/t gold from a depth of 457.8 meters in hole 24GSE-671.
• 15.95 meters averaging 19.63 g/t gold from a depth of 389.9 meters in hole 24GSE-675.
• 13.58 meters averaging 9.27g/t gold from a depth of 664.3 meters in hole 24GSE-677Z3.
• 15.5 meters averaging 11.18 g/t gold from a depth of 779.5 meters in hole 24GSE-681.
• 22.79 meters averaging 29.49 g/t gold from a depth of 332.3 meters in hole 24GSE-684B.
• 21.45 meters averaging 10.51 g/t gold from a depth of 305 meters in hole 24GSE-685.
One hole drilled at Llama this year (24GSE-663) cut 27.05 meters averaging 14.34 g/t gold 530 meters down plunge from the open pit at Llama, demonstrating the continuity of mineralization below the surfacing deposit at the west end of a five-mile (eight kilometers) trend of mineralization included in the current Goose Mine plan.
B2Gold, however, is particularly excited about the high gold grades drilled at Nuvuyak and Mammoth, two deposits down-plunge from the Goose Main deposit that are not included in the current mine plan.
One exploration hole drilled at Nuvuyak (24GSE-683Z) cut 28.8 meters averaging 6.39 g/t gold, including 6.45 meters averaging 23.49 g/t gold, 1,000 meters west and down-plunge from the Goose Main deposit.
The best hole drilled at Mammoth, which lies between Nuvuyak and Goose Main, cut 10.96 meters averaging 17.45 g/t gold, including 2.51 meters averaging 68.61 g/t gold.
B2Gold says the high-grade gold drilled at Nuvuyak and Mammoth demonstrates the potential to expand the resources and extend the life of the Goose Mine.
In addition to drilling, geological crews carried out mapping, prospecting, trench, sampling, and geophysics across six of the Back River properties – Boot, Boulder, Del, BB13, Needle and Beech.
The company says this regional exploration has generated new targets that will be further evaluated and drilled in 2025.
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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