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North of 60 Mining News - December 13, 2024
Goliath Resources Ltd. Dec. 12 reported a one-meter intercept averaging 225 grams per metric ton gold and 88.9 g/t silver in the aptly named Bonanza Zone on the company's Golddigger project at that southern tip of British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Drilling completed by Goliath over the previous three seasons outlined three interrelated high-grade gold zones – Surebet, Bonanza Shear, and Golden Gate – along the 1,800-meter-long Surebet Corridor at Golddigger.
While a resource has yet to be calculated, a geological model completed early in 2023 estimates that these zones together host an estimated 22.9 million cubic meters of mineralized rock averaging 7.74 g/t gold-equivalent, which accounts for the value of both the gold and silver.
This model, however, does not include the results from the drilling completed in 2023 or 2024.
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.
Goliath says all 64 holes drilled in the Bonanza High-Grade Gold Area, a roughly 760-by-410-meter subset of the larger Surebet Corridor, cut significant mineralization, and visible gold was observed in 62 of the holes.
The abundance of visible gold prompted the company to shift from fire assay to photon assay techniques to more accurately reflect the quantities of gold drilled.
"Early in our 2024 drilling campaign, we observed a much higher percentage of visible gold in the drill core compared to the 2023 drilling campaign. In 2023, 32% of the holes had visible gold and in 2024 it increased to 92%, so we made the decision to switch to the photon assaying method," said Goliath Resources CEO Roger Rosmus.
A relatively new mineral sample analysis technology developed and commercialized in Australia, PhotonAssay uses high-energy X-ray to excite atomic nuclei for the enhanced analysis of gold, silver, copper, and complementary elements in as little as two minutes.
One of the primary advantages PhotonAssay has over traditional fire assaying is this new analytical method can assay the entire section of drill core being sampled without destroying it. Where a small portion of the core is cut out and melted down to complete fire assay – retaining the remaining core for later verification, metallurgical studies, or other purposes – PhotonAssay can assay and retain the whole core sample.
For projects with an abundance of coarse gold, fire assaying can skew the results higher or lower depending on whether the quarter of core selected has more or less coarse gold than the average.
"Photon assaying is being much more widely used in gold discoveries with significant amounts of gold, although it increased the time for us to receive assay results, we are delighted we made the decision," Rosmus said.
As a result of the increased turnaround time, Goliath has only received results from a handful of holes drilled this year. The results that it has received from the lab, however, have been impressive.
GD-24-235, reported by Goliath earlier this year, cut 5.24 meters averaging 34.26 g/t gold and 34.15 g/t silver (35.04 g/t gold-equivalent).
Highlights from the latest batch of Bonanza drill results include:
• Five meters averaging 14.55 g/t gold and 9.8 g/t silver (14.68 g/t gold-equivalent), including a three-meter subsection averaging 24.22 g/t gold and 16 g/t silver (24.42 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-24-237.
• 8.95 meters averaging 30.39 g/t gold and 16 g/t silver (30.55 g/t gold-equivalent), including a one-meter subsection averaging 225.03 g/t gold and 19.5 g/t silver (45.6 g/t gold-equivalent) in hole GD-24-249.
Assays remain pending for 60 holes out of the 64 holes drilled at Surebet this year. Goliath is also awaiting results from samples submitted from 29 previous Surebet holes that were relogged this year and 12 holes drilled this year at Treasure Island, a gold-rich volcanic-hosted massive sulfide target about 36 kilometers (22 miles) north of the Surebet Corridor.
"The 2024 drilling campaign is the best season yet at the Surebet discovery as it gets better and better the more drilling we complete," said Rosmus. "We look forward to the remaining holes from the 2024 drilling campaign."
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