Strategic reassessment of RC leads to record gold intercepts.

Persistence and strategic exploration in Yukon's mineral-rich landscapes propelled Sitka Gold Corp. to new heights in 2024, as the company expanded its land holdings, uncovered high-grade mineralization, and identified promising new targets at its flagship RC Gold project, solidifying its position as one of the most ambitious players in the Tombstone Gold Belt.

Holding an extensive portfolio of mineral properties across North America, Sitka Gold continued to advance its exploration activities in 2024 with a focus on gold, silver, and copper.

At the forefront is the 431-square-kilometer (166 square miles) RC Gold project, the company's flagship property located approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Dawson City and about 110 kilometers (68 miles) northwest of Mayo.

According to an inaugural resource calculation completed early in 2023, the Blackjack deposit at RC hosts 33.7 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.83 grams per metric ton (900,000 ounces) gold at a cutoff grade of 0.25 g/t gold; and the Eiger deposit hosts an additional 27.4 million metric tons averaging 0.5 g/t (440,000 oz) gold at the same cutoff.

Beyond RC, Sitka maintains a diverse range of projects, including the OGI silver-lead-zinc project in Yukon, the Alpha Gold project in Nevada, the Burro Creek gold and silver project in Arizona, and the Coppermine River copper project in Nunavut.

At the beginning of 2024, Sitka refocused its exploration strategy to prioritize RC Gold, following a strategic reassessment of its portfolio. The decision was driven by the significant resource potential at RC and the opportunity to achieve critical mass in resource size, positioning it as the most impactful project in their portfolio.

Hence, the year's exploration at RC Gold focused on deepening the understanding of existing resources and strategically assessing new zones of potential mineralization.

Before the snow could thaw, Sitka mobilized crews and drill rigs to the site to initiate a 15,000-meter drilling campaign, a program focused primarily on expanding the Blackjack zone, with particular attention given to extending higher-grade areas discovered in previous campaigns.

Despite the frigid conditions, Sitka's team took advantage of the year-round road access to get a jumpstart on their planned activities at RC and the initial visuals from the 1,051 meters of drilling during the winter program made the early start worthwhile.

While awaiting assays from winter drilling, Sitka acquired Barney Ridge, a 17.8-square-kilometer (6.8 square miles) area located roughly nine kilometers (5.6 miles) west of the Blackjack and Eiger deposits. According to the company, this new addition features gold mineralization that is similar to what has been found at RC.

Shortly after this acquisition, the results came in for its first hole from its winter campaign, which made an immediate impact, striking 191 meters averaging 1.16 g/t gold in hole DDRCCC-24-57.

Drilled to a depth of 550.2 meters, Hole 57 tested the southeastern extension of the well-mineralized quartz monzonite intrusion encountered in DDDRCC-23-047, a 2023 hole that cut 219 meters averaging 1.34 g/t gold and was regarded as the best gold mineralized intersection on the property for some time.

"The results from Hole 57 are very significant as they confirm that the higher-grade gold mineralization discovered in Hole 47 last year continues a further 45 metres to the southeast and 175 metres to vertical depth and remains wide open," said Sitka Gold CEO Cor Coe in May.

Along with the results from its first hole for the year, less than a week after announcing its acquisition of Barney Ridge, Sitka also reported the completion of all exploration requirements necessary to fully acquire the RC and BeeBop properties.

RC and BeeBop comprise 124 mineral claims over 27.6 square kilometers (10.7 square miles) and include the two-kilometer by three-kilometer Big Creek Stock, one of nine known gold-bearing intrusions within the RC Gold project area.

"Upon completion of these amendments, the company will have secured a 100% ownership in all the underlying properties that comprise our flagship RC Gold project," said Coe.

With these acquisitions finalizing Sitka's hold over its flagship properties, the company's confidence grew. Along with the initial results from the winter drilling campaign, combined with the newly consolidated land position, this set an enthusiastic tone as Sitka looked ahead to the summer exploration phase.

The progress made in early 2024 reinvigorated their strategy, pushing the team to escalate their efforts in expanding known deposits and exploring untested zones across RC Gold.

Sitka Gold Corp.

Consolidating RC Gold

It wasn't long before the second hole of the season, DDRCCC-24-058, was announced, adding further weight to the promising early drilling phase.

Drilled to a depth of 534.9 meters, 058 extended the mineralization encountered in hole 047 by 200 meters, confirming persistent gold presence downdip.

This significant result strengthened Sitka's understanding of the continuity of the mineralization and provided further evidence that the gold-rich zones discovered in previous campaigns have potential for expansion at depth.

"The information from Hole 58 has also provided key insight into the three-dimensional continuity of the robust gold mineralization and associated structural controls in this recently discovered, higher-grade zone of the Saddle intrusion," the Sitka CEO said.

After receiving the assay results from holes 57 and 58, Sitka promptly expanded its drilling efforts by mobilizing additional resources to build on the initial success, focusing on expanding higher-grade zones at Blackjack and testing new prospective areas across the Saddle zone and adjacent targets.

This expanded drilling effort aimed to further delineate the extent of mineralization and establish continuity within the newly identified high-grade corridors.

Riding the momentum, Sitka took one of its largest steps of the year – consolidating the RC Gold project by acquiring the Clear Creek property from Victoria Gold Corp. This acquisition expanded Sitka's footprint in the Tombstone Gold Belt and signified the consolidation of the RC Gold property.

"The potential for this area, including the newly acquired Clear Creek property, to host several multi-million-ounce intrusion related gold deposits is becoming more evident as we continue to systematically explore the region," said Coe in June. "With the entire Clear Creek Intrusive Complex now under Sitka's 100% ownership we will be pushing to unlock value in this target rich area as we pursue additional discoveries while expanding these wide-open deposits."

Covering an additional 45 square kilometers (17.4 square miles), Clear Creek is an area known for its intrusion-related gold mineralization and is located immediately south of the Blackjack and Eiger deposits.

Clear Creek has a history of exploration dating back to the early 1990s, with several notable zones of gold mineralization identified over the years.

Among these are the Contact Zone, which lies within the Pukelman Stock, the Rhosgobel Stock, and the Bear Paw Breccia.

Historical drilling at these sites has returned impressive results, including 74.7 meters averaging 0.83 g/t gold and 67.1 meters averaging 1.03 g/t gold at the Rhosgobel intrusion, and a high-grade interval of 10.7 meters averaging 20.46 g/t gold at the Contact Zone.

In addition to increasing Sitka's land position, the acquisition came with a comprehensive geological database accumulated from years of exploration, which includes geological, geochemical, and geophysical information.

This wealth of data, when combined with Sitka's growing understanding of mineralization at RC Gold, provided a solid foundation for unlocking new zones of mineralization and advancing the overall project. This also allowed the company to outline targets within the new property and opt to add it to its 2024 program.

Extraordinary intercept

By mid-July, Sitka announced multiple occurrences of visible gold (VG) in the newly completed drill holes DDRCCC-24-061 and DDRCCC-24-062, which were drilled at the southern extent of the Blackjack Zone. These drill holes aimed to test the shallower up-dip extensions of the high-grade zones identified during previous campaigns.

Hole 061 returned visible gold at depths of 249.1 and 289.2 meters, while hole 062 revealed multiple occurrences of VG between 76 and 526 meters, indicating that gold mineralization continued along the newly identified Blackjack Mineralized Corridor – a corridor that represents a major structural feature, which the company believes could be an important control for mineralization, particularly in the Saddle and adjacent intrusion areas.

In response to these positive results, Sitka mobilized a second drill to the site to accelerate the exploration efforts, focusing on expanding the mineralized zones at Blackjack and advancing other high-priority targets across the newly unified Clear Creek Intrusive Complex.

The promising results from the first phase of summer drilling were soon bolstered by an announcement in August of the company's best gold intercept to date – 290.5 meters averaging 1.1 g/t gold from hole DDRCCC-24-062, including 34.5 meters averaging 2.61 g/t gold.

This title would not last long, however, as the company reported its deepest and most substantial gold intercept in October.

Hole DDRCCC-24-068, drilled to a depth of 708.7 meters, revealed consistent mineralization over 678.1 meters averaging 1.04 g/t gold, extending the known mineralized zone by an additional 200 meters vertically.

This remarkable intercept placed Sitka's results among some of the most significant in the North, only comparable to intercepts like those drilled at Snowline Gold Corp.'s nearby Rogue project and Novagold Resources Inc.'s Donlin Gold project in Alaska.

"As the deepest hole ever drilled into this system, Hole 68 has significantly extended the gold mineralization at Blackjack, approximately 200 metres below any previous drilling, and demonstrates the potential for higher-grade mineralization to continue deeper in what appears to be a higher-grade component of this gold system and current drilling is focused on expanding this exciting new zone," said Coe in late October.

While success at Blackjack continued to drive excitement, Sitka's decision to integrate Clear Creek into its exploration efforts added another layer of potential to the RC Gold project. This expanded focus allowed the company to further explore promising targets like Rhosgobel and Pukelman, both situated within the Clear Creek property.

In early October, Sitka reported promising initial findings from the Rhosgobel intrusion. The company's first two diamond drill holes uncovered multiple instances of visible gold, extending the known mineralization by 250 meters beyond historical depths.

Hole DDRCRG-24-001 intersected roughly 200 meters of mineralized quartz monzonite, with visible gold observed at key intervals, while hole DDRCRG-24-002 returned visible gold at eleven different depths.

Sitka also reported encouraging early-stage exploration results from the Pukelman intrusion, where the initial two diamond drill holes also uncovered visible gold and abundant sheeted quartz veining. In addition to visible gold observed in the drill core, surface rock samples from the Contact Zone – located just south of the Pukelman intrusion – returned assays up to 67.9 g/t gold.

By November, Sitka Gold had drilled a total of 20 holes, covering approximately 9,263 meters – more than half of its planned 15,000-meter campaign.

2024 has proven to be a year of significant strides for the RC Gold project and for Sitka Gold, with new discoveries and expanded mineralization setting the stage for what could be even more substantial year as the exploration continues into 2025.