Drill Results From Five Regional Targets At Black Pine
VANCOUVER - Liberty Gold Corp. reported additional reverse circulation (RC) drill results from the 2020 regional drill program at its Carlin-style Black Pine oxide gold property in southern Idaho, USA. Regional target drill results confirm the district scale of the Black Pine mineralized system.
Results have been received from the F, Rangefront, J and M zones and Southwest Extension Target, with additional drill holes pending. A total of eight regional drill targets were tested in 2020, with oxide gold encountered in all locations. During the same time frame, Liberty Gold continued to infill and step out drill in the now-amalgamated D-1, D-2 and D-3 zones in preparation for a maiden resource estimate anticipated for release in late Q1, 2021. The D-1, D-2 and D-3 zones (collectively, the “Discovery Focus Area”) underlie an area of approximately 1.6 square kilometers (km2).
“In addition to our well-established D-1, D-2 and D-3 zones, our drill program continues to demonstrate the widespread nature of gold mineralization surrounding the Black Pine Discovery Focus Area,” said, Cal Everett, President and CEO. “We look forward to the release of our Maiden Resource Estimate at Black Pine near the end of Q1 and expect that these regional zones will contribute to it. With a larger drilling program planned for 2021, we hope to expand these regional zones and identify additional areas of mineralization. After receipt of the Maiden Resource Estimate, we plan to advance the property to a Preliminary Economic Assessment.”
As presently understood, the F Zone forms a linear zone of shallow, oxidized gold mineralization that extends north-northwest from the north end of the historic CD Pit, parallel on a regional scale to the D-1 Zone. Mineralization is hosted in calcareous and sandy siltstone assigned to the same stratigraphic unit that hosts the D-3 Zone. Earlier in 2020, drill hole LBP149 encountered 22.9 m grading 2.21 grams per tonne (g/t) oxide gold (Au) at shallow depth. An additional three holes were drilled from the site of LBP149. In conjunction with historic drilling in the area, the F Zone presently covers an area of approximately 220 m x 100 m. widely-spaced, shallow, historical, gold-bearing drill holes extend north-northwestward an additional 600 m along trend. The F Zone and its potential northwest extension is a priority infill and extension drill target in 2021.
Assay results were received from one drill hole in the Rangefront Zone, with results from an additional two holes pending. Approximately 30 historical shallow RC holes test this target, as well as PQ core hole LBP093C, drilled in 2019, that returned 0.49 g/t Au over 55.3 m starting at a depth of 46.2 m. The Rangefront Zone presently measures approximately 500 x 250 m, elongate in a north-south direction, is shallow and thoroughly oxidized, easily accessible at the base of the Black Pine Range, and is open in all directions.
LBP248 was drilled in a west-southwest orientation from the same site as vertical hole LB093C, infilling a 92 m gap between two historical holes. The Rangefront Zone, as well as the 2 kilometer (km) wide, undrilled gap between it and the historical Tallman and CD pits to the northwest and west, respectively, is expected to be a central focus of exploratory drilling in 2021.
The J Zone measures approximately 350 x 200 m, elongate to the northeast. The target has been tested with over 40 shallow drill holes by historic operators, but it is still open in several directions. Liberty Gold tested the J Zone in 2017 with drill holes LBP004 and LBP005. Three additional holes were drilled to test for mineralization in the valley bottom along the southwestern edge of the J Zone, the location of a suspected mineralized structure that may extend southeast toward the eastern edge of the historic A Pit and D-2 Zone. All three holes intercepted significant thicknesses of gold mineralization. Additional drilling is planned in the 250 m-long untested area between LBP224 and the historic A Pit, possibly merging this zone with the D-2 Zone.
The M Zone is an area of shallow gold mineralization located along the range front approximately one km to the northeast of the historic Tallman Pit. The zone, as tested by 10 historic drill holes, including 1.70 g/t Au over 15.2 m in 93BX-82, and 1.33 g/t Au over 10.7 m and 0.98 g/t Au over 10.7 m in 93BX-36. As presently defined, the M Zone measures approximately 250 x 80 m, elongate in a northeast-southwest direction. Two holes were drilled in the northeast end of the zone, with results. Assays from an additional two holes are pending. The zone is currently open in all directions, with more drilling planned in this area in 2021.
The Southwest Extension lies to the southwest of the historic CD Pit and I Pit complex, in an area with a large gold-in-soil anomaly with no previous drill testing. Nine holes tested the soil anomaly. Shallow intervals of oxide gold were encountered in each hole, with the most substantial interval over a 15.2 m interval from surface in LBP200. Gold mineralization appears to be related in part to a northeast-southwest striking fault that separates the CD and I pits. Additional follow-up drill testing will be conducted in 2021.
2020 RC drilling at Black Pine concluded on December 17, with assays pending from 38 holes. The core drilling program, focused primarily on obtaining large-diameter core for metallurgical testing, was completed on November 7, 2020, with assays pending from 10 holes. Liberty Gold drilled a total of 46,227 m in 170 holes in 2020, including 43,875 m of RC and 2,342 m of core drilling.