New Gold-Copper Porphyry Target To Be Drilled At Iskut

TORONTO - Seabridge Gold has decided to proceed with drilling this summer at its Iskut project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle to test for a gold-copper porphyry similar to those Seabridge discovered at its nearby KSM project. Rigorous procedures for the program have been established to minimize the risks associated with COVID-19. Drilling is expected to begin in June.

Three years of work at Quartz Rise including two small drill campaigns have isolated a promising source of the lithocap above the old, high-grade Johnny Mountain Mine. Further geophysical and geochemical surveys and detailed mapping have been completed and an initial drill program totaling up to 8,000 meters has been designed to test a large intrusive system that is likely responsible for the Quartz Rise Lithocap and elevated gold and copper concentrations within a geological environment astonishingly similar to KSM.

This year’s drilling will evaluate about 750 meters of strike and 800 meters of vertical projection on coincident magnetic and IP anomalies that are positioned below and west of the well-developed lithocap. The plan is to drill across the IP anomaly and a distinct magnetic feature which encloses a diatreme encountered in previous drilling. The diatreme contained abundant fragments of vein material indicative of the potassic core to a gold-copper porphyry system. At KSM, testing this pattern of magnetic and resistivity anomalies led directly to the discovery of the Deep Kerr zone (cave-constrained Inferred Resource of 1.9 billion tonnes at 0.31g/T Au and 0.41% Cu).

In 2019, the geophysical footprint of this target was expanded to the south and southwest into an area where glacial erosion exposed the system vertically over at least 800 meters making the target amenable to drilling from surface. Mapping and sampling of this vertical exposure found extensive gold and copper anomalies within favorable thermally-altered wall rock. Several intrusions were identified which have been dated to about 187 million years, the same age as the KSM deposits.

Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk said, “We acquired Iskut because we saw clear evidence of a large porphyry system which looked to be similar in age and geology to our KSM project 30 kilometers to the east. We are now working with the Tahltan Nation, B.C. Regulators, our suppliers, and consulting with competitors to advance our target this season in a manner that will ensure safe operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Previous drilling at the Quartz Rise Lithocap focused on testing for high-grade epithermal precious metal occurrences associated with the uppermost portion of a porphyry mineral system. Results determined that the Quartz Rise Lithocap had been extensively eroded, exposing the upper part of a porphyry system. A hydrothermal breccia (diatreme) discovered in 2018 was found to contain clasts of porphyry-style vein fragments which confirmed an underlying porphyry source for the lithocap. This source is now the primary target at Iskut.

Exploration activities by Seabridge at the Iskut Project are being conducted under the supervision of William E. Threlkeld, Registered Professional Geologist, Senior Vice President of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. An ongoing and rigorous quality control/quality assurance protocol is employed in all Seabridge exploration campaigns. This protocol includes blank and reference standards. Cross-check analyses are conducted at a second external laboratory on at least 10% of the drill samples.