Carlin-Type Gold Mineralization Targeted With Commencement Of Drilling At Alpha Gold
VANCOUVER - Sitka Gold Corp. reported that drilling has commenced at its Alpha Gold Property located at the southeast end of the Cortez Trend. The Alpha Gold Property is located approximately 40 kilometres southeast of the Nevada Gold Mines Cortez Mine Complex in Nevada which includes the Pipeline, Cortez Hills and Gold Rush mines. Similar stratigraphy and structure occur along trend to the Alpha Gold Property where previous drilling has intersected Carlin-Type mineralization and strong alteration. The company believes that there is significant potential for high grade gold mineralization within structures at the Horse Canyon/Devil’s Gate contact, which is the uppermost horizon of potential gold bearing mineralization. The drill program will include approximately 1,500 m in up to 5 holes at the currently permitted drill sites.
“Our systematic and disciplined approach to exploration at Alpha Gold has resulted in progressively better gold intercepts and a clearer understanding of where we are located within this very large, Carlin-type gold system,” said, Cor Coe, Director and CEO. “Our geological modelling has evolved tremendously since we first discovered this system and we believe the targets generated for this drill campaign provide the ideal framework for the discovery of a multi-million ounce, Carlin-type gold deposit at a minable depth.”
The Alpha target: AG21-08 (15.2 m @ 0.46 g/t Au) and AG22-10 (21.3 m @ 1.21 g/t Au) is best defined by drilling. These holes define the east limb of an anticline approximately located by early surface mapping. Gold grade increases up-limb to the west. A surface mapped normal fault then drops the section down to the west. No drilling has yet tested the down-dropped side of this fault or the hinge and west limb of the anticline. The current, evolving exploration model anticipates peak grades in the hinge zone which should be characterized by more intense fracturing than the limbs. Red crosshatch has intersection of key host rock horizons within the hinge zone, the most probable location of underground gold grades consistently in excess of 5 g/t. This model should be broadly applicable along the entire 7.5 km NNW anticline target trend on the Alpha Gold project. Testing will take place from the currently permitted drill sites along the northern 2 km of the target trend.
High priority sites providing optimal angles on the target near holes 8 and 10 include the site of AG21-09 which encountered and was captured in karst cavities, resulting in severe sample recovery problems. Rocks adjacent to karst have yielded anomalous gold grades at Alpha and the cavities seem to reflect dissolution of carbonate rocks by pre- or post-mineral stage acidic fluids. AG22-09 cut 10.7 m @ 0.51 g/t Au in the immediate walls to the karst zone before completely losing all sample recovery. Holes drilled SW and secondarily NW from this site will directly test the western, down-dropped side of the Hingeline fault and the inferred hinge zone. The site of AG21-06 south of AG22-10 provides a target angle with potential to hit the Horse Canyon to Devils Gate host horizon first on the east side of the Hingeline fault, then cross the fault and hit the host horizon again on the downthrown side of the fault.
At the northern end of the target trend a hole is planned drilling SW from the site of AG21-03. AG21-03 produced a low grade, but exceptionally thick gold intercept (89.9 m @ 0.11 g/t Au) characterized by black passive silicification and jasperoid that is interpreted to be significantly off axis from the target zone. A thick intercept with much higher grade is possible from this hole and would be extremely important to proving the size and strength of the Carlin-type gold system at Alpha. Three additional sites north of AG21-03 in the large essentially untested segment of the trend north of AG21-03 and south of AG21-09 are also important. Prior holes in this segment are both interpreted to be off the target axis but yielded good indications of the fringes of the system. AG21-04 cut 53 m @ 746 ppm arsenic. In AG21-03 the Horse Canyon to Devils Gate host horizon was mostly karsted out, but still produced 58 m @ 0.100 g/t Au and 329 ppm arsenic. This intercept may relate to the N-S structure near the collar which may also be important and is otherwise untested. Objectives of this drill program are to seek out the high-grade core of the Carlin-type gold system at Alpha and better define its geometry, distribution, and strength. This program will target the Horse Canyon to Devils Gate target horizon and provide additional target definition towards eventual testing of the McColley Canyon Fm target horizon below.