Resource Potential Expanded With 100-Meter Down-Plunge Base Metal Rich Step-Outs And New Footwall Copper-Silver Zone
VANCOUVER - HighGold Mining Inc. reported new assay results from the 2020 exploration drilling program at its flagship Johnson Tract polymetallic Gold Project in Southcentral Alaska. Results reported today include drill intersections that continue to expand the down-plunge and up-plunge extents of the JT Deposit (JT) and also demonstrate the continuity of the deeper Footwall Copper-Silver Zone (“FCZ”).
Drill Highlights: JT Expansion Down-Plunge - 11.0 meters at 8.6% Zn, 0.4% Cu (5.9 g/t AuEq), including 5.0 meters at 12.0% Zn, 0.3% Cu (7.9 g/t AuEq) in hole JT20-120; JT Expansion Up-Plunge - 18.3 meters at 5.9% Zn, 64 g/t Ag, 0.1% Cu, (5.2 g/t AuEq), including 4.0 meters at 9.5% Zn, 278 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu (10.0 g/t AuEq) in hole JT20-121; and Footwall Copper-Silver Zone Expansion – 12 meters at 2.8% Cu, 51 g/t Ag (5.0 g/t Au/Eq), within 58.6 meters at 1.0% Cu, 21 g/t Ag (2.2 g/t AuEq) in hole JT20-110.
“We continue to be encouraged by the continuation and strength of the JT Deposit mineral system at depth and by the emergence of the Footwall Copper-Silver Zone, a new area of copper-silver rich mineralization with resource potential that contributes to the overall metal endowment at Johnson,” said President and CEO, Darwin Green. “The current batch of drill results are base-metal dominant and highlight the presence of copper and zinc-rich domains within the polymetallic gold-rich JT Deposit. Drilling in 2020 significantly expanded the JT Deposit footprint with step-outs from the Indicated Mineral Resource of 750k oz AuEq (417k oz Au plus Zn, Cu, Pb, Ag) at a grade of 10.9 g/t AuEq (6.1 g/t Au) over true thickness of 20 to 50m. As new data is received, HighGold’s geological and structural model continues to evolve. Based on the new data, it appears that a significant portion of the mineral system is open to expansion down-plunge and is not cut-off at depth as interpreted by previous operators. With approximately C$18 million in the treasury, the Company is fully funded to further test the limits of these zones and other targets in 2021.”
The 2020 Drill Program (the “Program”) totaled 16,418 meters in 32 completed drill holes. Assays remain outstanding for 12 drill holes and will be released in batches as they are received and evaluated. The Au-Cu-Zn-Ag-Pb mineralization associated with the JT Deposit has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 meters and a down-plunge distance of 400 meters and remains open for expansion along strike to the northeast and southwest, and at depth.
Drill holes JT20-108 and JT20-110 were drilled on the same cross-section, approximately 100 meters apart, to test the area 25 meters to 50 meters along strike from previously released step-out drill holes along the northeast, down-plunge edge of the JT Deposit. The results from hole JT20-110 were particularly encouraging with a broad 58.3-meter intersection of copper-silver dominant mineralization representing the Footwall Copper Zone. The FCZ is a newly defined subzone of the JT Deposit and has now been intersected in six (6) holes. Holes JT20-115 and JT20-113, drilled as 50-meter step-outs above and below these two (2) holes, are still pending receipt of assays.
Drill hole JT20-120 was a farther 75-meter step-out to the northeast from the JT20-108/JT20-110 cross-section and intersected an upper 6-meter gold-zinc zone and lower 11-meter zinc-copper zone corresponding to the JT Deposit. Hole JT20-120 has now extended the limit of mineralization 100 meters beyond the modeled resource outline and the zone remains open along strike to the northeast and down-plunge. Drill hole JT20-121 was designed to test the shallow southwest strike extension of the JT Deposit, 25 meters outside the defined mineral resource and within 50 meters of surface. The hole intersected 18.3 meters of encouraging zinc-gold-silver mineralization and the zone remains open in this direction. Assays for hole JT20-122, a further 25-meter step-out to the southwest, are pending.
Assay results for an additional three (3) drill holes, JT20-097, JT20-101 and JT20-105, have been received for the Northeast Offset Target (“NEO”), located 500 to 800 meters northeast of the JT Deposit. Significant results include 0.7 meters at 31.2% Zn, 0.1 g/t Au, 2 g/t Ag, <0.1% Cu (19.2 g/t AuEq) in JT20-101, and 0.8 meters at 3.0 g/t Au, 7 g/t Ag, 2.0% Cu, 3.1% Zn (7.9 g/t AuEq) in JT20-105. Assay results for an additional four (4) holes remain outstanding for NEO.
The narrow intercepts reported to date for NEO are interpreted as distal-type mineralization similar to that found peripheral to the main JT Deposit. Taken together with historic results and geological observations of the nine (9) holes completed this year at NEO, the Company currently interprets less offset along the Dacite Fault than was originally estimated. Large gaps in drilling exist between the JT Deposit and the NEO Target and these areas will be a focus for drill planning in 2021 to target fault displaced extensions of the JT Deposit.
At the North Trend target, results have been received for three (3) drill holes, JT20-099, JT20-104, and JT20-107. Anomalous gold values were intersected in JT20-099, including 6.0 meters at 0.7 g/t Au, 8 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu, 0.4% Zn (1.5 g/t AuEq). No significant mineralized intervals were intersected in holes JT20-104 or JT20-107.