VANCOUVER — Drills probing beneath the Bonanza trench at the Panorama Ridge property in southern British Columbia have returned some significant near-surface gold intercepts for Goldcliff Resource (GCN-V, GCFFF-O).
The drilling followed up on a successful trenching effort at Bonanza, where 518 channel samples taken at 1-metre intervals from a large exposed area returned an average grade of 3.31 grams gold per tonne. Within the 156-sq.-metre area, the Bonanza horizon covered 10 sq. metres and yielded channel samples averaging 27.1 grams gold.
Goldcliff set up two drilling platforms — one west and the other north of the Bonanza trench — and drilled a fan pattern of holes from each. The west-east drilling from the west setup tested for gold mineralization related to the conformity of the skarn alteration in the sediments, while the north-south pattern from the north platform sought mineralization related to crosscutting structures.
The west setup found what the company was looking for — skarn alteration hosting significant gold mineralization. Hole 72 cut 12.7 metres grading 0.54 gram gold from 22 metres depth. Hole 72 returned 10.8 metres of 1.06 gram gold from 17 metres, including 1 metre of 4.31 grams gold. Hole 63 hit 6 metres of 1.29 grams gold from 21 metres down-hole and hole 68 cut 8.3 metres of 1.13 grams gold from 26 metres. The longest intercept came from hole 66, which returned 20.7 metres of 0.53 gram gold, starting 20 metres below surface.
Holes drilled from the north platform also encountered gold mineralization, with intercepts generally longer and slightly lower in grade. Hole 76 returned 15.3 metres of 0.64 gram gold from 30 metres depth, hole 78 cut 18.4 metres averaging 0.55 gram gold from 27 metres down-hole, and hole 80 hit 14 metres of 0.53 gram gold from 25 metres depth.
The Bonanza horizon is 6 to 21 metres wide and open at depth. Bonanza is on the southwest, downslope portion of the York- Viking zone, which is the largest of three gold zones at Panorama Ridge. The Nordic, York-Viking and Tower gold zones are spread along a 1-km-long northeast-southwest line.
Goldcliff discovered gold at Panorama Ridge in 2000 while prospecting new logging road outcrops. The property hosts an area of gold mineralization related to silica-iron alteration, also known as skarn, in sedimentary rocks that cover 2 sq. km on surface.
The company was not prospecting in uncharted territory — Panorama Ridge is 4 km east of the historical Plate-Mascot nickel mine that produced 2.5 million oz. gold. Both are near Hedley, some 230 km east of Vancouver.
On news of the drill results, Goldcliff gained 1.5¢ to close at 8.5¢. The company has a 52-week trading range of 5-39.5¢ and has 50 million shares outstanding.
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