Liberty Gold completes resource estimate for Black Pine in Idaho

Liberty Gold (TSX: LGD; US-OTC; LGDTF) has released the first resource estimate for its 100%-owned Black Pine gold project in south-eastern Idaho, about 29 km northwest of the town of Snowville.

The project contains 105.1 million indicated tonnes grading 0.51 gram gold per tonne for 1.7 million oz. of gold and inferred resources of 31.2 million tonnes averaging 0.37 gram gold for 370,000 ounces. The estimate used a cut-off grade of 0.2 gram gold per tonne. 

Around 74% of the resource ounces lie within the Discovery zone, centered on the higher-grade oxide gold D-1, D-2, and D-3 discoveries, with the remaining 26% in seven additional satellite zones, Liberty Gold said.

In the Discovery Zone area in particular, a higher grade subset of the resource at a cut-off grade of 0.5 gram gold per tonne, consists of 30.52 million tonnes grading 1.04 grams gold per tonne for 1.02 million oz. of gold and inferred resources measure 4.44 million tonnes averaging 0.94 gram gold per tonne for 134,000 gold ounces.

The estimate “is a major catalyst for Liberty Gold, as we advance Black Pine toward a modern, low-cost, large-scale, multi-million-ounce heap-leach project,” Cal Everett, Liberty Gold’s president and CEO, stated in a press release. “Importantly, over half of the Black Pine deposit averages 1.0 grams per tonne of gold and with minimal royalty burden overall, should drive strong economics to be outlined with the release of the upcoming PEA.”

The Discovery zone area is the focus of the company’s 2021 exploration program, which will total about 52,000 metres of mainly step-out drilling. The drill program will aim to extend the current pit-constrained resource to the southwest, west, southeast, and east, and upgrade inferred resources to indicated, as well as test the potential of large, undrilled areas in the southern and northern portions of the permit area.

“Black Pine is one of the few oxidized Carlin-style deposits of this size and scale remaining in the Great Basin,” Everett said in the press release. “The ultimate gold endowment at Black Pine remains unknown, given the 14 sq. km, drill-confirmed scale of the system to date, of which only a small portion is covered in this first resource estimate.” 

The Black Pine property hosts a past-producing heap leach gold mine that produced about 435,000 oz. of gold at a grade of 0.7 gram gold per tonne from seven shallow pits between 1991 and 1998. 

The company’s other U.S.-based asset is the Goldstrike project in south-western Utah, which also hosts a past-producing mine that churned out 209,000 oz. of gold and 197,000 oz. of silver from 1988 to 1994.

Liberty Gold also has a 62.9% interest in the TV Tower gold-copper project in north-western Turkey’s Biga district. A Turkish subsidiary of Teck Resources (TSX: TECK A/TECK B; NYSE: TECK), holds the remaining 37.1%.

At press time in Toronto, Liberty Gold was trading at $1.31 per share. The company has about 264 million common shares outstanding for a $345.5 million market capitalization.