New results bolster Skukum Creek

Vancouver — Recent drill results, together with an analysis of historical core, have enabled Tagish Lake Gold (TLG-V) to identify three zones of mineralization not included in previous resource calculations for the Skukum Creek gold-silver property. The project is 80 km south of Whitehorse, Y.T.

The mineralized areas — Zone 2, Ridge Zone and Kuhn Splay — were identified in program that included four holes totalling 1,502 metres and a re-sampling of historical holes.

Hole 4, collared on Zone 2, cut 9.9 metres (from 173.6 metres below surface) grading 1.77 grams gold and 19.2 grams silver per tonne, including 0.42 metre of 40.4 grams gold and 243.2 grams silver. The hole appears to define the zone’s updip limit.

Re-sampling

Mineralization at Zone 2 consists of quartz-sulphide breccias and veins with locally massive sulphides, including sphalerite, galena, pyrite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite. The zone extends along strike for 150 metres and is open downdip and to the east and west. A previous hole, RG97-4, which cut 5.75 metres (from 467.3 metres) running 0.32 gram gold and 12.4 gram silver, is thought to represent the zone’s eastern limit. Re-sampling and re-logging of previous holes testing the zone returned 0.32-16.4 grams gold and 12.4-522.4 grams silver over widths of up to 12 metres.

Hole 4 also encountered narrow intervals of the Ridge zone at lower depths. The hole returned between 1-1.8 grams gold and 20.6-49.9 grams silver over widths from 0.24 to 0.75 metre.

Hole 3 cut 2.03 metres grading 2.2 grams gold and 85.4 grams silver at a down-hole depth of 238.6 metres, while hole 1 yielded 3 metres averaging 2.15 grams gold and 160.2 grams silver at 257 metres down-hole. Previous holes returned similar values.

Holes 1 and 2 also cut values at shallower depths. The first hole was highlighted by a 1.45-metre interval (from 126.5 metres) running 1.43 grams gold and 292.9 grams silver. Hole 2 cut a 0.36-metre section (from 107.6 metres) grading 1.37 grams gold and 70.8 grams silver. The intervals are thought to represent a new, upper-level zone of mineralization. Mineralization here is hosted by quartz-sulphide veins in the hangingwall of the Kuhn Fault structure.

The Kuhn Splay zone is believed to represent the western extension of the Rainbow zone where it intersects the Kuhn fault. A splay sub-parallel to the Kuhn zone has an apparent strike length of up to 200 metres and a downdip potential of 200 metres. Further surface and underground drilling are required to define the zone.

Past drilling returned between 3.53 and 11.26 grams gold and 92-518.1 grams silver. Tagish Lake intends to extend the 1,300-metre-level access 400 metres to the west to avoid the difficulty and expense of further drilling from surface. The property is in rugged, semi-arid terrain at elevations ranging from 1,000 metres in the river valley to 2,100 metres at the highest peak.

Temperatures range from minus 30C in the winter, when there is little snowfall, to plus 30C in the summer. The property is accessible by an all-weather highway and gravel roads.

Charleston vein

Elsewhere, prospecting and re-sampling over a 250-metre section of the Charleston vein exposure have turned up three potential shoots of mineralization. Values range between 1.29 and 1.77 grams gold and 121.4-437 grams silver over widths of 14-45 metres. Bonanza grades running up to 222 grams gold and 626.7 grams silver over 0.5 metre have been found outside the new shoots.

Based on a scoping study prepared by CME Consulting, Tagish Lake believes that an indicated resource equivalent to 1.7 million tonnes grading 7.45 grams gold and 240 grams silver would warrant a mining operation. CME holds a 30.7% interest in Tagish Lake Gold.

Previous operators Omni Resources and Trumpeter Yukon Gold (now merged into Tagish Lake Gold) drilled about 215 holes at Skukum Creek from the surface and advanced two underground drifts. The companies delineated a measured resource of 95,000 tonnes grading 3.92 grams gold and 332.83 grams silver in the Rainbow zone. The Kuhn zone was estimated to contain a measured resource of 62,000 tonnes grading 11.07 grams gold and 132 grams silver. The indicated portion of the Rainbow resource weighs in at 197,000 tonnes grading 7.28 grams gold and 299.5 grams silver. At Kuhn, the indicated resource is 156,000 tonnes grading 7.18 grams gold and 133.59 grams silver.