Sitka drills deep visible gold to expand Yukon project

Sitka Gold (TSXV: SIG; US-OTC: SITKF) says new assays showing mineralization at depth “significantly” expand the Blackjack deposit at its RC project in the Yukon.

Drill hole DDRCCC-24-068 returned 678.1 metres grading 1.04 grams gold per tonne starting from surface, including 409.5 metres of 1.36 grams gold from 273 metres depth and 5.5 metres of 17.59 grams gold from 589.5 metres downhole, the company said on Monday.

“As the deepest hole ever drilled into this system [708.7 metres], hole 68 has significantly extended the gold mineralization at Blackjack, approximately 200 metres below any previous drilling,” Sitka CEO Cor Coe said in a release. “[It] demonstrates the potential for higher-grade mineralization to continue deeper in what appears to be a higher-grade component of this gold system.”

Shares in Sitka Gold jumped 10% early Monday before easing to 4% stronger by early afternoon in Toronto at 52¢ apiece, valuing the company at $160.3 million. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of 13¢ to 57¢.

Drill hole DDRCCC-24-067 returned 99.2 metres grading 1.01 grams gold from 448.5 metres depth, including 2.5 metres of 18.39 grams gold from 516.6 metres downhole. The result confirms the southern extension of mineralization intersected in holes 58 and 62 both laterally and at depth, the company said. Watch a 2023 Northern Miner video of the project.

Tombstone belt

The RC project, about 100 km east of Dawson City, is among several in the Yukon’s Tombstone Gold Belt seeking to be the territory’s next gold mine after Victoria Gold’s Eagle mine closed this year. The belt ranges from Kinross Gold’s (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) Fort Knox mine in Alaska to the higher grades of Snowline Gold’s (CSE: SGD) projects in the Yukon near The Northwest Territories.

Sitka says results are pending for six diamond drill holes, including the first ones ever completed at the Rhosgobel intrusion 5 km south of Blackjack. Crews observed multiple occurrences of visible gold in the drill core, the company said this month. Assays are also due from the Pukelman target 2 km southeast from Blackjack. They are all part of an 8- by 15-km area Sitka calls the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex.

Recent drilling at the Rhosgobel Stock target encountered numerous instances of visible gold and intrusion-related gold mineralization similar to that seen at the Blackjack, the company said.

“Our systematic approach to drilling continues to unlock significant value at RC,” Coe said. “We look forward to further advancing this 431-sq.-km contiguous, district-scale property that exhibits the potential to host several multi-million-ounce gold deposits.”

Sheeted veins

Drill hole DDRCCC-24-068 intersected multiple zones of mineralized quartz monzonite and mineralized metasediments with more than 40 instances of visible gold from near surface to 680 metres, depth, Sitka said. The visible gold was consistently associated with bismuthinite and scheelite in sheeted quartz veins cutting both the intrusives and the metasediments, it said.
 
Drill hole DDRCCC-24-067 intersected four broad zones of mineralization associated with quartz monzonite intrusions and adjacent metasediments, Sitka said. Sheeted quartz-arsenopyrite veins were most abundant from 425 to 523 metres depth, it said. Several instances of visible gold associated with bismuthinite were observed in sheeted quartz veins between 237.2 metres and 520.3 metres downhole.

The RC project has a resource of 61.1 million inferred tonnes grading 0.68 gram gold for 1.3 million oz. metal, according to a January 2023 resource. There are two near and on-surface zones: the Blackjack and Eiger deposits with 900,000 oz. at a grade of 0.83 gramgoldand 440,000 oz. at 0.68 gram, respectively.

Both of these road accessible deposits are potentially open-pit minable and amenable to heap leaching, Sitka says. Initial bottle roll tests indicate the gold is not refractory and has a recovery of up to 94% with minimal sodium cyanide consumption, it said.