TNM Drill Down: Hod Maden in Turkey tops results

Our TNM Drill Down features highlights of the top gold assays of the past week (Oct. 27 – Nov. 3). Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width, as identified by data provider Mining Intelligence.

Horizon Copper/SSR Mining in Turkey

This week’s top gold assay result comes from the Hod Maden copper-gold project in northeast Turkey, where project partners SSR Mining (TSX: SSRM) and Horizon Copper (HCU) reported on Nov. 1 an intercept of 90 metres grading 16.5 grams gold per tonne from 162 metres depth in hole HTD-239 for a grade x width value of 1,485.

The hole also included a higher-grade intercept of 18 metres grading 63 grams gold from 162 metres.

SSR Mining, project operator and up to 40% owner, plans to start mining at Hod Maden in 2027. Infill drilling is underway to better understand the orebody and de-risk the ramp-up to initial production, the company says.

Hod Maden aims to have a 13-year mine life averaging (on a 100% basis) 195,000 oz. of gold-equivalent production annually, according to a 2021 feasibility study published by Horizon Copper. The study forecast all-in sustaining costs of US$588 per oz. (on a co-product basis), generating US$164 million of annual free cash flow and a 36% after-tax internal rate of return.

The 35-sq.-km Hod Maden property lies near the border with Georgia and about 330 km northeast of SSR’s Çöpler mine and 260 km east of its Copper Hill development prospect.

Goliath Resources in Canada

The week’s second-best assay comes from Goliath Resources’ (TSXV: GOT) Golddigger project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle. The company, which has an option to earn all of the 527.6-sq.-km property, reported on October 30 that hole GD-23-180 cut 7.9 metres grading 64.88 grams from 436.1 metres for a grade x width of 513. The hole included a higher-grade section of 86.84 grams over 5.9 metres.

The hole was sunk from pad 16, returning several instances of visible gold and strong sulphide presence within quartz veins and networks, specifically in the Bonanza Shear zone. The core samples were marked by a mesh of quartz and sulphide minerals containing small amounts of pyrrhotite, galena, and sphalerite, typically within quartz veins. Large visible gold grains, some as long as 11 mm, were also found.

The Bonanza Shear, hosted between Hazelton sediments and volcanics, now has 104 drill pierce points, and the model has been expanded 92% to more than 25 million cubic metres, the company said.

The system’s average widths and grades should increase once all assays are interpreted from this year’s drilling program, the company said. All three of the project’s mineralized zones remain open, it said.

Carnavale Resources in Australia

The week’s third-best drill assay comes from Carnavale Resources (ASX: CAV). Reverse circulation (RC) drill hole MERC066 at its Kookynie project in Western Australia cut 6 metres grading 68.78 grams from 134 metres depth for a grade x width of 413, the company said Oct. 29.

At the McTavish East prospect, intensive RC and diamond drilling have delineated strong gold mineralization across a 700-metre strike and 250-meter depth, showing high-grade zones through dense drilling patterns, the company said.

The forthcoming drilling campaign will focus on infilling and extending the depth of these high-grade zones and discovering new zones within the proven 700-metre area to enhance the resource base, it said.

The company plans to undertake shallow RC drilling to test for additional high-grade shoots along a new 1-km strike length, pinpointed by prior air core drilling efforts along the main mineralizing structure.

The mineralization at McTavish East, both in quality and scale, closely resembles the historic Cosmopolitan gold mine, Carnavale said. It’s aiming to develop a significant, high-grade gold resource comparable to the Cosmopolitan, which will be processed at a nearby plant.