Snowline Gold Corp. (CSE: SGD) has announced additional preliminary assay results from the 2022 drilling program at its Valley Zone, Rogue Project, Yukon, showing more gold mineralisation.
Notably, hole V-22-032 intersected a zone of sheeted quartz vein mineralization within the Valley intrusion averaging 1.72 grams per ton (g/t) gold (Au) over 207.0 metres (m) within a broader mineralized zone averaging 1.32 g/t Au over 338.0m.
The entire hole, including barren sections, averaged 0.93 g/t Au across 532.7m, ending in mineralized rock. The hole was collared 166m from any other hole and drilled northeast to test the system between previously announced V-22-005 (192.0m at 1.52 g/t Au) and V-22-010 (318.8m at 2.5 g/t Au).
In a statement, Scott Berdahl, CEO & director of Snowline Gold commented: "The latest results from Valley continue to demonstrate substantial scale and strong grades for a reduced intrusion-related gold system. Holes V-22-015 and 032 add considerably to the known tonnage of well-mineralized rock in Valley's central zone. The shape, the size, and the distribution of grades that we're seeing at Valley-with many of the highest grades encountered to date starting at surface-bode very well for the potential economics of the discovery."
READ: Snowline Gold hits high-grade gold in drilling at its Rogue project in the Yukon
"We eagerly await remaining 2022 assay results and their contributions to our understanding of this large mineralized system, with more than 5,000m still to come at Valley and all five holes (>2,000m) still pending from our nearby Gracie target," he added.
The company noted that visual results indicate the presence of a large central zone within the broader Valley intrusion bearing higher vein densities. Initial analytical results for this zone consistently carry unusually high grades for a reduced intrusion-related gold system.
It said Hole V-22-033 expands the known width of the mineralized zone locally to more than 300m. While broad zones of continuous mineralization were not encountered at depth in this location, local intervals were. The deepest assay of more than 1 g/t Au ran 1.2 g/t Au over 1.5m from 672.5m downhole.
Hole V-22-015 was drilled to test the relatively high-grade mineralization encountered in V-22-014 and V-22-007 across a wider width and at depth. Several zones of higher grades are present but capping these at 10 g/t Au shows that the intervals are carried by robust mineralization along large zones within these higher-grade holes.
As with previous holes at Valley, gold grades are carried across broad intervals, and they are not heavily affected by local high-grade (more than 10 g/t Au) intersections.
Rogue's Valley Zone is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production like Kinross's Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system present near-surface across intersections of hundreds of metres.
Valley is an early-stage exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until significant additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
Snowline Gold is a Yukon Territory-focused gold exploration company with a seventeen-project portfolio covering more than 254,000 hectares.
The company is exploring its flagship more than 111,000-hectare Einarson and Rogue gold projects in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline's project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross' Fort Knox mine, Newmont's Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com