Thesis Gold Inc (TSX-V:TAU) has announced a new discovery at the Steve Zone of its Ranch Gold Project in the Golden Horseshoe of north-central British Columbia.
The mineral exploration company said the Steve Zone, 3.5 kilometres (km) south of the Bonanza-Ridge Zone and 3 km south of the Thesis Structural Corridor, emerged as a target based on surface geochemistry in rocks and soils, alteration mapping, and coincident geophysical anomalies.
"This new gold discovery is very encouraging given the limited number of drill holes, excellent intercepts, and recognition of the same types of alteration and mineralization observed at the other mineralized zones on the project,” Thesis president and CEO Ewan Webster said in a statement. “Although there is a lot of work to do, initial results suggest that the mineralized footprint at Steve could rival that of any other zone on the project.”
READ: Thesis Gold defines new coincident kilometre scale structural and soil anomalies
Thesis said assay results from the only two exploration holes ever drilled at the Steve Zone show broad zones of gold mineralization including a 119.2 metre (m) interval of 0.97 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and 1.06 g/t silver (Ag) or 1.00 g/t AuEq (gold equivalent) and 38.00m of 0.73 g/t Au and 1.94 g/t Ag or 0.78 g/t AuEq.
Positive results from these drill holes validate the methods it is using to generate new exploration drill targets, the company added.
Highlights include:
- Hole 22STVDD001 intersected 119.20m of 0.97 g/t Au and 1.06 g/t Ag or 1 g/t AuEq that also contains numerous localized higher grade intervals;
- Hole 22STVDD002 intersected two discrete gold zones around 220m north of Steve hole 1;
- A significant new corridor of gold mineralization is inferred from drilling results at the Steve Zone 220m in strike length, that remains open, within a larger more than 500m fault zone;
- Gold mineralization down to more than 400 vertical metres remains open at depth, and updip it appears to correlate with surface mapping and gold mineralization in grab samples implying this is all part of a single extensive gold system;
- The discovery of previously unknown mineralization at the Steve Zone marks the fifth new discovery at Ranch since the company's maiden drill program in 2021; and
- Proven gold mineralization at the Steve Zone is 3 km-plus from Bonanza-Ridge and the Thesis Structural Corridor and validates the exploration strategy employed by the Thesis technical team.
Thesis explained that exploration drill holes at the Steve Zone were designed to test conceptual epithermal-porphyry-related targets defined by mapped pervasive surface silicification as well as anomalous geochemical and geophysical data.
Anomalous gold values in six surface rock samples range between 0.53 and 2.91 g/t Au. These samples are spatially associated with anomalous silver, antimony, arsenic, molybdenum, tungsten, lead, and zinc in soil geochemistry.
The company said its 2023 exploration program will continue to define the extent of mineralization at the Steve Zone while utilizing the successful targeting criteria to test other anomalous zones identified within the property.
“Planning is underway for significant additional drilling at the Steve Zone as part of the upcoming 2023 drill program,” Webster concluded. “New discoveries like this demonstrate the effectiveness and value of our surface exploration programs. As we continue exploring the Ranch Project's 180km2 property, we believe there is considerable potential for more gold discoveries.”
Thesis Gold is focused on proving and developing the resource potential of the 17,832-hectare Ranch gold project in the 'Golden Horseshoe' area of northern British Columbia, around 300 km north of Smithers.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com