Eskay Mining Corp (TSX-V:ESK, OTCQX:ESKYF) has reported further encouraging diamond drill results from its 2022 exploration program at its consolidated Eskay property in the heart of British Columbia’s prolific Golden Triangle region.
During the 2022 exploration season, the Toronto-based exploration company successfully completed 29,500 meters (m) of diamond drilling along the TV-Jeff corridor and along the Scarlet Ridge-Tarn Lake trend.
"Results from our 2022 exploration season demonstrate Eskay's team has made considerable progress toward unraveling the district-scale potential of VMS mineralization surrounding the Eskay Creek deposit," Dr John DeDecker, VP of Exploration at Eskay Mining, said in a statement.
READ: Eskay Mining says 2022 exploration at Eskay project confirms new precious metal-rich VMS system at Scarlet Knob-Tarn Lake
"Achievements of the 2022 exploration program include defining a new trend of VMS mineralization along the Scarlet-Tarn corridor parallel to and approximately 7 kilometers (km) east of the Eskay anticline. Tarn Lake and Scarlet Knob are situated along an east-west trending VMS feeder structure hosted by Eskay rhyolite like that seen in the footwall of the Eskay Creek deposit.”
High-grade VMS systems
DeDecker noted that mapping and prospecting defines a westward stratigraphic direction, suggesting that stockwork and replacement-style mineralization at Tarn Lake may represent feeders to seafloor-hosted mineralization, host to high-grade mineralization at Eskay Creek.
“This recognition is a significant step towards meeting our goal of discovering new Eskay Creek-like high-grade VMS systems,” added DeDecker. “Drilling at TV now shows that gold and silver-bearing massive sulfide extends 100 meters along strike and overlies an even more extensive zone of stockwork mineralization. We are eager to follow up on all of these encouraging results in 2023."
Eskay said drilling at TV last year expanded the footprint of both the Upper Massive Sulfide Zone and Stockwork Zone at TV, which now extends 100m along strike and ranges from 5m to 10m in thickness.
Significantly, drill holes testing the up-dip extent of the stockwork zone (TV22-106, 108, and 112) intercepted strongly anomalous gold and silver values with interspersed values of over 1 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent. Rock chip samples suggest that this up-dip zone may contain higher grade pockets of gold and silver mineralization.
Eskay shared the following TV extensional drilling highlights:
- Hole TV22-105 returned 4.61 g/t gold (Au) and 22.17 g/t silver (Ag) (4.89 g/t Au Eq) over 6.28m within 2.84 g/t Au and 22.17 g/t Ag (3.13 g/t Au Eq) over 16.36m
- Hole TV22-120 returned 2.66 g/t Au and 30.45 g/t Ag (3.05 g/t Au Eq) over 10.56m within 1.51 g/t Au and 25.39 g/t Ag (1.83 g/t Au Eq) over 43.09m
- Hole TV22-97 returned 3.36 g/t Au and 109.50 g/t Ag (4.76 g/t Au Eq) over 2m within 1.14 g/t Au and 30.40 g/t Ag (1.53 g/t Au Eq) over 30.56m
- Hole TV22-109 returned 6.88 g/t Au and 21 g/t Ag (7.15 g/t Au Eq) over 1.10m within 1.28 g/t Au and 87.92 g/t Ag (2.41 g/t Au Eq) over 14.95m
Investors can find more results from 2022 drill holes completed in the vicinity of the TV deposit presented in a table format here.
Assay results from the maiden drill program at Tarn Lake have already defined an 80-meter-long open ended trend of gold mineralization that dips west-northwest. Eskay noted that there is “considerable potential” for mineralization to extend beneath Bruce Glacier to Scarlet Knob along east-west trending feeder structures.
All assays have now been returned from Eskay’s 2022 drill program, which was aimed squarely at identifying new precious metal-rich VMS deposits across its Consolidated Eskay project.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive