Thesis Gold Inc. (TSX-V:TAU) has announced that the Government of British Columbia has granted it a five-year work permit for exploration and drilling on its flagship Ranch Gold-Silver Project in the Golden Horseshoe.
As a result, the company said it has immediately commenced its fully funded and comprehensive exploration and drill program at the property in the north-central part of the province.
The program consists of a 20,000 metre (m) drill program, extensive surface geochemical sampling, bedrock and alteration mapping, airborne VTEM and ground-based magnetics, and induced polarization (IP) geophysics, designed to target near-surface high-grade gold and silver mineralization in addition to deeper porphyry targets.
READ: Thesis Gold identifies several prospective targets, including Golden Furlong, at flagship BC project
Thesis said the 178 square-kilometer (km2) property is largely unexplored and the geological setting coupled with historical evidence of high-grade mineralization represents a significant opportunity for a major discovery.
"The granting of this work permit is a huge milestone for the Company and our collaboration with our First Nation Partners,” said Thesis CEO Ewan Webster in a statement.
“The drills have now started turning on the project and we will be testing the known zones of mineralization, but more importantly a number of new targets that have never been drilled and have the potential for significant new gold discoveries. The planned work represents a significant and extensive regional exploration program and we look forward to communicating our progress to the market over the coming months."
The exploration program highlights include:
- 20,000m of diamond drilling
- Confirmation, expansion, and discovery drilling of untested regional epithermal and porphyry targets
- Detailed ground magnetic surveys to expand strike lengths of known mineralized northwest and northeast-trending structural corridors
- 165 line-kilometres planned in two survey areas at 100-metre spacing
- High resolution ground IP geophysics to delineate subsurface resistivity and chargeability anomalies associated with mineralization
- 11 km2 planned over two survey areas
- Airborne VTEM geophysical and radiometric survey covering the unexplored northern portion of the property
- 51km2 of airborne VTEM planned to complete property-wide coverage
- Bedrock and alteration mapping is planned to contextualize historical mineralization and generate new targets in prospective areas
- Sizeable soil and rock grab sampling programs to generate new target areas, with 6,000 soil samples planned and about 1,000 rock grab samples anticipated
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