Thesis Gold Inc (TSX-V:TAU) reported impressive drilling results from the JK zone, around 700 metres (m) east of the Thesis Structural Corridor, completed during the company's inaugural 2021 drill program at its Ranch Gold project, in British Columbia.
In a statement, Thesis Gold CEO Ewan Webster said: "We are very pleased with the high-grade mineralization discovered near the JK zone with sparse 2021 and historical drilling. Clearly, previous explorers did not fully recognize the potential of the area.”
He added: “We believe there is a strong opportunity to significantly expand the known mineralization at JK, and based on these results we will be prioritizing this target and allocating sufficient metres to advance it."
READ: Thesis Gold identifies "highly prospective, multi-kilometre" drill target at Albert Humps, Ranch project
The Vancouver-based mineral exploration company said Drill Hole 21JKDD002 returned 20.42m of 5.11 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au), including 3m of 19.45 g/t Au.
The company completed two holes and the JK zone in 2021, testing historical mineralization and a conceptual geophysical target. According to the firm, drilled mineralization “improved significantly” relative to historical drilling.
Thesis noted that the JK zone area is “very sparsely drilled,” with only two historical and two contemporary drill holes completed to date. As a result, there’s significant room to expand on recently drilled mineralization, and the mineralized zone remains open in all directions, particularly towards the south where intersecting faults may have provided ideal conduits for subsequent gold-bearing fluids, said the company.
The JK zone is one of over 20 early-stage targets on the Ranch, many of which have never been drill tested.
Historical trenching at JK displayed anomalous gold over more than 200m strike length, and selectively sampled historical drilling intersected similar mineralization at depth. However, the company's drill targeting identified the JK area as more prospective than historical numbers would indicate.
The company noted that mineralization at JK resembles that seen at Bonanza, Thesis III, and Thesis II in that it’s associated with vuggy and leached silica zones, with sulphides and barite occupying vugs locally. It is also situated within a northwest-southeast oriented structural zone that likely acted as a conduit for gold-bearing hydrothermal fluid flow, akin to structures acting as primary mineralization controls elsewhere within the Ranch project area.
The lack of sampling in historical drill core directly below high-grade encountered in drill hole 21JKDD002 suggests an incomplete understanding of mineralization controls by previous explorers, said the company.
The Canadian explorer says this provides “strong potential” to expand on this area of known mineralization with enhanced drill targeting and improved field observations in the upcoming summer drill campaign at Ranch.
Thesis is focused on developing the resource potential of its 17,832-hectare Ranch gold-silver project located in the prolific "Golden Horseshoe" area of northern British Columbia.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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