i-80 Gold Corp. told investors that underground drilling in the South Pacific Zone (SPZ) at its Granite Creek Property in Nevada’s Humboldt County Property has confirmed “significant upside opportunity.”
Announcing results from the final hole drilled in the Phase 1, 2021, surface drill program, the company noted that the SPZ is a new zone of high-grade gold mineralization located immediately north of the underground mine workings at Granite Creek.
The company said sixteen holes were drilled in 2021 to test the SPZ, successfully defining multiple fault structures that are demonstrating continuity of mineralization over a strike length of approximately 600 metres (m) and a dip length of approximately 250m that remains wide open for expansion along strike and at depth.
READ: i-80 Gold says it continues to intersect high-grade gold in expansion drilling at Granite Creek
“When combined with the Ogee Zone, that is the focus of underground drilling at Granite Creek, we are extremely excited by the results to date in the South Pacific Zone that confirm the significant upside opportunity", i-80 senior geologist Tyler Hill said in a statement.
Hole iGS21-18 was drilled in the southern portion of the horizon, closer to the underground workings, and as in several previous holes returned impressive gold grades and widths of mineralization in multiple horizons, the company added.
Result highlights from hole iGS21-18 in the SPZ (and adjacent horizons) include:
- 16.3 grams per ton (g/t) gold over 15.7m (0.48 oz/ton gold over 51.5 feet)
- 33.7 g/t gold over 3.7m (0.98 oz/ton gold over 12.0 feet)
i-80 said the SPZ is the priority target of the ongoing surface drill program at Granite Creek and will be included in a resource update following the 2022 program. SPZ consists of multiple subvertical fault structures located within both the Upper and Lower Comus rock units that appear to trend north to northeast. Continued step-out drilling to expand mineralization both along strike and at depth is being completed in 2022.
"Drilling in 2022 will continue to step-out along strike and at depth to further expand the mineralized envelope, while at the same time, we are extending the decline to expedite development and mine planning of the SPZ," Hill added.
The company said high-grade mineralization at Granite Creek occurs in a near-identical geological setting like that at Nevada Gold Mines’ multi-million-ounce Turquoise Ridge Mine located immediately to the north; proximal to a major regional fault on the eastern edge of the large Osgood Mountains intrusive complex. The Granite Creek deposit remains open at depth and along strike from the existing underground workings, it added.
Canaccord maintains 'Speculative Buy' rating
Responding to i-80 Gold's announcement, analysts at Canaccord Genuity (TSX:CF, LSE:CF) said the impact was "slightly positive".
"We see this latest hole from the ongoing drill program as further evidence of Granite's growing underground potential, as step-out drilling of the SPZ continued to deliver intercepts that grade comparably to Granite's current UG resource," the analysts said. "We believe drill results to date lend support to the possibility of an accretive mine life extension at Granite, particularly due to the fact that the SPZ is located proximal to existing UG mine workings."
The Canaccord analysts said they believed the resource update following the 2022 drill program could add material ounces to Granite's UG resource, with a feasibility study on the project planned for the second half of 2022.
The analysts maintained their 'Speculative Buy' rating on i-80 Gold with a C$5.75 price target.
i-80 Gold is a well-financed mining company with the goal of achieving mid-tier gold producer status. The firm’s portfolio now has five projects — Lone Tree, Brooks/Buffalo Mountain, Granite Creek, McCoy-Cove, and Ruby Hill. Lone Tree will act as the hub of i-80 Gold’s operation, providing integrated processing infrastructure for all types of ore.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com