HighGold Mining Inc (TSX-V:HIGH, OTCQX:HGGOF) told investors it was "well" on the way to defining a second deposit at its flagship Johnson Tract (JT) project as the company posted its latest ongoing drill results from the new Ellis Zone at Difficult Creek (DC) prospect.
Difficult Creek lies 4 kilometres (km) northeast of the firm's JT deposit and is one of several district-scale prospects being explored by the firm at the 21,000 acre Alaska property.
The latest assays, from six holes, have expanded the mineralized footprint of the wide, high-grade Ellis zone by nearly 50% and it remains open in all directions, said HighGold.
"The Ellis Zone discovery continues to deliver excellent results with some of the strongest and widest intersections to date coming from the western limit of our drilling," said Darwin Green, HighGold CEO in a statement.
"We are very encouraged by the persistence of the Ellis Zone mineralization along strike and plan to keep stepping out in all directions as we continue expanding the known extents of the zone.
"While still very early days, it appears we are well on our way to defining a second deposit at Johnson Tract to complement the existing high-grade +1Moz JT Deposit mineral resource that is also open to expansion."
READ: HighGold Mining drills high-grade gold at its Johnson Tract project in Alaska
Highlight results included 14.8 metres (m), starting from 56m depth, at a grade of 10.14 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 13.8 g/t silver, 0.28% copper, 5.97% zinc in one hole.
That included a length of 6.8m starting from 57.5m, grading 21.29 g/t gold, 25.1 g/t silver, 0.55% copper, 0.61% lead, 10.70% zinc.
Another hole hit 20.3m, from a depth of only 46.4m, grading 2.9 g/t gold-equivalent.
The DC prospect sits 4km northeast of the JT deposit and is characterized by a series of large gossan alteration zones similar in style to the JT deposit that collectively extend over a 1.5 km by 3 km area in a broad northeasterly trend.
So far, 36 holes for 4,935m have been completed at the Ellis Zone since the start of the summer season and assays from 14 holes have been released. Drilling has so far defined the Ellis Zone mineralization over a strike length of around 125m and from surface to a depth of 100m.
HighGold's 2022 drilling and exploration program in Alaska includes two diamond drill rigs, geological mapping, airborne geophysical surveying, preliminary environmental and engineering baseline studies, and general JT camp improvements.
Drilling is expected to wrap up in mid to late October with a total of between 10,000m and 11,000m completed.
Up to September 23, a total of 8,230m have been completed in 47 holes - 36 at the DC prospect, six at the Milkbone prospect, one at the Kona prospect, and four at the JT deposit area.
For the remainder, one rig will continue to focus on expanding the Ellis zone while the second drill rig will test important resource growth targets at the main JT deposit.
HighGold is focused on high-grade gold projects located in North America. Its flagship asset is the Johnson Tract gold project in Alaska. It also controls one of the largest junior gold miner land positions in the Timmins camp in Ontario.
Its JT deposit hosts an indicated resource of 3.489 million tonnes grading 9.39 g/t gold-equivalent, while the inferred category boasts 0.706 million tonnes grading 4.76 g/t gold-equivalent.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com