Klondike Gold Corp. (TSX-V:KG) said its 2022 field program has struck gold at its Klondike District Gold project, located in the historic Dawson Mining District in Yukon.
The company said it completed around 6,000 meters of drilling and found visible gold in a quartz breccia vein outcrop at the Gay Gulch site. Drilling also targeted a one-kilometre gap in gold mineralization at the Stander Zone, the company said, with 24 drill holes done to expand that footprint.
Vancouver-based Klondike Gold said it’s expecting a bedrock mineral estimate before mid-November, possibly the first ever in the 125-year history of the Klondike District area since the 1896 gold rush.
READ: Klondike Gold says aiming to deliver first inferred mineral resource on the Klondike District gold project in Yukon in 2022
Klondike Gold CEO Peter Tallman said the discovery of gold-bearing veins at Gay Gulch is important in developing a resource model for future exploration.
“This prospectively is the first in-situ bedrock gold resource completed in the 125-year history of gold exploration in the Klondike goldfields, finally identifying local bedrock sources of gold to begin accounting for the over 20 million gold ounces extracted from surface placer mining in the creeks and gulches since 1896. We anticipate the resource will grow from here," Tallman said in a statement.
The company said the estimate will include gold mineralization from the Lone Star Zone and Stander Zone using drilling completed between 2015 and 2021.
Drilling update
Klondike Gold said it made 47 drill holes in 2022, of which 35 holes explored areas adjacent to known mineralization at Gay Gulch and 24 holes at the Stander Zone with the remaining 12 holes testing new regional targets.
The Gay Gulch discovery was made midway in the season, on an outcropping quartz breccia vein with abundant visible gold, according to Klondike Gold.
Mapping and compilation throughout the property were done to upgrade confidence in the ground location of important geophysical features, the company said.
This effort resulted in a four-fold increase in the number of mapping points in the outcrop database from 2,500 mapping points in 2021 to over 10,000 points at the end of the 2022 program. This information will be incorporated into a forthcoming updated geology technical report and will generate prospective drill targets.
“This program was successful in helping us target higher grades within the known mineralized areas and to guide for new discoveries," said Tallman.
Klondike Gold said initial drill assay results are expected before year-end 2022.
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