Ascot Resources drills 488 g/t gold over one metre at Premier, British Columbia
Ascot Resources Ltd. [AOT-TSX; AOTVF-OTCQX] reported a third batch of assay results from the Big Missouri deposit from the 2022 exploration drill program at the 100%-owned Premier gold project (PGP), located on Nisga’a Nation treaty lands in the prolific Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia.
These results are from surface drilling for in-fill and exploration purposes at the Big Missouri deposit, approximately 6 km north of the past-producing Premier mill.
Highlights from the drill results include 62.76 g/t gold and 27.36 g/t silver over 7.90 metres from a depth of 90.00 metres in hole P22-2445, including 488.00 g/t gold and 181.00 g/t silver over 1.00 metre. Hole P22-2445 returned 30.98 g/t Au and 9.35 g/t Ag over 3.00m from a depth of 112.00m, including 90.70 g/t Au and 19.75 g/t Ag over 1.00m.
P22-2444 returned 6.75 g/t Au and 12.44 g/t Ag over 14.5m from a depth of 26.00m, including 26.00 g/t Au and 28.30 g/t Ag over 1.43m and 28.80 g/t Au and 30.20 g/t Ag over 1.00m. P22-2441 returned 8.03 g/t Au and 19.13 g/t Ag over 9.52m from a depth of 23.38m, including 44.50 g/t Au and 109.00 g/t Ag over 1.00m.
P22-2442 returned 6.26 g/t Au and 8.13 g/t Ag over 10.80m from a depth of 29.40m, including 43.60 g/t Au and 30.10 g/t Ag over 1.00m. True widths are estimated to be between 60% to 80% of reported interval widths.
Drilling for the 2022 exploration season at the Big Missouri deposit was completed in October, totaling 50 holes and 4,752 metres. Following the first two batches of 28 drill holes reported September 13 and October 27, 2022, this release summarizes the third batch of assay results from the next 18 drill holes for a total of 1,798 metres from surface pads BM-2/22 and BM-3/22.
Drill holes were targeting several layers of gold mineralization at the A Zone and the Unicorn Area of the Big Missouri deposit in and around planned stopes to the north and northeast of the S-1 pit.
Derek White, President and CEO, commented, “The Big Missouri deposit continues to impress with more bonanza-grade gold and additional occurrences of coarse, visible gold. The headline intercept of 488 g/t gold is the highest-grade interval Ascot has drilled since 2017, and the fourth-highest assay ever recorded at Big Missouri. The drill holes from this release contain 20 assays over 10 g/t gold. Many of the high-grade intercepts were encountered within or around existing stope shapes, and some high grades were encountered in gaps between stope shapes – further strengthening our confidence that there is more gold to be discovered outside the existing resource model at Big Missouri.”
This release contains the assay results from the last 5 holes drilled from pad BM-2/22 and all 13 holes drilled from pad BM-3/22, approximately 200 metres to the northeast.
The remaining outstanding assay results from the 2022 exploration drill season consist of 12 holes drilled from underground at Big Missouri, 4 surface in-fill holes near the S1 pit at Big Missouri, and 12 holes drilled from two surface pads at the Day Zone on the western side of the Big Missouri ridge. The company anticipates the receipt of all outstanding assays in early 2023.
The Big Missouri deposit hosts a probable reserve of 809 kt grading 7.15 g/t Au and 12.2 g/t Ag and containing 186 koz Au and 317 koz Ag, an indicated resource of 1,116 kt grading 8.36 g/t Au and 16.9 g/t Ag and containing 300 koz Au and 607 koz Ag, and an inferred resource of 1,897 kt grading 8.34 g/t Au and 14.7 g/t Ag and containing 508 koz Au and 896 koz Ag.
Ascot is focused on re-starting the past producing Premier gold mine. Concurrent with progressing the development of Premier, the company continues to successfully explore its properties for additional high-grade underground resources.