Drilling results highlight potential at Victoria Gold mine
Victoria Gold Corp. [VGCX –TO] on Thursday released assay results received to date from the 2022 Raven distal exploration program at the Dublin Gulch gold camp in the Canadian Yukon.
Victoria’s flagship Eagle gold mine is situated on the Dublin Gulch gold property in the central Yukon Territory, about 375 kilometres north of Whitehorse and approximately 85 kilometres from the town of Mayo.
Covering 555 square kilometer, Dublin Gulch hosts the Eagle and Olive gold deposits, which contain proven and probable reserves of 3.3 million ounces of gold, with a grade of 0.65 g/t.
Raven is one of several priority on/near-surface gold targets and was the primary focus of 2022 Dublin Gulch exploration activities. The current Raven Resource estimate includes 1.1 million ounces at 1.7 g/t gold.
During the 2022 season, 27,215 metres of diamond drilling were completed across the claim package, including 90 drill holes for 25,244 metres at the Raven Deposit. The company said 30 holes were drilled within the Raven Resource footprint and 14 were collared within 100 metres of the Raven Resource.
The company said assays for 39 of the 46 holes from the Raven Distal exploration program have been received. Highlights include hole NG22-155C, which returned 7.18 g/t over 6.9 metres from 128.1 metres and 3.59 g/t gold over 83.5 metres from 213.5 metres, including 6.26 g/t gold over 47.0 metres from 213.5 metres.
The Raven drilling campaign was designed to advance two key objectives:
- A Raven Proximal Program which included drilling within and proximal to the current footprint of the Raven Deposit. It is expected that these assay results will further define and test the mineral potential and contribute to a Raven resource estimate later in 2023.
- A Raven Distal Exploration program, which included drilling beyond the existing Raven Deposit to test the extension of mineralization by approximately 500 metres strike length and over 100 metres in width.
The majority of these assays are not expected to inform the 2023 updated resource estimate, but will confirm the existence of mineralization for future resource expansion.
“Exploration efforts at the Dublin Gulch Gold Camp continue to highlight the exceptional gold potential of the property and, in specific, the near-surface Raven Gold deposit,’’ said Victoria Gold President and CEO John McConnell. He said drilling has focused on the expansion potential from the maiden resource estimate.
On January 18, 2023, Victoria Gold shares closed at $8.93 and currently trade in a 52-week range of $18.90 and $6.56.
Victoria Gold recently said production at its flagship Yukon mine for 2022 is expected to be close to the lower end of the company’s original guidance of between 165,000 ounces and 190,000 ounces.
The forecast is contained in the company’s second quarter financial report and is attributed to increased unplanned downtime within the crushing and conveying circuit caused by labour recruitment challenges.
During the three months ended June 30, 2022, the Eagle Gold Mine produced 32,055 ounces of gold, similar to the 32,140 ounces of gold produced in the second quarter of 2021.