American Creek JV identifies Treaty gold breccia system at Goldstorm deposit, British Columbia
American Creek Resources Ltd.’s [TSXV-AMK] project operator and joint venture partner, Tudor Gold Corp. [TSXV-TUD; FSDE-H56], has provided an update on the recent identification of a high-grade gold system within the Goldstorm deposit and a brief overview of the successful expansion of the Goldstorm domains from the 2023 drill program at the flagship property, Treaty Creek, located in the heart of the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia.
Ken Konkin, Tudor Gold president and CEO, commented: “We are extremely pleased to announce that we have delineated a high-grade gold system associated with a quartz-dominant veinlet and stringer stockwork system, named Supercell One (SC-1). This represents a significant economic target within the CS-600 domain. Our current mineral resource estimate (MRE) caps gold equivalent (AuEq) grades at eight g/t AuEq and therefore does not include these higher grades.
“Our current concept is that the SC-1 system, like the higher-grade R-66 domain, may represent a late-stage gold-dominant event that, in part, overprints the primary mineralization of the Goldstorm deposit. This is significant, as these smaller, higher-grade systems have the potential to streamline start-up plans, allowing for rapid extraction of gold with the possibility of substantially lower capital expenditures compared to a much larger conceptual bulk-tonnage operation.
“Additionally, our technical team has completed the geologic modelling and domain delineation with the incorporation of the 2023 drilling data. Updated mineral domains show significant expansion of the Goldstorm deposit in several areas. These maps indicate how the drilling conducted in 2023 has the potential to convert several areas of the deposit from inferred mineral resources to indicated mineral resources. Despite the aggressive exploration and expansion of the Goldstorm deposit, it remains open in all directions and at depth. The company is currently in the process of updating the MRE for the Goldstorm deposit and is expected to release the updated MRE within Q1 of 2024.”
Minor pyrite and chalcopyrite are observed with fine-grained visible native gold within the newly crowned SC-1 system, which is contained within the CS-600 domain. Three drill holes are interpreted to have intersected this structural corridor that contains significant quartz-sulphide breccia. Two of the three holes were completed late during the 2023 exploration campaign while the discovery hole, GS-22-134 (20.86 g/t AuEq over 4.5 metres within a 25.5 m zone of 9.96 AuEq), was completed during the 2022 drilling campaign. Drill hole GS-23-176-W1 (15.64 g/t AuEq over 15 m) was designed as an offset step-out hole to the impressive gold intercept obtained within GS-22-134. With the third drill hole, GS-23-179 (10.07 g/t AuEq over 12 m), a northeast step-out, Tudor’s technical crews were able to validate the SC-1 system, tracing SC-1 up dip from GS-22-134 and GS-23-176-W1. To date, the high-grade gold-bearing, breccia stockwork system measures approximately 400 m down plunge and over 300 m along a northeastern axis. The true width of the mineralized structure is currently unknown.
Drill hole highlights from SC-1 include GS-22-134 that returned 25.5 m of 9.96 g/t AuEq (9.66 g/t gold, 1.23 g/t silver, 0.24% copper). GS-23-176-W1 returned 15 m of 15.64 g/t AuEq (14.89 g/t Au, 4.72 g/t Ag, 0.60% Cu). GS-23-179 returned 12 m of 10.07 g/t AuEQ (9.78 g/t Au, 1.35 g/t Ag, 0.23% Cu).
Darren Blaney, American Creek president and CEO, stated: “The newly identified Supercell One zone has the potential to become a significant factor given it has around 10 times the average grade of the Goldstorm. It already stretches over hundreds of metres and we’re eager to see how far beyond it extends. Considerable expansion has taken place on the Goldstorm deposit and based on the exceptional drill results from the 2023 program, we’re confident that overall grade is improving as well. We’re looking forward to the updated mineral resource estimate that Tudor is working toward (Q1 2024) as well as the 2024 drill program.”
The Treaty Creek project hosts the Goldstorm deposit, comprising a large gold-copper porphyry system, as well as several other mineralized zones. The Goldstorm deposit has an indicated mineral resource of 23.37 million ounces of AuEq grading 1.13 g/t AuEq (18.75 Moz gold grading 0.91 g/t, 2.18 billion pounds copper grading 0.15%, 112.4 Moz silver grading 5.45 g/t) and an inferred mineral resource of 7.35 Moz of AuEq grading 0.98 g/t AuEq (5.54 Moz gold grading 0.74 g/t, 850 million lb copper grading 0.16%, 45.08 Moz silver grading 5.99 g/t), with a pit-constrained cut-off of 0.5 g/t AuEq and an underground cut-off of 0.7 g/t AuEq.
The project is a joint venture with Tudor Gold owning three-fifths and acting as operator. American Creek and Teuton Resources Corp. [TSXV-TUO; FSE-TFE] each have a one-fifth interest in the project, creating a 3:1 ownership relationship between Tudor Gold and American Creek.
American Creek and Teuton hold fully carried 20% interests, which means no development costs are incurred by these companies until a production notice is issued.