Big Ridge drills 6.43 g/t gold over 3.2 metres at Hope Brook, Newfoundland
Big Ridge Gold Corp. [BRAU-TSXV; ALVLF-OTCQB] reported additional diamond drill results from its 25,000-metre, phase 1 exploration drill program at the 80% optioned past-producing Hope Brook gold project, located on the southwest coast of the island of Newfoundland in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The drill holes reported in this press release are from drill holes that targeted the shallow southwestern extension of the Hope Brook deposit.
Mike Bandrowski, president and CEO, commented, “Drilling continues to intercept gold and copper mineralization outside the current resource envelope to the southwest, further supporting our thesis of continued mineralization to the southwest and potential resource expansion.”
Highlights include drill hole HB-22-167 that intersected 6.43 g/t gold over 3.2 metres, including 12.9 g/t gold over 1.1 metres. Drill hole HB-22-168 intersected 5.8 g/t gold over 1.7 metres.
Drilling continues to intersect gold and extend mineralization outside and along the projected trend of the current resource envelope that is based on a gold price of US$1,200/oz and a 3.0 g/t gold cut-off grade.
The company has released 33 drill holes to date and 31 of those results have intersected gold mineralization. These initial drill results have all focused on near-surface mineralization to the southwest of the current resource estimate.
Currently, the two drill rigs at site are testing deeper targets between the Main Zone and 240 Zone in an effort to connect mineralization between the two deposits. The Phase 1 drill program is expected to run until August 2022 and will focus on connecting the Main Zone and 240 Zone near surface and at depth respectively and testing the down dip extensions to both the Main and 240 Zones before moving to test the NE Extension and new geophyisical targets.
Results from the phase 1 drill program continue to extend gold and copper mineralization to the southwest of the former producing Hope Brook open pit. The holes reported in the press release confirm near-surface mineralization in an untested gap in the current resource envelope, southwest of the resource envelope and also show the deposit remains open to the southwest.
Copper mineralization, which was recovered by past mine operators as a by-product credit and known to be associated with gold mineralization at Hope Brook, has not been included in the historic resource estimates. Big Ridge’s initial drill results have generated copper assays ranging from 0.05% copper to 0.90% copper in the majority of holes reported to date.
Big Ridge also owns a 100% interest in the highly prospective Oxford Gold Project located in Manitoba and the Destiny Gold Project in Quebec.