Liberty Gold drills 1.38 g/t gold over 100.4 metres at Black Pine, Idaho
Liberty Gold Corp. [LGD-TSX; LGDTF-OTC] reported the final tranche of results from the winter drill program on the Rangefront focus area (RFA) at the 100%-owned Black Pine oxide gold deposit in southern Idaho. Results include 19 reverse circulation (RC) holes and one core hole drilled within the RFA.
This release highlights extension of RFA mineralization in step-out holes to the northeast, with thick zones of oxide gold identified in this area, including plus 65-metre intercepts in LBP577 and LBP578. Results were also received from step-out drilling along the northern margin of the RFA, including LBP568 and LBP569. Importantly, drilling continues to intercept oxide gold at shallower depths as the RFA mineralization extends in this direction.
With Liberty Gold’s success extending the size of the RFA this year, we can now project this area extending to the north and east beyond the limits of current drilling, given gold intercepts in shallow (~100 m), widely-spaced, historic drill holes which bottomed in mineralization. Portions of these areas are located beyond our current exploration permit boundary, for which amendments to the Plan of Operations to allow access and drilling are in progress.
Large-diameter (PQ) core hole LBP511CA was drilled in the vicinity of the original D-4 discovery in Rangefront and returned 1.38 g/t gold over 100.4 metres, one of the best intercepts drilled at Black Pine. The gold endowment in this hole is comparable to nearby RC holes, underscoring the lateral continuity of the high-grade gold zones and the reliability of RC drilling at Black Pine. LBP511CA, as well as three other core holes from the RFA, all with assays pending, will be used for metallurgical column leach testing of this deposit area.
Cal Everett, President and CEO, stated, “During the winter, we did our best to test the limits of mineralization in the RFA, and I’m happy to report that, despite our best efforts, the RFA is still completely open to the north and the east. The winter drill program was highly successful in defining a large zone of oxide gold mineralization and expanding it in multiple directions; the RFA remains open along its entire northern boundary, a distance of over 1 kilometer. RC drilling in the RFA will resume on July 1st , which along with testing other near-surface targets such as the M Zone, F Zone, Back Range and new Bobcat target area remains a key focus for this year’s drill program.”
LBP511CA, a core hole drilled in the original Rangefront D-4 discovery area, returned 1.38 g/t gold over 100.4 metres. The gold endowment in this hole is comparable to nearby RC holes and the original D-4 Discovery holes, which returned in LBP356 (~25 m west) 86.9 metres grading 0.91 g/t gold and 21.3 metres grading 2.03 g/t gold. LBP358 (~100 m east) returned 24.4 metres grading 1.23 g/t gold and 50.3 metres grading 1.37 g/t gold.
RC holes drilled along the northern edge of the RFA continue to intercept long intervals of oxide gold mineralization at relatively shallow depth. Results include LBP568 that returned 68.6 metres grading 0.39 g/t gold and 35.1 metres grading 1.13 g/t gold. LBP569 returned 19.8 metres grading 0.43 g/t gold (from 7 m down-hole) and 25.9 metres grading 0.45 g/t gold and 30.5 metres grading 0.49 g/t gold.
New drill results from the northeastern edge of the RFA also encountered long intervals of oxide gold mineralization. Results include LBP577 that returned 65.5 metres grading 0.30 g/t gold. LBP578 returned 71.6 metres grading 0.43 g/t gold.
As a result, the RFA remains open along the entire northern edge of the drilled area, a distance of over 1 km. The presence of gold in shallow historic holes beyond the limit of Liberty Gold drilling suggests that the RFA will continue to grow. A 1 km2 target area to the south of the RFA will be tested in the second half of 2022.
Liberty Gold plans to advance Black Pine in 2022 with drilling, initial engineering and permitting programs and further de-risking activities, with the goal to update the resource estimate and PEA in the second half of 2022, subject to further exploration success.
Black Pine is in the northern Great Basin, adjacent to the Utah/Idaho border. Resource estimates are Indicated Resources of 1,715,000 oz gold averaging 0.51 g/t gold totalling 105,075,000 tonnes; and Inferred Resources of 370,000 oz gold averaging 0.37 g/t gold totalling 31,211,000 tonnes.