Liberty Gold rallies on Idaho drilling news
Liberty Gold Corp. [LGD-TSX] shares advanced on Thursday after the company released additional results from the 2021 reverse circulation drill program at its Black Pine oxide gold deposit in southeastern Idaho.
Additionally, the company announced the receipt of $11 million in cash since June 30, 2021, from the exercise of $18.5 million 60 cent share purchase warrants, which expired on October 2, 2021. The company said it has no remaining share purchase warrants outstanding.
The shares advanced on the news, rising 5.3% or $0.05 to 99 cents on volume of 567,930. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $2.13 and 85 cents.
Liberty Gold is focused on the discovery and advancement of large gold deposits that can be mine profitably in open pit scenarios. Its portfolio of projects are located in the United States and Europe. Its flagship projects are Goldstrike in southwest Utah, Black Pine in southeastern Utah, and Kinsley Mountain in southeast Elko County, Nevada. All three are past-producing open pit mines.
Proceeds of previous financings have been used to fund accelerated exploration and resource growth at the Black Pine project, a Carlin-style system, which produced 435,000 ounces of gold between 1992 and 199,7 a period of historically low gold prices. The gold was extracted from shallow pits.
According to a July, 2021 estimate, the project contains an indicated resource of 1.71 million ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 370,000 ounces. However, the estimate does not include results from any drilling in 2021.
Resource upgrade drilling occurred throughout the Discovery Zone, which accounts for 74% of the estimated resource ounces. Results include hole LBP 377, which returned 0.58 g/t gold over 25.9 metres and 0.85 g/t gold over 16.8 metres.
“Today’s results demonstrate that the Discovery Zone mineralization extends in two directions and indicates the potential to join the E Zone and Discovery Zone into a larger single pit,” said Liberty Gold President and CEO Cal Everett.
On Thursday, the company said the 70,000-metre reverse circulation program at Black Pine in 2021 has several objectives. They include step-out drilling to extend the known zones of mineralization which all remain open for expansion; resource upgrade drilling, and the testing of new target areas with the goal to define new high-grade discoveries such as the D-4 discovery in the Rangefront area.
Following the D-4 discovery at Rangefront, which includes 0.91 g/t gold over 86.9 metres and 2.03 g/t gold over 21.3 metres, two drill rigs have been mobilized to this area and results from over a dozen holes are pending.
The drills are testing between the two Rangefront deposit pits, near the southern portion of the historical heap leach pad and stepping out from the D-4 high grade oxide discovery. Given the size and the low elevation of the Rangefront D-4 discovery, budgeting is under way for a winter drill program, the company said.
A third rig continues the resource upgrade and step-out drilling program in the Discovery Zone and a core rig is on-site conducting geotechnical drilling and initiating phase four metallurgy testing, including in the D-4 Rangefront area.