Newcrest drills 178 g/t gold over 22 metres at Brucejack, British Columbia
Newcrest Mining Ltd. [NCM-TSX; NCMGF-OTC; NSM-ASX] managing director and CEO, Sandeep Biswas, said: “Newcrest delivered another excellent quarter of exploration results with significant growth potential highlighted across our key targets at Brucejack, Red Chris in British Columbia and Havieron in Australia.
“At Brucejack, we returned several high-grade intercepts during the quarter, supporting our views for significant resource growth potential. Golden Marmot remains open to the east, north and south, with the target displaying many geological features of the nearby Valley of the Kings deposit.
“The results of our East Ridge discovery at Red Chris continue to expand the higher-grade footprint, and Havieron has continued to deliver encouraging results, demonstrating its potential for incremental growth outside of the current resource.”
At Brucejack, drilling continues to confirm the potential for resource growth at the Valley of the Kings (VOK) deposit and the surrounding area with further high-grade intercepts returned from the 1080 HBx zone and Golden Marmot, which are located outside the current Pretium-published resource.
At 1080 HBx zone, drilling has expanded the VOK deposit and confirmed the continuity of the higher-grade mineralization at depth and to the south, with 22 of 44 holes returning intervals in excess of five grams per tonne gold. Drilling continues to deliver narrow intervals of very high-grade gold mineralization within broader zones of stockwork and vein arrays.
Mineralization now extends over 75 metres of strike and remains open. Results include VU-4546 with 22 metres of 178 g/t gold from 2 metres, including 1.0 metre of 3,876 g/t gold from 2 metres. In addition, VU-4331 returned 70.1 metres of 35 g/t gold from 337.5 metres, including 1.0 metyre of 2,310 g/t gold from 361.5 metres.
At Golden Marmot, located approximately 3.5 km north of the Valley of the Kings, assays were received for the first 19 holes drilled during the quarter. Holes were drilled to infill the main zone, with seven of 19 holes returning intervals in excess of 5 g/t gold, with results including SU-888 at 46.5 metres of 16 g/t gold from 66 metres, including 1 metre of 488 g/t gold from 77.5 metres and including 1 metre of 236 g/t gold from 99.5 metres. In addition, SU-879 returned 91.5 mteres of 9.1 g/t gold from 100.5 metres, including 1.5 metres of 514 g/t gold from 138 metres.
At Red Chris, continuing drilling activities at East Ridge continue to confirm continuity and expand the footprint of higher-grade mineralization.
At East Ridge, drilling expanded the vertical extent of the mineralization within the exploration target area. RC820 returned 278 metres of 0.74 g/t gold and 0.44% copper from 1,658 metres, including 66 metres of 1.7 g/t gold and 1.1% copper from 1,870 metres, and RC835 returned 284 metres of 0.75 g/t gold and 0.63% copper from 1,295 metres, including 112 metres of 1.4 g/t gold and 1.0% copper from 1,433 metres. Both holes have extended higher-grade mineralization by a further 100 metres at depth to more than 600 metres vertical, and both holes remain open at depth.
At Havieron, growth drilling continues to identify and expand high-grade extensions to the mineralization in the Eastern breccia, South East Crescent zone and Northern breccia, with expansion potential.
In the Eastern breccia, extensions to the southeast of the current mineral resource are reported, including HAD152W2 with 120 metres of 2.1 g/t gold and 0.17% copper from 1,724 metres, including 20.3 metres of 3.1 g/t gold and 0.68% copper from 1,781.7 metres and other encouraging assays.
At the Northern breccia, a new zone of high-grade sulphide mineralization is being defined within the approximate 200-metre gap between the current Northern breccia and Eastern breccia resources. Results include HAD098W3 with 15.4 metres of 12 g/t gold and 0.27% copper from 1,379.6 metres and other encouraging assays.
At the South East Crescent, drilling continues to demonstrate incremental growth at depth outside of the current resource. Results include HAD086W5 with 39.9 metres of 4.6 g/t gold and 0.10% copper from 1,401.1 metres, including 20.6 metres of 8.7 g/t gold and 0.13% copper from 1,403 metres and other encouraging assays.
The Wilki Project in Western Australia is a farm-in and joint venture with Antipa Minerals Limited. The project area covers ~2,200 km2 surrounding the Telfer operation and is adjacent to the Havieron Project. Newcrest has a 9.9% shareholding in Antipa.
Newcrest will proceed to the next stage (Stage 1) of the farm-in agreement following completion of the initial exploration expenditure commitment (A$6 million). Newcrest can earn a 51% joint venture interest in the Wilki Project by spending a further A$10 million by March 2025 during Stage 1. Newcrest is manager and operator of Wilki.
The Juri Joint Venture is a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Greatland Gold with respect to the Black Hills and Paterson Range East projects within the Paterson Province approximately 50 km from the Telfer operation and near the Havieron Project, Western Australia. The joint venture covers an area of approximately 248 km2. Newcrest has a 51% interest in the Juri Joint Venture and can earn an additional 24% joint venture interest by spending a further A$17 million by October 2024.
Drilling was completed at the A9 target and the initial hole of a planned two hole program was completed at Tama. Assay results are currently pending. Further work will be focused on the A27 anomaly in Black Hills region.