Rockhaven launches Yukon drilling, stock up

Rockhaven Resources Ltd. [RK-TSXV] shares rallied Monday September 9, after the company said it has launched the 2019 drilling program at its 100%-owned Klaza property, located in the Dawson Range Gold Belt of southern Yukon.

Rockhaven said the program will include 6,000 metres of diamond drilling in 35 holes. The total cost of the program is expected to be $1.5 million.

The company said two drill rigs will be utilized to define and evaluate targets which lie adjacent to zones containing an indicated resource of 686,000 ounces of gold and 14 million ounces of silver (or 907,000 ounces of gold equivalent), plus an inferred resource of 507,000 ounces gold and 13.9 million ounces of silver (725,000 ounces of gold equivalent).

“We are thrilled to begin our fully-funded 2019 diamond drill program, which we expect will expand the current mineral resources that are hosted in only two of eleven main zones identified to date on the Klaza property,” said Rockhaven CEO Matt Turner.

“The drilling will also test some of the other sub-parallel zones, including the Central Pearl Zone, where 2017 drilling discovered five high-grade gold veins and the Victoria Zone, where prospecting samples returned up to 35.30 g/t gold and 2,360 g/t silver,” Turner said.

Rockhaven shares advanced on the news, rising 15.6% or $0.025 to 18.5 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $0.085 and 18.5 cents.

The company said the first rig will primarily be discovery focused and will evaluate high-grade gold and silver targets in sub-parallel zones adjacent to known resources. These targets include the Central Pearl Zone, the Victoria Zone, and the Western Chevron and Dickson Zones. The Central Pear Zone was discovered by a single exploration hole in 2017 that cut numerous mineralized structures, including a 10.12-metre wide zone that averaged 1.16 g/t gold and 18.7 g/t silver.

The second drill rig will focus on definition drilling at the Eastern Zones, a target that hosts bulk tonnage, fracture controlled mineralization in broad zones, situated adjacent to the Klaza mineral resources. This drilling will focus on the near surface and potentially pit-constrained portions of these zones with results used to facilitate deposit modelling and resource estimation.

Adding to the importance of this target, metallurgical test work has indicated positive gold recoveries through direct cyanide leaching, with 81% of the gold recovered to doré bars.

News that drilling has begun comes just days after the company said it had closed a private placement financing deal that raised $4 million. Klaza hosts a large hydrothermal system that is concentrated within a 4km long by 3km wide structural corridor. The company said current mineral resource areas have only been systematically explored to a depth of about 275 metres, but well mineralized intersections occur as deep as 450 metres.