TDG Gold drills 2,324 ppm Cu over 13 metres at Oxide, British Columbia
TDG Gold Corp. [TDG-TSXV] reported results of the 2022 exploration program at its earn-in Oxide Peak project in the Toodoggone district of north-central British Columbia. Oxide Peak is contiguous to the north of TDG’s 100%-owned former producing Baker-Shasta gold-silver project. The program included over 1,000 metres of diamond drilling in two holes at the Oxide Creek target, along with airborne hyperspectral analysis covering the entirety of the Oxide Peak property.
Oxide Creek represents a highly prospective target for the discovery of a porphyry copper-style deposit, with stream and rock sampling indicating the typical zonation of a copper-enriched core surrounded by zinc and lead on the peripheries, highly sulphidized (pyrite) and quartz-sericite alteration giving a common QSP signature, evidence of magnetic destruction common in large hydrothermal systems and clay mineral assemblages that are zoned, and coincident with, anomalous Cu +/- gold mineralization. The two drillholes completed in 2022 provide a third dimension to the alteration, mineralization and mineral assemblages seen on surface, suggesting the presence of a large-scale mineralizing system nearby.
The Oxide Peak mineral tenures comprise over 8,000 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims located adjacent and contiguous to the north of TDG’s former producing gold-silver Baker mine property. TDG has identified multiple exploration targets on the Oxide Peak Project, including Drybrough (drilled by TDG in 2021) and Oxide Creek (drilled by TDG in 2022).
Highlights: Drilling of 1,021.5 metres completed in two diamond drillholes, both holes intersecting broad intervals of anomalous concentrations of base and precious metals associated with an assemblage of high to medium sulphidation minerals.
Drill hole OP22-022 returned 13.0 metres of 2,324 ppm copper, 5 ppm lead, 74 ppm zinc, 10 ppm molybdenum, 328 ppb gold and 0.72 ppm silver; 9.1 metres of of 1,648 ppm copper, 4 ppm lead, 34 ppm zinc, 37 ppm Mo, 35 ppb gold and 1.38 ppm silver; 3.8 metres f of 1,035 ppm copper, 11 ppm lead, 66 ppm zinc, 43 ppm Mo, 14 ppb gold and 2.22 ppm silver.
Pathfinder elements (tellurium, tungsten, bismuth) suggest the presence of a porphyry system nearby the 2022 drilled area. Ground and airborne geophysics (including the 2022 hyperspectral analysis) indicates a large hydrothermal system in the vicinity of Oxide Creek.
Chris Dail, a technical consultant leading TDG’s regional program, commented: “Our initial drill test of the large Oxide Peak system is encouraging with visible alteration over 200 metres of vertical extent in intensely sulphidized rock, associated with highly anomalous copper, zinc and molybdenum concentrations throughout both drillholes. The large and coincident geophysical and geochemical anomalies on the property are open in both directions, down dip and we have yet to test the larger copper in soil anomaly and outcropping of porphyry copper style alteration found downhill from the target we drilled in 2022.”
TDG is a major mineral and placer tenure holder in the historical Toodoggone Production Corridor of north-central British Columbia, Canada, with over 23,000 hectares of brownfield and greenfield exploration opportunities under direct ownership or earn-in agreement. TDG’s flagship projects are the former producing, high-grade gold-silver Shasta, Mets and Baker mines, which are all road accessible, produced intermittently between 1981-2012, and have over 65,000 metres of historical drilling. The projects have been advanced through compilation of historical data, new geological mapping, geochemical and geophysical surveys and, at Shasta 13,250 metres of modern HQ drill testing of the known mineralization occurrences and their potential extensions. In May 2023, TDG published an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for Shasta and which remains open at depth and along strike. In January 2023, TDG defined a larger exploration target area adjacent to Shasta (Greater Shasta-Newberry with drill-ready targets where TDG aims to undertake follow-up exploration activities in 2023.