Thesis Gold drills 3.94 g/t AuEq over 46 metres at Lawyers, British Columbia
Thesis Gold Inc. [TSXV-TAU; OTCQX-THSGF; WKN-A3EP87] released another set of assay results from the Dukes Ridge deposit at its 100%-owned Lawyers gold-silver project. The drill results presented herein confirm along-strike continuity of deep, high-grade mineralization at the Dukes Ridge deposit. Following the company’s recent merger, the road-accessible Lawyers project and adjacent Ranch project now comprise a 325 km2 contiguous land package in the prolific Toodoggone mining district, northern British Columbia.
Highlights: Assay results from numerous Dukes Ridge drill holes intersected intervals of high-grade mineralization within broader mineralized zones: 23DRDD011, the easternmost hole in the high-grade panel, intersected upper and lower zones of broadly dispersed mineralization, both of which contain higher-grade subintervals.
The Upper zone returned a 46-metre-wide interval (beginning at 325 m core depth) returned 2.29 g/t gold and 132.10 g/t silver, or 3.94 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq), including 5.41 metres of 19.58 g/t AuEq; 1.36 metres of 36.61 g/t AuEq and three metres of 8.18 g/t AuEq.
The Lower zone returned a 37-metre wide interval (beginning at 392 m core depth) returned 2.09 g/t gold and 85.30 g/t silver, or 3.16 g/t AuEq, including one metres of 11.33 g/t AuEq and 0.82 metres of 92.17 g/t AuEq.
High-grade zones remain open to the southeast, indicating further potential to extend mineralization along strike in the deeper parts of the Dukes Ridge deposit.
These results confirm multiple zones of high-grade gold and silver greater than 200 metres beneath the base of the Dukes Ridge open pit shell (preliminary economic assessment – August, 2022).
The 2022 PEA assessed the Lawyers gold-silver project as an exclusively open-pit mining venture. The company sees an opportunity to enhance project economics by incorporating deep, high-grade mineralization into a potential complementary underground mining scenario in an updated PEA in 2024.
Dr. Ewan Webster, president and cCEO, commented: “The Dukes Ridge deposit continues to exceed our expectations, continuing to grow significantly at depth. These results are very encouraging for the planned 2024 resource update and new PEA in Q2 and Q3, respectively. So far, we’ve drilled over 37,000 metres of our company’s planned 50,000-metre season. Drilling is ongoing at both the Lawyers and Ranch projects, and we look forward to sharing more updates in the near term.”
The holes reported here were designed to infill and expand upon previous drilling, optimizing potential growth for the upcoming resource estimate. The results presented demonstrate excellent along-strike continuity in mineralization at the Dukes Ridge deposit. Drilling has now defined a broad panel of mineralization that extends over 200 m below the open-pit mining scenario, is over 200 metres in width, plunges gently to the southeast and remains open along strike. The eastern-southeastern extent is defined by very strong mineralization in 23DRDD009 and 23DRDD011. The company has several more holes planned to test beyond the limits of current drilling and will report on those holes once they have been drilled and results are back from the laboratory.
Mineralization at Lawyers is typified by zones of high-grade gold and silver within much-broader zones of mineralization. Drilling in the deeper parts of the Dukes Ridge deposit indicates that these characteristics hold true at depth, demonstrating the potential viability of an underground mining scenario beneath the Dukes Ridge open pit that was proposed in the 2022 PEA.
Thesis Gold, following its strategic merger with Benchmark Metals, is unlocking the combined potential of the Ranch and Lawyers gold-silver projects in the Toodoggone mining district. A 2022 preliminary economic assessment for the Lawyers project alone projected an open-pit mining operation yielding 163,000 gold equivalent ounces annually over a 12-year span.
By integrating the Ranch project, the company aims to enhance these figures and bolster the overall project’s potential. Central to this ambition is the 50,000-metre drill program, which aims to define the high-grade underground resource at Lawyers and augment the near-surface, high-grade deposits at Ranch. The company’s plans include releasing a combined Ranch-Lawyers resource estimate by the second quarter of 2024, with an updated preliminary economic assessment slated for Q3 2024.