The Northern Miner‘s Henry Lazenby highlights of the top gold assays of the past week (Oct. 13-20). Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width, as identified by Costmine Intelligence.
Snowline Gold in Yukon
Three companies exploring for gold in the Americas top this week’s ranking of the best assay results. Yukon-focused Snowline Gold (TSX-V: SGD) continues to report encouraging assays from the Valley discovery at the Rogue project. Hole V-23-054 cut 424 metres grading 1.43 grams gold per tonne from 23.5 metres depth for a width x grade value of 606.Â
The hole, released Oct. 19, included a higher-grade section of 186.5 metres grading 1.85 grams gold from 66 metres depth. The hole was one of two released, with V-23-053 returning 387 metres averaging 1.04 grams gold per tonne from 84 metres, including a section of 153 metres grading 1.61 grams gold per tonne from 172 metres depth.
In a deviation from the typical southwest drilling direction at the Valley target, the two holes were drilled to the northeast, revealing significant widths of mineralization in various sections of the system. Specifically, Hole V-23-054 expands the known breadth of mineral deposits in Valley’s southern well-mineralized region. The last 30-metre segment of the same hole averaged 0.7 gram gold per tonne, marking a fresh zone of deep mineralization yet to be explored.
Notably, mineralization were present at the end of both drill holes. Results for over 11,400 metres of diamond drilling from Snowline’s 2023 exploration program are pending.
Reunion Gold in Guyana
Reunion Gold (TSX-V: RGD) reported the week’s second-best assay result from hole OKWD23-243-W1 at the Oko West project in Guyana, which returned 71 metres grading 5.77 grams gold per tonne from 504 metres depth for a width x grade value of 410.
According to the company’s Oct. 19 press release, infill drilling below the conceptual pit shell used to define the existing resource estimate continues to deliver results.
Rick Howes, Reunion’s CEO, expressed satisfaction with the current deep drilling results, suggesting a high-quality area deep down. These findings might enhance the project’s value by allowing a combination of open pit and underground mining. The company plans to continue drilling deeper and has postponed a preliminary economic assessment update, originally slated for release by year-end, to include this underground resource. The updated PEA is anticipated in the second quarter of 2024.
Oko West has an indicated resource of 41.8 million tonnes grading 1.84 grams gold per tonne for 2.5 million ounces. Another 27.1 million tonnes grading 2.02 grams gold is inferred, for 1.8 million oz. gold.
Provenance Gold in Oregon
Provenance Gold (CSE: PAU) delivered the week’s third-best result, reporting on October 18 that hole ED-11 at Eldorado, in eastern Oregon, cut 118.9 metres grading 3.28 grams gold per tonne from surface, for a width vs grade value of 390.
According to the company’s Oct. 18 press release, ED-11 aimed to assess mineral content in potassic vent breccias. It found 118.9 metres of consistent gold from the surface with high-grade sections. The drilling stopped at 118.9 metres because of bad conditions from groundwater in the mineral structures, which were also seen in earlier drill holes this year.
The company believes its structural work shows a steep northerly plunge to the high-grade zone, which sits in a larger mineralized area spanning 2 km from Block 1 to Block 6.
The high-grade zone has a sharp boundary on its southern margin, and drilling points to a 150- to 300-metre-wide, high-grade mineralized zone extending below reported drill holes.
