The Northern Miner‘s Colin McClelland highlighted the top gold assays of the past week. Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width, as identified by data company Mining Intelligence.
Projects in Canada and South America led the week’s best results. American Creek Resources’ (TSXV: AMK) Treaty Creek project in northwestern British Columbia’s Golden Triangle was number one. Filo Corp. (TSX: FIL; NASDAQ: FIL) followed with its Filo del Sol project in northwest Argentina. Lavras Gold (TSXV: LGC) was third with its Lavras do Sul project in southern Brazil.
Treaty Creek in BC
At Treaty Creek, drill hole GS-23-176-W1 cut 601.5 metres grading 1.23 grams gold per tonne from 67.5 metres down hole for a grade x width of 740.
The assay from the CS-600 domain of the Goldstorm deposit, one of two holes released for the week, included 123 metres grading 3.23 grams and 273.8 metres at 1.98 grams.
Tudor owns 60% of the project and acts as operator at the site about 250 km northeast of Prince Rupert, B.C. Tudor Gold (TSXV: TUD) and Teuton Resources (TSXV: TUO) each hold 20%.
“The consistency of the mineralization at Treaty Creek continues to astound,” American Creek president and CEO Darren Blaney said in a release. “The northern reaches of the Goldstorm deposit appear to have grade, continuity, and scale which could dramatically alter the potential of the deposit.”
The project, considered one of the industry’s largest gold discoveries in the last 30 years, borders on Seabridge Gold’s (TSX: SEA; NYSE: SA) KSM property to the southwest and Newmont’s (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) Brucejack gold mine to the southeast.
Filo del Sol in Argentina
In Argentina, Filo’s Filo del Sol project near the Chile border, about 1,250 km northwest of Buenos Aires, found a new new gold-rich section of the porphyry in the Aurora zone.
Drill hole FSDH086 cut 1,014 metres grading 0.39 gram from 400 metres depth for a grade x width of 395. The assay included 796 metres at 0.46 gram gold from 618 metres depth.
“We are seeing high-grade porphyry-style mineralization with unusually high gold grades and copper hosted by a chalcopyrite-bornite assemblage,” Filo president and CEO Jamie Beck said in a release. “This intersection is at the northwestern edge of our Aurora drilling and demonstrates the significant potential.”
The Lundin Family Trust and BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) have invested in Filo, going 70-30, respectively, on a $100-million private placement in June.
A prefeasibility study this year gave the project an after-tax net present value of US$1.3 billion at an 8% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 20%. It would cost US$1.8 billion to build and produce 145.5 million lb. copper, 168,000 oz. gold and 9.3 million oz. silver over a 13-year mine life, Filo said.
Fazenda do Posto in Brazil
In Brazil, drilling at Lavras Gold’s Fazenda do Posto discovery at its Lavras do Sul project about 1,900 km south of Rio de Janeiro confirmed the lateral continuity of gold mineralization, the company said.
Drill hole 23FP006 returned 229.9 metres grading 0.86 gram from 31.1 metres down hole for a grade x width of 198.
Discovered in August, Fazenda do Posto, is about 150 metres west of the company’s Butiá gold deposit, which has a resource of about 500,000 oz. and is open to expansion, according to a January 2022 report.
Drill hole 23FP006 tested the northeastern extension of Fazenda do Posto and was drilled southwest on a 200-degree azimuth and a dip of 60 degrees.
