Industry refocuses on the Golden Triangle

INDUSTRY RE-FOCUSES ON GOLDEN TRIANGLE

By Melanie Franner

PHOTO COURTESY OF SKEENA RESOURCES LIMITED

Long considered an area rich in production – and potential – B.C.’s Golden Triangle is on the map again. The Deep Dive, a research vehicle providing stock analysis on Canadian junior markets, attributes this renewed interest to a variety of factors, namely:

• Newly exposed terrain and rock formations;

• New high-voltage transmission line;

• New Stewart-Cassiar Highway;

• New ocean-access shipping facilities;

• New technologies; and • Improved relations, collaboration, and cooperation between the mining industry, the B.C. government, and two of the region’s

First Nations groups (the Tahltan

Central Government and the

Nisga’a Lisims Government).

In the know

A May 2022 Information Circular on the Golden Triangle from the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation estimates that the total compliant reserves and resources in the region represent $1.280 billion. This includes 3300Mlb molybdenum, 1600 Moz silver, 240 Moz gold, 91,900 Mlb copper, 400 Mlb lead, and 1600 Mlb zinc. The circular attributes the figures to DigiGeoData, as of December 31, 2021.

The Information Circular also highlights recent transactions such as Newmont’s May 2021 $456M ownership acquisition of GT Gold Corp. The acquisition includes the Tatogga gold-copper project, which is comprised primarily of the Saddle North deposit.

Newmont continued its procurement activities with its June 2022 acquisition of Skeena Resources Limited (following Skeena’s March 2022 acquisition of QuestEx Gold & Copper Ltd.), which includes the northern properties of Castle, Coyote,

Heart Peaks, Moat, and North ROK.

Other recent buys saw Newcrest Mining Limited’s acquisition of Pretium Resources Inc.’s Brucejack mine in March 2022. The company immediately launched a threephase transformation program to optimise synergies in safety and logistics, investigate increasing process plant capacity from the currently permitted rate of 3,800 tonnes per day to between 4,500 and 5,000 tonnes per day, and intensify exploration drilling programs.

Significant drilling continues at the Red Chris joint venture between Newcrest (70%) and Imperial Metals Corporation (30%), with eight rigs operational. Production at Red Chris in 2021 was 65.43Mibs Cu, 60,160 oz Au, and 171,045 oz Ag.

In October 2021, the Newcrest Board also endorsed the Red Chris Block Cave Pre-Feasibility Study, which confirms Red Chris’ potential to be a long-life, low-cost mine capable of producing a total of 5.3Moz of gold and 1.7Mt of copper. The Board has approved moving onto the Feasibility Stage.

The recent buying spree in the Golden Triangle is complemented by significant drilling developments.

Eskay Mining Corp. reports that its planned 30,000-metre drill program will make 2022 one of the most aggressive drill campaigns ever undertaken at the Consolidated Eskay VMS Project. Its systematic ‘fence’ style drill campaign will be employed along the greater fivekilometre-long TV-Jeff corridor. This is expected to deliver new discoveries like those already drilled over the past two seasons at the Jeff and TV deposits. The exploration team is also aggressively advancing work in areas such as Scarlet Ridge and Excelsior to deliver new drill targets to be tested later this season.

Dolly Varden Silver Corporation is currently using three diamond drill rigs with 99 drill holes planned in the Phase I program at Kitsault Valley Project. To date, over 18,000 metres of drilling has been completed. Resource upgrade and expansion drilling is underway at the Homestake Ridge Main Gold zone with two drills, one drill continuing exploration, and resource expansion drilling at the silver-rich Torbrit area and at the Wolf Deposit. Geological and geophysical work along the Kitsault Valley trend is also ongoing to help refine targets for exploration drilling in the latter part of the summer.

Skeena completed a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) in July 2021 on Eskay Creek which highlights an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.4B, 56% IRR and a 1.4-year payback at US$1,550/oz Au and US$22/oz Ag. The company is aggressively advancing Eskay Creek toward a Feasibility Study which is expected to be released late in 2022.

Results from the 2022 drill program at the Goldstorm/Copper Belle zone on Treaty Creek (Tudor Gold Corp., Teuton Resources Corp. and American Creek Resources Ltd.) showed continued success in the step-out drilling of the large Goldstorm Deposit and its various domains, as well as the continuation of hitting high grades within pulses of gold and silver as a late-stage, over-printed style of mineralization. Notably, much higher silver mineralization is associated with these late-stage features as supported by a 1.5 metre interval within the 300H domain, which yielded 24.11 g/t AuEq (20.40 g/t Au, 311 g/t Ag and 648 ppm Cu) within GS-22-146 as part of a 10.5 metre composite that averaged 9.55 g/t AuEq (8.77 g/t Au, 62.44 g/t Ag and 410 ppm Cu). Similarly, within hole GS-22-147, a 1.10 metre intercept yielded 22.79 g/t AuEq over 1.10 m (13.4 g/t Au, 801 g/t Ag and 196 ppm Cu).

PHOTO COURTESY OF ESKAY MINING CORPORATIONS

The Golden Triangle continues to garner interest among today’s investors. Its long history makes it a tantalizing proposition for industry stalwarts and newcomers alike.

Potential projects

Several proposed mines are also under consideration in the Golden Triangle, as per the Ministry’s May 2022 Information Circular.

Among these is Galore Creek (Galore Creek Mining Corporation), an alkalic porphyry copper-gold mine with a Measured + Indicated resource of 1.104 Bt at 0.47% Cu, 0.26 g/t Au, 3.7 g/t Ag and an Inferred resource of 198 Mt at 0.27% Cu, 0.21 g/t Au, 2.7 g/t Ag. KSM (Seabridge Gold Inc.) is also in the mix. The calc-alkaline porphyry Au-Cu-Ag-Mo has Proven + Probable reserves of 2.198 Bt at 0.55 g/t Au, 0.21% Cu, 2.6 g/t Ag, 42.6 g/t Mo. Measured + Indicated resource is 3.59 Bt at 0.49 g/t Au, 0.19% Cu, 2.7 g/t Ag, 53.0 g/t Mo, while Inferred resource is 5.40 Bt at 0.36 g/t Au, 0.29% Cu, 2.2 g/t Ag, 31 g/t Mo.

Ascot Resources Ltd. also has two proposed mines in the area: Premier is an epithermal gold-silver mine, while Red Mountain is a vein, breccia, and stockwork gold-silver mine. The former has Proven + Probable reserves of 3.63 Mt at 5.45 g/t Au, 19.11 g/t Ag, while the latter has Proven + Probable reserves of 2.54 Mt at 6.52 g/t Au, 20.60 g/t Ag.

Long-lasting appeal

The Golden Triangle continues to garner interest among today’s investors. Its long history makes it a tantalizing proposition for industry stalwarts and newcomers alike. The past year has shown the area remains very active indeed – be it sale and acquisition, drilling and exploration, mineral production, or proposed projects. All of these factors point toward the area’s storied past continuing well into the future. p

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