North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Auryn Resources Inc. July 17 reported the start of a 15,000-meter drill program at Homestake Ridge, a northwestern British Columbia gold project the company acquired in September.

According to a 2012 calculation, the three main deposits at Homestake host 604,000 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 6.4 grams per metric ton (124,000 ounces) gold; 48.3 g/t (939,000 oz) silver; and 0.18 percent (2.4 million pounds) copper.

Additionally, these deposits host 6.77 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.2 g/t (911,000 oz) gold; 93.6 g/t (20.37 million oz) silver; and 0.11 percent (16.3 million lb) copper.

This year's 12-week exploration program is primarily focused on making new discoveries to considerably add to this high-grade resource.

In addition to drilling, Auryn plans to collect 2,000 soil samples; complete High resolution x-ray analyzer (XRF) soil sampling and shortwave infrared analysis; and induced polarization geophysical surveys to identify structures across the project area.

"Recent 3D modeling of all historical data as well as the re-logging of 77,000 meters of historical drill core has demonstrated the project has a number of highly prospective structures that remain untested. The technical team has done extensive work to bring these targets to a drill ready state and is excited about the ongoing drill programs," said Auryn Chief Geologist Michael Henrichsen.

-SHANE LASLEY