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

Seabridge Gold Inc. May 9 said the winter drilling at its Courageous Lake has identified two new gold zones, Olsen and Marsh Pond, that could add additional higher grade resource to this large gold project in Northwest Territories.

Located about 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Yellowknife, the Courageous Lake property covers most of the 53-kilometer- (33 miles) long Mathews Lake Greenstone Belt, which hosts the FAT (Felsic-Ash-Tuff) and Walsh Lake deposits.

The FAT deposit hosts 91.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 2.2 grams per metric ton (6.46 million ounces) gold.

Situated about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of FAT, the Walsh Lake deposit hosts 4.26 million metric tons of near surface inferred resource at Walsh Lake averaging 3.24 g/t (482,000 oz) gold. Subsequent metallurgical testing demonstrated that the material is free milling with cyanide recoveries as high as 95 percent.

Based on these factors, Seabridge is considering whether the Walsh Lake deposit could be mined prior to constructing the more expensive processing plant required for the larger, refractory FAT deposit. This order of development could have significant economic benefits for the Courageous Lake project not only by extending mine life but also by generating cash flow to pay for some capital costs as the FAT deposit ramps up.

"We see the potential for a more economic Courageous Lake project at current gold prices by mining higher-grade, free-milling satellite deposits like Walsh Lake as well as the refractory reserves in the much larger FAT deposit," said Seabridge Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk.

The 2018 winter drill program set out to identify other Walsh Lake-like deposit by testing seven targets along a 7,500-meter stretch of the well-defined stratigraphic package that hosts Walsh Lake.

The Marsh Pond and Olsen targets, parallel targets about 4,200 meters northwest of Walsh Lake, returned results that meet these goals.

Highlights from the winter drilling at Marsh Pond include 14 meters of 3.08 g/t gold from a depth of 105 meters in hole CL-284 and 24 meters of 2.13 g/t gold from a depth of 75.5 meters in CL-285.

The winter drilling at Olsen cut 40.4 meters of 3.04 g/t gold from a depth of 43.8 meters in CL-286.

Seabridge said these Marsh Pond and Olsen appear to duplicate the upper and lower stratigraphic intervals found at Walsh Lake but further drilling is required to determine if these zones could be connected to form a single, larger occurrence.

This year's drill program also identified two other zones, North Bullfrog and Perrson, with the potential to contribute to the Courageous Lake gold resource but need further testing.

North Bulldog, situated between Walsh Lake and Marsh Pond, was originally thought to be two parallel geophysical anomalies which were targeted separately in this drill program. These anomalies have now been consolidated into a single target zone just over 1,000 meters in strike length.

The North Bulldog area returned numerous intervals with grades below Seabridge's requirements. The best intercept was 19.1 meters of 1.4 g/t gold from a depth of 100 meters in hole CL-275.

Seabridge said the size of the anomaly at North Bullfrog, coupled with the abundance of gold encountered there this winter, warrant more effort to refine a target that could meet grade requirements.

Perrson, just south of Walsh Lake, is a gold-bearing vein in an isolated surface exposure within a historical prospect pit. Seabridge expected this to be a discreet occurrence along the target stratigraphic contact. The wide vein and structural off-sets provide evidence, however, that this target could be the southern terminus of the Walsh Lake deposit.

Highlighted intercepts from Perrson include 3.7 meters of 2.88 g/t gold from a depth of 8.9 meters and 3 meters of 7.44 g/t gold in hole CL-289; and nine meters of 2.59 g/t gold from a depth of 78 meters in hole CL-291A.

Due to its potential to significantly expand the Walsh Lake deposit, Perrson is a priority target for follow-up.

Seabridge said the same favorable stratigraphy it tested this winter can be traced for more than 53 kilometers (33 miles) across the entire Seabridge claim block.

Fronk said the winter program provided the company with "some potentially significant new target ideas we need to evaluate."

"Our next step is to develop a conceptual design for a greater Courageous Lake operation that could exploit the satellite deposits early in the project life," he added.

–SHANE LASLEY