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

White Gold Corp. Sept. 17 announced that it has tapped high-grade gold in the discovery hole at the Vertigo target on the company's JP Ross property in Yukon's White Gold District.

Near surface gold mineralization was encountered at Vertigo earlier this year with a GT Probe, a track mounted sampling machine engineered by Dawson City-based GroundTruth Exploration. Designed to be more cost-effective and less environmentally invasive than traditional trenching, the GT Probe drives a cased hole through the soil profile to collect a sample from the bedrock interface.

GT Probe sampling at Vertigo returned assays with as much as 29.1 grams per metric ton gold, including 6.5, 3.4 and 3.3 g/t gold within two meters of the surface on previously untested structures.

Drilling these structures with a track-mounted rotary air blast (RAB) drill returned much higher grade gold.

The discovery hole, JPRVERRAB18-001, cut 3.05 meters of 56.25 g/t gold from a depth of 3.05 meters. This high-grade section was part of a longer 10.67-meter intercept averaging 17.34 g/t gold. These rank amongst the highest grades ever encountered in the White Gold district.

Drilled 75 meters west of the discovery hole, JPRVERRAB18-011 cut 3.05 meters of 45 g/t gold from a depth of 1.52 meters, within a broader 15.24-meter intercept averaging 9.65 g/t gold.

At least 10 individual mineralized zones – V1 to V10 – have been identified over a 350- by 1,000-meter area at Vertigo, with individual zones having been traced up to 400 meters along strike.

The discovery hole cut high-grade gold in the V4 zone and hole 11 was drilled at V3.

So far, White Gold has received results from 10 of the 17 RAB holes drilled at Vertigo, nine of which cut significant gold mineralization.

Results from the seven remaining RAB holes are pending.

"We are very excited about the results from the Vertigo target confirming the discovery of multiple zones of high-grade, near-surface gold mineralization over 200 meters of strike length on the JP Ross property. These are very significant results for a first-round drill program and we are eagerly anticipating the additional results from the remaining holes on this new target," said White Gold Corp. Vice President of Exploration Jodie Gibson. "Our systematic approach to exploration has quickly advanced the Vertigo and we are looking forward to further exploring this exciting new discovery."

Following this systematic approach, White Gold is now testing Vertigo with a reverse circulation drill.

Several of the RAB holes failed to reach full depth due to difficult ground conditions adjacent to or within the mineralized zone. Recoveries are expected to improve with the RC rig. As of Sept. 17, 678 meters of RC had been completed in eight holes and drilling is ongoing, with a focus on testing all the known zones of mineralization and follow up on areas of significant mineralization identified with the RAB drill.

Situated about 19 miles (30 kilometers) north of the White Gold property, JP Ross has the advantage of being road accessible from Dawson City and the Vertigo Target is within 2,000 meters of an existing road. This will provide for lower cost exploration and resource exploration drilling at this enticing discovery in the White Gold District.

Expanding JP Ross

Given the success at JP Ross, White Gold Corp. has expanded its land holdings surrounding the gold property.

On Sept. 18 the company announced that it has acquired three properties – Henderson, Flow and Birdman – from Independence Gold Corp. for C$35,000 in cash, 160,000 White Gold Corp. shares and two 1 percent net smelter return royalties on the properties.

Henderson is the most important of the three properties in relation to JP Ross. Situated on the western border of JP Ross, Henderson covers two inferred fault intersections where abundant coarse placer gold has been recovered from North Henderson Creek. Two known mineralized structures on JP Ross – Rebecca and Sabotage – are located just east of Henderson and there are indications that these structures continue onto the newly acquired property.

Independence Gold retains a 1 percent NSR royalty on Henderson, which White Gold Corp. can acquire for C$2 million.

In addition to Henderson and the other White Gold District properties acquired from Independence Gold, White Gold Corp. staked new claims immediately south and west of JP Ross in the area surrounding the Vertigo discovery.

The company also staked a small group of claims covering prospective ground west of Henderson.

White Gold Corp.

With the new property acquisitions and staked claims, White Gold Corp. has extended its landholdings in the White Gold District to 409,000 hectares (1.01 million acres).

"The acquisition of these properties and claims add substantially to our holdings surrounding the recent exciting discovery on JP Ross and further expands our dominant position in the White Gold District," said White Gold Corp. CEO David D'Onofrio. "We are looking forward to the additional results from the exploration conducted on JP Ross and our other targets to be released in due course."

–SHANE LASLEY