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

Skeena Resources Ltd. Oct. 1 reported high-grade gold-silver intercepts from the company's initial phase of drilling at the Eskay Creek project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

Skeena cut a deal to acquire Eskay Creek, which hosts a previously producing precious metals-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, from Barrick Gold Corp. late in 2017.

Last month the company had a resource calculated for this property that meets modern reporting standards.

According to this calculation, Eskay Creek hosts 1.09 million metric tons of open-pit indicated resource averaging 4.9 grams per metric ton (173,000 ounces) gold and 72 g/t (2.53 million oz) silver; plus 4.26 million metric tons of open-pit inferred resource averaging 4.3 g/t (458,000 oz) gold and 72 g/t (9.81 million oz) silver.

Additionally, the past producing property hosts 2.51 million metric tons of underground indicated resource averaging 7.2 g/t (582,000 oz) gold and 215 g/t (17.34 million oz) silver; plus 812,000 metric tons of underground inferred resource averaging 7.2 g/t (187,000 oz) gold and 214 g/t (5.59 million oz) silver.

This resource does not include results from a 5,000-meter surface drill program that got underway in August.

Highlights from the first three hole are 34 meters of 15.97 g/t gold and 149.2 g/t silver, or 18.1 g/t gold-equivalent in hole SK-18-001; 34.85 meters of 20.31 g/t gold and 137.3 g/t silver, or 22.27 g/t gold-equivalent in SK-18-002; and 27.7 meters of 29.49 g/t gold and 973 g/t silver, or 27.7 g/t gold-equivalent in SK-18-003.

These holes were drilled in the 21A Zone, which is adjacent to the previously mined 22B Zone at Eskay Creek.

The latest batch of results from five holes continue to show similar results.

Hole SK-18-004 cut 28.5 meters of 14.02 g/t gold, 707 g/t silver, or 23.45 g/t gold-equivalent. Skeena said this hole demonstrates the strong dip continuity of the mineralization hosted within 21A Zone;

SK-18-005, drilled from a pad to the north, cut 11.9 meters averaging 22.13 g/t gold and 193 g/t silver, or 24.69 g/t gold-equivalent; and

SK-18-006, drilled from the same pad as hole 5, cut 12.95 meters of 28.97 g/t gold, 15 g/t silver, or 29.17 g/t gold-equivalent.

The 21A Zone is currently drill defined over an area measuring 420 meters along strike and 180 meters down-dip.

Being close to surface, this one- to 80-meter-thick zone of high-grade gold and silver mineralization may be amenable to open-pit mining.

In addition to gold and silver, drills have tapped what appears to be significant antimony in 21A.

Skeena Resources Ltd.

Hole SK-18-003 intersected a zone of massive stibnite (antimony) with abundant millimeter-scale flecks of electrum (a silver-gold alloy) that returned 95.1 g/t gold and 14,591.5 g/t (469.1 oz/t) silver, or 303.55 g/t gold-equivalent over 0.60 meters.

During previous mining at Eskay Creek, antimony was treated as a penalty element. Skeena Resources, however, believes this mineral, which is considered critical in the United States, could offer significant by-product credits during future mining.

Assays from the antimony and base metals are pending.

To expedite Skeena Resources' phase I program, a second drill rig is testing 21C, a zone closer to the historical mining at Eskay Creek.

–SHANE LASLEY