Ascot Resources Ltd. Nov. 1 reported that drilling has encountered additional high-grade gold in the Unicorn area of Big Missouri ridge has intercepted high-grade gold mineralization.

The company completed 45,848 meters of resource drilling in 237 holes on its Premier-Dilworth property about 16 miles (25 kilometers) north of Stewart, much of which targeted various zones within the Big Missouri area.

This more than 100-square-kilometer (38.6 square miles) property is home to the Premier Mine, a past-producer of approximately 2.4 million ounces of gold and 50 million oz silver. Infrastructure from the operations used up until 2001 – including mill, assay lab building, crusher, tailing storage area and underground development – remain on the property.

Previous operations included mining from the S1 pit at Big Missouri, about six kilometers (four miles) north of the Premier mill.

The Unicorn area is located to the northeast of the S1 pit and immediately east of the Big Missouri Ridge topographical feature. High-grade gold mineralization has been identified in various parts of the Unicorn area at a minimum of two different elevations. These zones are in a similar arrangement to the Big Missouri ridge, where three stacked zones of gold mineralization – Province at the top of the ridge, Big Missouri roughly 150 meters lower and an unnamed zone about 100 meters further down.

In August, Ascot reported high-grade gold results from Unicorn. Highlights from these previously released assay results include:

• 15.8 meters of 14.22 grams per metric ton gold and 11.5 g/t silver in hole P18-1678; and

• four meters of 6.45 g/t gold and 12 g/t silver in hole P18-1708.

The latest round of results from Unicorn includes some narrower but higher grade gold mineralization:

• 1.57 meters of 80.22 g/t gold and 30 g/t silver in hole P18-1831;

• 3.5 meters of 14.92 g/t gold and 49.4 g/t silver in hole P18-1817; and

• 2.3 meters of 14.53 g/t gold and 9 g/t silver in hole P18-1829.

The northern part of the Unicorn area was tested by 19 holes from three different pads. This drilling cut gold mineralization at three different elevations, close to surface, at around 100 meters depth and 160 meters depth.

Ascot also reported results from Province, the topmost of the three known mineralized zones at the Big Missouri ridge.

In August, the company reported results from drilling at Province, including:

• two meters of 25.4 g/t gold and 8 g/t silver in hole P18-1691; and

• two meters of 14.6 g/t gold and 7.7 g/t silver in hole P18-1696.

The latest round of results from Province includes a similar intercept:

• two meters of 8.35 g/t gold and 5 g/t silver in hole P18-1804.

All six holes drilled at Province cut gold mineralization close to surface. This material is easily accessible and provides another location for potential mill feed as Ascot considers a possible future restart scenario of the Premier mill.

"We are very pleased with the results of the 2018 drill campaign and look forward to incorporate the new intercepts into our upcoming resource update," said Ascot Resources President and CEO Derek White.

The Premier-Northern Lights area of the property, which is located adjacent to the mill, hosts 1.21 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 7.02 g/t (273,000 oz) gold and 30.6 g/t (1.19 million oz) silver; and 1.64 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.01 g/t (317,000 oz) gold and 24.9 g/t (1.31 million oz) silver.

This is within a much larger but lower grade resource for the entire property – 94.71 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.9 g/t (2.75 million oz) gold and 7.2 g/t (21.97 million oz) silver; and 80.92 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.7 g/t (1.81 million oz) gold and 7.56 g/t (19.55 million oz) silver.

In considering the restart of the Premier gold-silver mine, Ascot is looking at processing higher grade mineralization from Premier-Northern Lights; Big Missouri Ridge; and from the newly acquired Silver Coin property, which is between Big Missouri and the mill.

The high-grade core of Silver Coin hosts 702,000 metric tons of indicated resource grading 4.46 grams per metric ton (100,660 ounces) gold and 967,000 metric tons of inferred resource grading 4.39 g/t (136,480 oz) gold, according to a resource calculated in 2013.

"Ascot will have three distinct areas with a potential resource base, including the recently acquired Silver Coin project, the high-grade resources at Premier-Northern Lights, and the various areas at the Big Missouri ridge," said White. "We are also excited about the exceptional exploration potential of our large land package and look forward to test numerous targets in 2019."

–SHANE LASLEY