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

TerraX Minerals Inc. July 8 announced the start of a 3,500-meter initial phase of drilling at its Yellowknife City Gold project targeting a potential 3,500-meter southern extension of the Sam Otto deposit.

Located on the Northbelt property, one of three major properties that make up the 783-square-kilometer (302 square miles) Yellowknife City Gold project, Sam Otto is a prospective bulk tonnage where past exploration has outlined 2,500 meters of continuous gold mineralization.

Previous drilling at Sam Otto cut 49.7 meters averaging one gram of gold per metric ton, 32.13 meters of 1.24 g/t gold, 30.75 meters of 1.29 g/t gold, and 27.7 meters of 1.64 g/t gold.

Surface sampling, mapping and geophysics indicate the potential of a large gold-bearing system extending south from Sam Otto. One previous hole drilled along this corridor, about 1,200 meters south of the deposit, cut 27.16 meters averaging 2.16 g/t gold.

In addition to defining a multi-kilometer-long southern extension of Sam Otto, this initial phase of summer drilling aims to define the geometry of high-grade lenses along the Sam Otto corridor.

"The opportunity at Sam Otto South is the potential to increase the overall strike by a factor of four and to delineate higher grade structures previously unseen at this target. Positive results could represent a material step change in our ability to deliver a significant resource," said TerraX Minerals President and CEO David Suda.

TerraX plans to kick off a second phase of 2019 Yellowknife City Gold project drilling in August that will target the high-grade Crestaurum deposit and BDC (Barney Deformation Corridor).

One hole drilled at Crestaurum in 2013 cut five meters averaging 62.9 g/t gold. The company said the success of past drilling, together with strong vectors from geophysics and geochemistry, have identified two parallel structures to the north that are new and largely untested.

TerraX Minerals Inc.

BDC is an extension of the gold system mined at Giant, a historic operation on the outskirts of Yellowknife and just south of the Northbelt property.

Rock samples collected from the surface of BDC have returned abundant high-grade gold, including one sample with 44.8 g/t gold. There has been very little drilling where this shear zone meets the Crestaurum shear zone, making this a strong target.

TerraX continues mapping and analyzing existing datasets from both targets to ensure accuracy of drill collar locations. More detailed work plans for drilling at these two priority targets at Yellowknife City Gold project are expected in the coming weeks.

–SHANE LASLEY