HighGold Mining Inc. Oct. 16 reported the completion of 2,247 meters of drilling in nine holes during the newly formed company's inaugural exploration program at the Johnson Tract gold-zinc-copper property in Southcentral Alaska. In addition to the drilling, which focused on defining and expanding the JT (Johnston Tract) deposit, this year's fieldwork included prospecting, geological mapping and geochemical sampling at several regional targets on the property.

HighGold, formed to explore gold assets spun out of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd., raised its initial capital and was listed on the TSX Venture exchange in mid-September.

"We were able to hit the ground running and execute a highly productive program in a relatively short period of time," said HighGold Mining President and CEO Darwin Green.

The primary focus of this late season work was to confirm, upgrade and expand JT, a previously identified deposit on the company's flagship Johnson Tract property.

A historical resource calculated for Westmin Resources Ltd. in 1994 outlined 1.04 million metric tons at JT averaging 10.05 grams per metric ton gold, 7.63 g/t silver, 8.32 percent zinc, 0.75 percent copper and 1.13 percent lead.

Westmin considered shipping ore mined from JT to its Premier Mine and mill facility in northwestern British Columbia, however, low gold prices at that time did not support this plan.

HighGold plans to use the results from the holes drilled this fall, in combination with validated data from the previous drilling, to calculate the first NI 43-101-compliant resource for Johnson Tract.

"The work completed has positioned us well to deliver a first-time resource estimate and has reinforced our conviction in the substantial exploration upside at Johnson Tract, which was last explored 25 years ago," said Green. "We look forward to providing new assay results to the market in the coming weeks as they become available. HighGold was also fortunate to be able to integrate two members of the technical team who were directly involved in the 1980s field programs, providing for the transfer of important historical knowledge and data."

In addition to updating and upgrading the historical resource, HighGold said its 2019 exploration has turned up several targets for next year's drill program.

This exploration work include mapping along the main Johnson Tract-Northeast Offset trend, as well as mapping and sampling at the North Alteration Zone, Kona Creek and Difficult Creek prospects.

The company said its relatively short 2019 program has significantly increased understanding of the geological setting and the style and tenor of precious and base metal mineralization and associated alteration and structural framework.

"After this foreshortened field season, we have come away with an even greater sense of excitement about the exploration potential and have solid exploration targets in hand," said Green. "While the previous operator did careful and quality work, they were intensely focused on sourcing mill feed for their under-capacity Stewart, B.C mill with budgets that prioritized engineering studies over exploration. Because of this, the property remains severely underexplored with significant upside exploration potential."

The assay results from the drilling and sampling are pending.

Once the results are in and interpreted, HighGold plans to have the first mineral resource estimation compliant to modern reporting standards calculated for the JT deposit.

The company also plans to continue retrieving and compiling historic geological, geochemical and geophysical data collected by previous operators from 1982 to 1995.

In addition to Johnson Tract, HighGold's portfolio includes the Munro-Croesus, Golden Perimeter and Golden Mile gold projects in Ontario's Timmins region.

The company is preparing for drill programs at Munro-Croesus and Golden Perimeter.

"While the historic Croesus Mine last produced in the 1930s, it yielded some of the highest-grade gold mined to date in Ontario and warrants systematic modern exploration," Green said earlier this year.

HighGold anticipates drilling at the two Timmins gold camp properties during the first half of 2020.

On the corporate front, HighGold is making progress toward completion of an application to the Over-the-Counter (OTC) stock trading platform in the United States. While there is no firm timeline to successful completion of this process, the company said the ability to better serve existing U.S. shareholders and those who would like to purchase HighGold shares in the United States is a priority of the management team.

HighGold Mining Inc.

A high-grade gold sample from the historic Croesus Mine on display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

–SHANE LASLEY