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

Victoria Gold Corp. Dec. 4 announced a 22 percent increase in gold reserves at Eagle, which is expected to translate into increased annual production at the company's newly developed mine in the Yukon.

The Eagle Mine went into production earlier this year with 2.66 million ounces of gold in 123 million metric tons of reserves averaging 0.67 grams per metric ton gold, enough ore for Yukon's newest large mine to produce roughly 200,000 oz of gold annually over an initial 10-year mine life.

These reserves were based on the measured and indicated resources that had been outlined in the Eagle and Olive deposits when a 2016 feasibility study was completed for developing the mine at Eagle. Drilling over the past three years has continued to expand these deposits, which has resulted in increased reserves with a recently completed feasibility level technical report.

"Reserves have increased by over 20 percent from the drilling of 58 holes completed post-2016 feasibility study and we continue to see meaningful upside potential at the Eagle and Olive pits as well as across the Dublin Gulch property," said Victoria Gold President and CEO John McConnell.

The Eagle Mine now hosts 3.26 million oz of gold in 155 million metric tons of reserves averaging 0.65 g/t gold.

With this increase in reserves, Victoria now expects the Eagle Mine annual production to increase by 10 percent, to around 220,000 oz of gold per year.

Given the recent exploration success across the wider Dublin Gulch property, it seems likely that Victoria Gold will continue to expand its reserves.

In addition to the 217 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.63 g/t (4.4 million oz) gold that was used to upgrade resources, the Eagle and Olive deposits host 21 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.52 g/t (361,000 oz) gold, a portion of which could be upgraded to reserves with additional drilling and a new feasibility study.

Above increasing and expanding reserves in and around the current deposits, exploration crews have made some intriguing new discoveries around the Dublin Gulch property that could provide new sources of future ore for the Eagle Mine.

The most compelling expansion target is Raven, a 2018 discovery at the Nugget zone about 6.5 kilometers (four miles) east of the Eagle deposit.

Nugget hosts the second largest known intrusive body on the Dublin Gulch property – the Dublin Gulch stock that hosts the Eagle Gold deposit is the largest.

One hole drilled at Raven last year, NG18-006C, cut 101.5 meters averaging 0.57 g/t gold from a depth of 3.4 meters. This long intercept of near-surface gold included 33 meters of 1.03 g/t gold from 61.8 meters.

Nine holes drilled this year at Raven continued to cut long section of near-surface gold. Highlights from this drilling include:

• 88.1 meters of 0.6 g/t gold from a depth of 28.8 meters in NG19-011C, including 2.8 meters of 7.72 g/t gold from 28.8 meters;

• 166.4 meters of 0.46 g/t gold from 29.4 meters in NG19-12C, including 5.9 meters of 4.48 g/t gold from 65.9 meters;

• 139.3 meters of 0.41 g/t gold from 14.1 meters in NG19-13C, including one meter of 9.9 g/t gold from 72.5 meters;

Victoria Gold Corp.

Visible gold in core from NG19-010C, a hole drilled at the Raven target at Dublin Gulch that cut 53 meters of 0.45 g/t gold, including 8.1 meters of 2.1 g/t gold.

• 198.3 meters of 0.35 g/t gold from 4.4 meters in NG19-015C, including 15.9 meters of 2.35 g/t gold from 68.2 meters; and

• 142.6 meters of 0.45 g/t gold from 33.9 meters in NG19-016C, including 14.8 meters of 2.05 g/t gold from 161.6 meters.

"The exploration team delivered exciting results despite the fact the exploration program was limited this year, as we focused on building the Eagle Gold Mine," McConnell said in September. "Raven, Bluto, Olive-Popeye, and Falcon all have potential to add ounces across the Dublin Gulch property while we begin to mine and generate cash flow from Eagle."

For now, Eagle has enough reserves to churn out 220,000 oz of gold per year for more than a decade, giving exploration crews plenty of time to extend the life of Yukon's newest large gold mine further into the 21st century.

–SHANE LASLEY