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

TerraX Minerals Inc. Jan. 20 announced the start of a 10,000-meter drill program at its Yellowknife gold project in Northwest Territories.

The Yellowknife project encompasses 783 square kilometers (302 square miles) of gold prospective land immediately north, south and east of Yellowknife, the Northwest Territories capital.

Three deposits at YCGP – Crestaurum, Mispickel and Sam Otto – host 11.62 million metric tons of open-pittable inferred resource averaging 1.4 grams per metric ton (523,000 oz) gold.

Additionally, four deposits – Crestaurum, Barney, Mispickel and Sam Otto – host 1.15 million metric tons of underground inferred resource averaging 5.7 g/t (212,000 oz) gold.

All these deposits are found within a 3,000-meter radius.

This first phase of drilling will start at the Sam Otto gold deposit due to better access during the winter. With 10.79 million metric tons of open-pittable inferred resource averaging 1.23 g/t (426,000 oz) gold, Sam Otto is also by far the largest surface deposit outlined so far at Yellowknife.

"We are excited to start the drilling program at Sam Otto, one of the main gold deposits identified to date on the property," said TerraX Minerals President and CEO David Suda. "The Sam Otto gold zone which is approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Yellowknife, has already been defined in two main areas over a strike length of almost two kilometers. Drilling results to date have confirmed the potential to quickly and efficiently add quality gold ounces."

The company plans to drill 40 holes to expand the known mineralization corridor and test the open gap between Sam Otto Main and Sam Otto South. The corridor being drilled is over a strike length of approximately 1,500 meters, with hole spacing on average of 100 meters to a depth of 250 meters. The winter program at Sam Otto will utilize two rigs and is slated for completion by April. Additional holes may be planned subject to the success of this ongoing program.

TerraX Minerals Inc.

TerraX plans to follow-up the 10,000-meter program at Sam Otto with a second drilling program at the Crestaurum high-grade gold deposit this summer.

Located roughly 3,000 meters southwest of Sam Otto, Crestaurum hosts 127,000 metric tons of open-pittable inferred resource averaging 9.41 g/t (38,000 oz) gold.

The outcropping Crestaurum deposit, and the high-grade gold mineralization found there, has been modeled for a shallow starter pit before moving potentially into an underground operation. The underground deposit currently stands at 723,000 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.56 g/t (153,000 oz) gold. Both the surface and underground deposits at Crestaurum remain open in multiple directions.

–SHANE LASLEY