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

GT Gold Corp. April 3 said the planned 2020 exploration program on its Tatogga gold-copper project in the Tahltan Territory of northwestern British Columbia would typically get started toward the end of May but could be delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In response to the challenges posed by COVID-19, GT Gold has taken steps to support the health and safety of its employees and contractors. These measures include limited in-person meetings, postponed business travel and mandated work from home where possible.

While the 2020 field program may be delayed, GT Gold has plenty of work to do in preparing for an updated resource and preliminary economic assessment for Saddle North, a copper-gold porphyry deposit at Tatogga similar to the deposits at Newcrest Mining and Imperial Metals' Red Chris mine about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) to the east.

Since first tapping Saddle North during 2018, GT Gold has outlined a porphyry body that measures roughly 1,500 meters down-plunge, 700 meters along strike and is 200 to 560 meters thick. Within this broader zone of mineralization is a core of higher-grade mineralization that measures roughly 1,500 meters down-plunge, 300 meters along strike and 40 to 450 meters thick.

Highlights from drilling at Saddle North include:

• 822.2 meters of 0.42 grams per metric ton gold, 0.26% copper and 0.62 g/t silver in TTD085.

• 904.1 meters of 0.51 g/t gold, 0.3% copper and 0.93 g/t silver in TTD093.

• 1,149.7 meters of 0.62 g/t gold, 0.36% copper and 1.17 g/t silver in TTD109.

• 685 meters of 0.7 g/t gold, 0.44% copper and 1.09 g/t silver in TTD112.

• 627 meters of 0.53 g/t gold, 0.37% copper and 1.23 g/t silver in TTD133.

• 558 meters of 0.61 g/t gold, 0.35% copper and 1.28 g/t silver in TTD134.

Following the 2019 field season, GT Gold has been relogging Saddle North core in order to build a geological model of the porphyry deposit ahead of a maiden resource estimate and PEA.

As of the end of March, this relogging of 31,400 meters of Saddle North core and the geological model has been completed.

"The delivery of the geological model is another milestone for GT Gold and will form the foundation to support an initial resource estimate in the second quarter of this year," said GT Gold President and CEO Paul Harbidge.

In December, Newmont Corp. invested C$8.3 million to acquire 6.9 million GT Gold shares at C$1.20 apiece, giving the junior plenty of funds to complete the resource estimate, PEA and ride out the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paul Harbidge

"GT Gold is in a fortunate position having raised funds in December, which can support both field and office-based operations for an extended period. While the implementation of the 2020 field season is pending, GT Gold has the technical data required to advance the project work in terms of resource estimate, PEA preparation and exploration targeting," said Harbidge.

The 2020 exploration program at Tatogga will be implemented based on federal, provincial and Tahltan Nation guidelines.

GT Gold said it has been in communications with the Tahltan Central Government and is abiding by the protocols established within the Tahltan Territory.

More information on Tahltan Central Government's mining-related response to COVID-19 can be read at First Nations, miner respond to COVID-19 in the April 3 edition of North of 60 Mining News.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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