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

Benchmark Metals Inc. June 17 said it has begun mobilizing drill rigs and crews for a planned 50,000-meter drill program at its Lawyers gold-silver project in northern British Columbia.

This drilling will focus on establishing a multi-million-ounce gold-silver mineral resource at four targets – Cliff Creek, Dukes Ridge, Amethyst Gold Breccia (AGB) and Phoenix – that have been identified within a 3,000-meter radius in the central portion of the greater than 20-kilometer- (12.4 miles) long Lawyers trend.

Situated about 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of the world-class Kemess gold-copper porphyry deposit, Lawyers is home to a small underground mine that produced 171,200 ounces of gold and 3.6 million oz of silver over a four-year period beginning in 1989.

This historical mining, carried out by Cheni Gold Mines, included production from the Cliffs Creek, Phoenix and AGB zones.

The deposits were never fully mined, or the surrounding area thoroughly explored, and Benchmark has identified additional high-grade and bulk tonnage gold-silver targets within the central area of the Lawyers trend.

Select high-grade drilling intercepts from the Lawyers include:

• 259.8 grams per metric ton gold and 3,320 g/t silver over three meters.

• 108.4 g/t gold and 911.2 g/t silver over seven meters.

• 86.1 g/t gold 584 g/t silver over seven meters.

Select bulk-tonnage drilling intercepts from the Lawyers include:

• 7 g/t gold and 255 g/t silver over 57.9 meters.

• 5.8 g/t gold and 129 g/t Ag over 33.5 meters.

• 4.1 g/t gold and 409 g/t Ag over 40.9 meters.

Benchmark sees the potential of building a 5-million-oz gold-equivalent resource in the four zones targeted.

"Benchmark will have five drill rigs turning and anticipates results from late July to December, 2020," said Benchmark Metals CEO John Williamson. "The aggressive drill program is the first major milestone towards establishing a new resource estimate to be followed by economics that demonstrate the viability of a new gold-silver mine."

In addition to the expansive drill program, the 2020 program is slated to include:

• Induced polarization (IP) and magnetotellurics (MT) geophysical surveys.

• Ground magnetic geophysical surveys at multiple zones.

• Detailed bedrock, alteration, and structural mapping.

Benchmark Metals Inc.

Crews log core during the 2019 drill program at Lawyers.

• Extensive soil and rock sampling across new exploration targets.

• Ongoing metallurgical work.

• Commencement of geotechnical data collection.

• Baseline environmental data collection.

This program will support Benchmark's primary objective of rapidly advancing Lawyers toward production. Following a new resource estimate, slated for early in 2021, the company plans to have a preliminary economic assessment that outlines plans for a mine at the gold-silver project later next year.

An estimated C$50 million in infrastructure from previous mining at Lawyers, including year-round road access, is advantageous to Benchmark's plans to re-establish a mine on the property.

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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