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

Tectonic Metals Inc. Nov. 10 reported the discovery of Pogo-style high-grade gold mineralization at West Trench, a prospect found in the western gneissic terrain on the company's Tibbs property about 22 miles (35 kilometers) southeast of Northern Star Resources Ltd.'s Pogo Mine.

Mapping and sampling completed last year identified multiple high-tenor gold-in-soil anomalies associated with low-angle faults within moderately dipping gneissic rocks at the West Trench, Galosh, Johnson Saddle, and Gray Lead West targets at Tibbs.

Rock samples collected during mapping and prospecting of this underexplored western area of the Tibbs project returned grades as high as 190.4 grams per metric ton gold, the first evidence of Pogo-style vein mineralization in the gneissic terrain at Tibbs.

The sample was collected about 3,500 meters north of the Gray Lead vein, where one hole drilled during the initial phase of 2021 drilling at Tibbs cut 5.15 meters averaging 12.45 g/t gold, indicating the presence of a larger hydrothermal system than previously known.

Three samples, believed to be in-situ, were collected from West Trench. This includes the high-grade, sulfide-bearing quartz vein grading 190.4 g/t gold, a sample of opaque white quartz vein with lower sulfide content grading 9.82 g/t gold, and a sample of barren opaque white quartz.

Collected from a prominent northwest-trending electromagnetic geophysical lineament, Tectonic says these samples provide additional validation of its exploration model of controlling structures coinciding with both soil and rock gold anomalies, which share the same geochemistry and host rocks as the mineralization observed at Pogo.

This structural and geological setting is similar to that found at the Liese zones at Pogo, flat-lying structures that have provided the bulk of the ore at Northern Star's underground gold mine, according to the company.

"With the recognition of Pogo-style veining in the western gneissic rocks, Tibbs now exhibits all the key features of the Pogo geological model, with important evidence for the mineralizing fluid having passed through controlling high and low-angle structures within favorable host rocks," said Tectonic Metals President and CEO Tony Reda.

Tectonic Metals Inc.

After geologists identified Pogo-style in the rock sample collected from West Trench, RC hole TBRC21-006 was drilled from about 80 meters west of the sample location to test for either a high- or low-angle orientation to the vein mineralization.

"Through rock grab sampling, Tectonic has, for the first time, confirmed the presence of high-grade, quartz-sulfide vein mineralization in the gneissic-hosted, western half of Tibbs at our West Trench target," said Reda. "We immediately recognized the importance of this development and followed up our discovery with drilling during our phase II program."

Assay results are pending for 4,215 meters of core and RC drilling completed in 23 holes that tested six targets during the phase II 2021 program at Tibbs.

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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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