Banyan Gold Corp. Nov. 9 reported its third-quarter exploration update for its AurMac project in the Yukon, expanding the program to three drills working onsite and culminating in approximately 25,000 meters in more than 120 diamond drill holes this year, with more to come.

Since February, the two phases of 2021 drilling at AurMac have quickly approached the targeted 30,000 meters planned for this gold exploration property about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Victoria Gold Corp.'s Eagle Gold Mine.

For the balance of the year, Banyan will split its focus at AurMac between resource upgrade and expansion drilling at the Powerline deposit. To accomplish this, the company has two diamond rigs targeting continued growth with continued 100-meter step-out grid-based drilling and one rig concentrating on tighter spaced drilling toward refinement of the gold continuity modeling of Powerline ahead of an updated AurMac resource calculation slated for next year.

Presently, AurMac hosts 52.58 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.54 grams per metric ton (903,945 ounces) gold in two deposits – Powerline and Airstrip.

Airstrip hosts 46 million metric tons of the inferred resource category averaging 0.52 g/t (774,926 oz) gold, while Powerline hosts 6.58 million metric tons of the same category averaging 0.61 g/t (129,019 oz) gold, according to the calculation completed July 2020.

However, the continued exploration program may see significant changes to the resource estimate after Banyan is finished with a massive expansion of Powerline.

So far, 2021 drilling has continued to build towards the definition of a large, near-surface, potentially bulk-tonnage mineable deposit at Powerline. Highlights from this drilling include:

• 0.88 g/t gold over 54.6 meters from 80 meters in AX-21-66.

• 0.56 g/t gold over 67.5 meters from 60.5 meters in AX-21-68.

• 0.75 g/t gold over 46.6 meters from 52.5 meters in AX-21-70.

• 0.55 g/t gold over 81.2 meters from 86.5 meters in AX-21-73.

• 0.73 g/t gold over 56.6 meters from 38.1 meters in AX-21-75.

• 0.5 g/t gold over 76.2 meters from surface in AX-21-79.

• 0.56 g/t gold over 50.3 meters from 15.2 meters in AX-21-86.

• 1.03 g/t gold over 81.4 meters from 32 meters in AX-21-88.

• 0.7 g/t gold over 50.3 meters from 85.1 meters in AX-21-91.

• 0.69 g/t gold over 45.7 meters from surface in AX-21-93.

• 0.7 g/t gold over 52.3 meters from 119.9 meters in AX-21-95.

• 0.42 g/t gold over 186.1 meters from surface in AX-21-97.

• 0.62 g/t gold over 110.7 meters from 96.6 meters in AX-21-99.

• 0.54 g/t gold over 195.9 meters from surface in AX-21-100.

• 0.74 g/t gold over 144.8 meters from surface in AX-21-101.

• 0.5 g/t gold over 89.6 meters from surface in AX-21-111.

• 1.28 g/t gold over 28.2 meters from surface in AX-21-113.

Drilling at AurMac since the first-quarter 2020 maiden resource announcement stands at roughly 35,000 meters – which targeted potential resource expansion of the Airstrip deposit. Throughout 2021, the focus has been the rapid expansion of the mineralization footprint at Powerline.

Assay results from this drill are expected to roll in over the coming months, and an updated resource calculation for AurMac is slated for the second quarter of the year.

Banyan expects this season's exploration campaign to continue into December and recommence in early 2022.

"At current drilling rates, we will exceed the 30,000 meters drill target we have set for ourselves this year and anticipate we will be well-positioned for a meaningful AurMac resource update by Q2 2022," said Banyan Gold President and CEO Tara Christie.