Rockhaven Resources Ltd. Dec. 15 reported results from the first 29 of 72 holes drilled this year at Klaza, a road-accessible gold-silver project in southern Yukon.

The 14,256-meter 2021 drill program at Klaza included resource expansion and upgrade drilling that will provide information to support a mine prefeasibility study, as well as exploration drilling to test targets outside of the known mineral resource areas.

A 2020 preliminary economic assessment for Klaza outlines plans for a mine that would produce roughly 750,000 ounces of gold and 13.8 million oz of silver over 12 years.

This scoping level study is based on 4.46 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 4.8 grams per metric ton (686,000 oz) gold and 98 g/t (14.1 million oz) silver; plus 5.71 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 2.8 g/t (507,000 oz) gold and 76 g/t (13.9 million oz) silver outlined at the Klaza project so far.

The first batch of 2021 drill results is from holes drilled in and around mineral resources at the Central BRX and Central Klaza zones, as well as from exploration at the Western BRX Extension, Western Chevron, and Kelly Porphyry targets.

"These initial results from 2021 drilling are a first step in achieving the objectives of the 2021 drill program, with expansion and infill drilling in and around known mineral resources consistently returning grades in line with the mineral resource estimate, while also identifying potential new discoveries at outside exploration targets," said Rockhaven Resources CEO Matt Turner.

The initial assays include results from six holes drilled into the Central BRX zone, all of which cut near-surface mineralization within a poorly defined portion of the current resource.

Highlights from the Central BRX drilling include:

• 10.38 meters averaging 1.11 g/t gold, 53 g/t silver, 0.6% zinc, and 0.3% lead from a depth of 35 meters in hole KL-21-507

• 13.42 meters averaging 1.37 g/t gold, 79 g/t silver, 0.8% zinc, and 1.2% lead from a depth of 33.3 meters in hole KL-21-509.

• 0.81 meters averaging 13 g/t gold, 111 g/t silver, 1.2% zinc, and 0.7% lead from a depth of 54.4 meters in hole KL-21-511.

• 1.38 meters averaging 3.14 g/t gold, 554 g/t silver, 1.4% zinc, and 6% lead from a depth of 52.1 meters in hole KL-21-512.

Rockhaven also received results from three holes drilled at Western BRX Extension, a potential continuation of the Western BRX zone where drilling has encountered some of the highest-grade mineralization at Klaza. One hole drilled this year, KL-21-492, cut 0.54 meters averaging 1,160 g/t silver, 5.2% zinc, and 8.4% lead from a depth of 176.8 meters.

The company says the mineralogy and bonanza silver grades in this hole likely indicate a depositional setting that is more distal to the heat source than the veins comprising the current Western BRX resource, which is about 750 meters to the east. Veins in this area probably lie in a silver-lead-zinc-rich portion of the mineralizing system. This conclusion is supported by a single trench that exposed a one-meter-wide vein of nearly massive galena (lead mineral) up-dip of hole KL-21-492. Assays from the sampling of this trench and four additional holes drilled at Western BRX Extension are pending.

Future drilling and trenching will assess the potential of this new silver-rich vein, working eastward to determine whether an area of gold enrichment is present closer to Western BRX.

Rockhaven also received assays from three holes drilled within the Central Klaza zone. Highlights include:

• 0.69 meters averaging 9.56 g/t gold, 31 g/t silver, 1.2% zinc, and 0.1% lead from a depth of 175.4 meters in hole KL-21-515.

• 0.55 meters averaging 3.92 g/t gold, 1,225 g/t silver, 2.7% zinc, and 3.8% lead from a depth of 195.5 meters in hole KL-21-515.

• 10.05 meters averaging 1.55 g/t gold, 10 g/t silver, 0.3% zinc, and 0.1% lead from a depth of 172 meters in hole KL-21-518.

"Drilling within the planned open pit returned solid intercepts that should contribute to the confidence in the mineral resource estimate for the Klaza deposit," said Turner. "Additionally, grades such as those seen in hole KL-21-512, which lie immediately adjacent to the conceptual mine plan in the Klaza PEA, are highly encouraging and may provide the opportunity to expand the contemplated open pit in that direction."

In addition to Western BRX Extension, the first batch of 2021 Klaza assays included results from drilling at Western Chevron, a vein south of Western BRX and in the same fault block, and Kelly Porphyry, a large zone of copper-gold-molybdenum-silver mineralization immediately southeast of the vein system hosting the Klaza resources.

Rockhaven says three of the four holes drilled at Western Chevron cut encouraging mineralization. This includes a 0.87-meter intercept in hole KL-21-501 averaging 2.69 g/t gold, 171 g/t silver, 4.4% zinc, and 2.1% lead from a depth of 110.6 meters.

Rockhaven Resources Ltd.

While the 2021 drilling at Kelly Porphyry did not cut significant mineralization, Rockhaven says the nine holes did encounter pervasive porphyry-style stockwork veining indicative of a pyrite halo that often encircles nearly all porphyry centers. The company says there are indications the best potential for porphyry-style mineralization at Kelly lies to the northeast of the 2021 drill holes, in an area characterized by strong chargeability highs and coincident resistivity lows.

Assays are pending from 43 holes drilled at Klaza this year. Once received, the results will be incorporated into a new resource calculation slated for completion before mid-2022.

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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