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

Grande Portage Resources Ltd. Jan. 11 reported plans to complete up to 10,000 meters of drilling this year at its Herbert Gold project near Juneau, Alaska.

According to a calculation completed in May of last year, Herbert Gold hosts 3.64 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 10.23 grams per metric ton (1.2 million oz) gold and 5.87 g/t (686,700 oz) silver; plus 1.14 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 8.91 g/t (325,900 oz) gold and 4.63 g/t (169,300 oz) silver.

This high-grade gold deposit a few miles north of Alaska's capital city has attracted the attention of famed natural resources investor Eric Sprott. Already Grande Portage's largest individual shareholder, Sprott recently exercised all his outstanding warrants for a total proceeding of C$2.25 million, providing the company with added funding for 2022.

Subject to regulatory approval, Grande Portage plans to complete up to 10,000 meters of diamond drilling at Herbert, along with additional detailed mapping and trench sampling to expand previous exploration. The program is expected to consist of up to two diamond drill rigs utilizing three pads to drill approximately 13 holes.

Exploration drilling on the Herbert Gold project has progressed to the point where the shallower to mid-depth portions of the major veins between the western and eastern boundary contact faults have been successfully tested over the roughly 1,000-meter strike length.

According to Grande Portage, the vein structures and mineralization show no signs of diminishing with depth. Therefore, it is recommended that deeper drilling be completed to test the deeper regions of these veins, which requires a more powerful drill capable of drilling to depths of 3,000 to 4,000 feet (915 to 1,220 meters).

Furthermore, drilling to depths that far requires the drill pads be located further north and eastward because the major veins dip steeply northward and the boundary faults both dip to the northeast. Additionally, this would allow for comprehensive coverage of the veins at depth from two or three pads with fan drilling and would mean that expensive drill moves are reduced to a minimum.

The 13 holes planned for this year are meant to test the main mineralized structures to depths of 750 meters, while at the same time, expected to penetrate additional structures at shallower levels.

Besides drilling the deeper portions of the Goat, Main, and Deep Trench veins, one of the company's planned drill sites will test the eastern extension of the Deep Trench, the Floyd, and the Elusive Structure, which remains virtually unexplored to date.

The purpose of this drilling is to demonstrate that the veins are well mineralized to depths extending two to three times deeper where the resources have been established; continue to test eastward extensions of the known veins; and to test a poorly exposed section of the property to the north of all known mineralization.

Assay results from the 2021 drill program are expected, but due to the COVID-19 related protocols, assay labs have been backlogged for most of last year's season.