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

Banyan Gold Corp. March 6 announced the start of its 2023 exploration program at the company's AurMac property in Yukon, Canada, as well as the addition of Brad Thrall as technical advisor for early prep-work needed to build a working mine.

In addition to its initially planned 25,000 meters of drilling being completed with three diamond rigs now turning, which is being supported by an on-site assay prep lab, Banyan's 2023 program at AurMac will include expanded metallurgical, geotechnical, and baseline environmental programs.

According to an estimate published last May, Airstrip hosts 42.5 million metric tons of pit-constrained inferred resource averaging 0.64 grams per metric ton (874,000 oz) gold; Powerline hosts 152 million metric tons of pit-constrained inferred resource averaging 0.59 g/t (2.9 million oz) gold; and Aurex Hill hosts 12.5 million metric tons of pit-constrained inferred resource averaging 0.53 g/t (215,000 oz) gold.

This resource is expected to be significantly expanded with the incorporation of results from the more than 50,000 meters of drilling completed at AurMac in 2022.

"Banyan is on track for the planned resource update to demonstrate our progress, and with the resumption of drilling, we feel the excitement of the early days of exploration poised for additional discoveries," said Banyan Gold President and CEO Tara Christie. "Our geological and structural interpretations indicate that the deposits remain open with considerable growth potential."

As last year focused on step-out drilling to the east and west of the Powerline and Aurex Hill resources, the initial focus of the 2023 drill program will be to close the gap between Powerline and Aurex Hill while also testing for a mineralized structure separating the two deposits.

With drilling last year identifying a near-surface gold trend that Banyan interpreted to have grade continuity over roughly five kilometers (three miles) of strike length, further structural interpretations suggest an important lineament that is coincident with a possible change in the orientation of gold mineralization trends between Powerline and Aurex Hill.

As Banyan begins to look at development scenarios for its expanding multi-million-oz gold deposit, the company has brought aboard Brad Thrall, a metallurgical engineer with more than 35 years of experience.

"Additionally, as we advance towards development, we are building our team in key areas with Brad Thrall bringing advice and experience in metallurgy, permitting and building mines in the Yukon," added Christie.

Brad Thrall

Thrall was most recently co-founder and president of Alexco Resource Corp., a Yukon-focused silver mining company that was acquired by Hecla Mining Company in September.

In addition to his work at Alexco, Thrall held various management positions at mines operated by Viceroy Resource Corp., Barrick Gold Corp., and Goldcorp Inc.

Holding a Bachelor of Sciences in Metallurgical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado, Thrall steps up to the highly prospective plate with decades of expertise that will assuredly assist Banyan in its eventual goal of operating a producing gold mine in Canada's Yukon.