Drilling taps high-grade gold within, beyond resource bounds at Goose; exploration holes at George affirm growth potential.

B2Gold Corp. Nov. 22 provided an update on an expansive exploration program at its newly acquired Back River gold project in Nunavut focused on high-grade gold zones to support an optimized mine plan Goose, along with drilling to explore potential future mines across the district-scale project that includes five blocks of claims covering an 80-kilometer (50 miles) mineral belt in Nunavut.

At the time of B2Gold's acquisition, Back River hosted 33.45 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 5.88 grams per metric ton (6.2 million ounces) gold and 13.74 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.44 g/t (2.9 million oz) gold.

Included in these resources are 18.7 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 5.97 g/t (3.6 million oz) gold that support a mine at Goose slated to produce 3.34 million oz of gold over 15 years of mining.

Immediately upon gaining full ownership of Back River through the C$1.1 billion (US$820 million) buyout of Sabina Gold & Silver Corp., B2Gold budgeted C$20 million to carry out a roughly 25,000-meter drill program at Back River.

"As we continue with the construction of the Goose project and move toward commencement of production in 2025, our exploration program will also start immediately," Johnson said in April. "We aim to further define the Back River Gold District's untapped potential and unlock the significant value we see and opportunities for growth."

Expanding, upgrading Goose

In August, B2Gold began drilling to confirm the geometry and grade continuity of high-grade shoots below the planned open pits at Goose, as well as provide critical information for underground mine design planning.

The Goose project consists of five known deposits with existing mineral resources, Umwelt, Llama, Goose, Echo and Nuvuyak, which occur along a strike length of eight kilometers. The company believes that exploration upside exists on all known deposits that are open at depth, as well as several zones of interest that remain relatively untested within the footprint of the favorable host stratigraphy.

With assays back from 16 of the 51 holes drilled at Goose through the end of October, the company says its 2023 program demonstrates the continuity of gold grades and widths of known mineralized structures, as well as encountering gold beyond the bounds of the mineral resources.

Highlights from the initial assays from 2023 drilling at Goose include:

• 16 meters averaging 14.28 g/t gold in hole 23GSE-618.

• 19 meters averaging 10.2 g/t gold in hole 23GSE-620.

• 17.05 meters averaging 17.14 g/t gold in hole 23GSE-622.

• 24.15 meters averaging 11.24 g/t gold in hole 23GSE-625B.

• 22 meters averaging 7.79 g/t gold in hole 23GSE-626.

Hole 23GSE-626 was drilled 110 meters down plunge from the existing mineral resource boundary at the Llama deposit, demonstrating the high-grade resource expansion potential at Goose.

The remaining holes were drilled to confirm the continuity of high-grade gold mineralization within the Umwelt deposit, with several of the holes cutting higher gold grades and widths than predicted by the mineral resource model.

B2Gold plans to drill an additional 17 holes at Goose this year.

Exploring George

In preparation for the next stage of development at Back River, B2Gold's 2023 exploration also included 6,010 meters of drilling at George, a project about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Goose that hosts 7.1 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.34 g/t (1.2 million oz) gold, plus 5.4 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.12 g/t (1.1 million oz) gold.

The 2023 program at George was designed to confirm and test resource expansion targets over a strike length of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

B2Gold reports that this year, drilling at George encountered similar widths and grades as those reported by previous operators, with several holes extending mineralization along strike and between known zones of mineral resources.

Highlights from 2023 drilling at George include:

• 2.07 meters averaging 18.7 g/t gold in hole 23GRL201.

• 5.5 meters averaging 4.69 g/t gold in hole 23GRL207.

• 3.08 meters averaging 11.85 g/t gold in hole 23GRL208.

• 3.25 meters averaging 10.09 g/t gold in hole 23GRL211.

• 7.5 meters averaging 19.17 g/t gold in hole 23GRL216.

The high-grade intercept in hole 23GRL216 was encountered at a depth of 36.6 meters between LACPS and LACPN deposits at George. B2Gold was also encouraged by the gold mineralization drilled in holes 23GRL-207 and 23GRL-211, which extended mineralization beyond the resource in the GH area of George.

B2Gold is carrying out a structural and data review in preparation for aggressive exploration to drill test several zones of interest at Back River in 2024.

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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