Banyan Gold Corp. Dec. 13 announced a significant milestone in its exploration journey on the company's Yukon-based holdings, with the successful acquisition of 75% earn-in of the McQuesten half of its AurMac property.

Located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Victoria Gold Corp.'s Eagle Gold Mine and adjacent to Hecla Mining Company's Keno Hill Silver District, the Aurex and McQuesten properties, or AurMac, cover three gold deposits – with McQuesten holding the Airstrip and part of the Powerline targets, and Aurex holding the bulk of Powerline and Aurex Hill target.

According to the most recent calculation, Airstrip hosts 41.2 million metric tons of pit-constrained inferred resource averaging 0.68 grams per metric ton (897,000 oz) gold; Powerline hosts 197.4 million metric tons of pit-constrained inferred resource averaging 0.61 g/t (3.84 million oz) gold; and Aurex Hill hosts 74.3 million metric tons of pit-constrained inferred resource averaging 0.6 g/t (1.45 million oz) gold.

Approximately 80% of Banyan's 25,000-meter drill program at AurMac this year, which got underway at the beginning of March, focused on resource expansion and upgrade drilling at the Powerline and Aurex Hill gold deposits, with the balance testing new targets.

Confirming its 75% earn-in on the McQuesten property and after this year's drilling, Banyan has completed all the exploration expenditure requirements necessary to earn 100% interest in the western portion of the combined AurMac land package.

"Formalizing our 75% ownership of the McQuesten Property is an important milestone," said Banyan Gold President and CEO Tara Christie. "In 2023 the AurMac Resource was increased to 6.2 million gold ounces and subsequent exploration continues to expand the footprint of mineralization with 25,000 meters of drilling."

Banyan adds that it currently holds a 51% interest in the Aurex property. The company has until Dec. 2025 to formalize the Aurex property to 75% ownership, but like its McQuesten property, it has already completed all exploration expenditures to earn 100%.

"The company has a healthy treasury of $7 million while also completing regional exploration work and has ongoing technical work and metallurgy to advance the project," said Christie.