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Sitka strikes rich gold in Rhosgobel debut

North of 60 Mining News - November 29, 2024

First diamond drilling at Rhosgobel returns high-grade gold intercepts.

Sitka Gold Corp. Nov. 25 announced a standout 119-meter intercept averaging 1.05 grams per metric ton gold from its first-ever diamond drilling at the Rhosgobel intrusion, a result that hints at the growing scale and depth of the gold system at its RC Gold project in Yukon, Canada.

Located just five kilometers (three miles) south of the flagship Blackjack deposit, Rhosgobel became part of Sitka's holdings after the company acquired the Clear Creek property in mid-2024.

According to an inaugural calculation completed last year, the Blackjack deposit hosts 33.7 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.83 grams per metric ton (900,000 ounces) gold at a cutoff grade of 0.25 g/t gold; and the Eiger deposit hosts an additional 27.4 million metric tons averaging 0.5 g/t (440,000 oz) gold at the same cutoff for a combined total of 1.34 million oz of gold.

As the largest intrusion within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex, Rhosgobel spans an eight-by-15-kilometer (five by nine miles) area and has emerged as a high-priority exploration target.

Historical exploration at Rhosgobel, including shallow reverse circulation drilling conducted by Kennecott in the mid-1990s, revealed a large zone of intrusion-related gold mineralization, with highlights such as 67.1 meters averaging 1.03 g/t gold.

Building on this legacy data, Sitka prioritized Rhosgobel for its first diamond drilling campaign at the site, aiming to test the deeper extents of the mineralized system and confirm its continuity at depth.

The first diamond drill hole, DDRCRG-24-001, targeted the down-dip extension of historical mineralization and quickly validated the potential of Rhosgobel. Starting just nine meters from surface, hole 001 returned 164.8 meters of 0.82 g/t gold, including the impressive 119-meter interval averaging 1.05 g/t gold.

The second hole, DDRCRG-24-002, drilled to a depth of 400.8 meters, further demonstrated the continuity of gold mineralization at Rhosgobel. Beginning near surface, this hole returned 350.1 meters averaging 0.4 g/t gold, with higher-grade intervals including 173.3 meters of 0.6 g/t gold, 28.4 meters of 1.4 g/t gold, and 12.4 meters of 2.4 g/t gold.

"The results of the first two diamond drill holes ever drilled at the Rhosgobel intrusion target have exceeded our expectations, with both holes returning significant intervals of over 1 g/t gold, including 2.05 g/t gold over 37.9 metres and 4.32 g/t gold over 11.5 metres in DDRCRG-24-001," said Sitka Gold CEO Cor Coe.

Sitka Gold Corp.

Cross section of DDRCRG-24-001 and 002 showing gold to 300 meters, exceeding depths of historical reverse-circulation drilling.

Visible gold observed in both holes, along with wide intervals of mineralization, offers additional data for understanding the system's scale and continuity. These findings, combined with the size of the gold-in-soil anomaly at Rhosgobel, reinforce its potential as a significant component of the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex.

"Rhosgobel is the largest intrusion target within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex and these holes have confirmed that robust gold mineralization persists here to a vertical depth of at least 300 metres and is laterally open in all directions within a very large, 2 kilometre by 1.5 kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly with values ranging from greater than 100 ppb to greater than 500 ppb," added Coe. "This bodes very well for the discovery of a third significant gold deposit at RC Gold, where geochemical surface signatures have been shown to strongly coincide with underlying intrusion-related gold mineralization elsewhere on the property, similar to that seen at our growing Blackjack gold deposit."

Sitka Gold Corp.

Map of 2024 Rhosgobel drilling showing DDRCRG-24-001 and 002 within the 1.5- by 2-kilometer gold-in-soil anomaly, similar to Blackjack deposit 5 kilometers north.

With the 2024 drilling season now complete, Sitka is awaiting assay results from six additional holes at Rhosgobel and nearby targets, including the Pukelman intrusion. These results are expected to provide further clarity on the mineralization within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex and guide planning for the next phase of exploration in 2025.

"With $15 million in the treasury and no debt, the company is well positioned to follow up on this exciting new discovery with a substantial diamond drilling program as we continue to advance several targets at our flagship RC Gold project."

Concluding a successful year of exploration, Sitka is preparing for its largest drilling campaign yet at RC Gold in 2025 – a 30,000-meter diamond drilling program aimed at advancing discoveries at Rhosgobel, Pukelman, Blackjack, and other high-priority targets across the district-scale property.

This program will be carried out in partnership with Kluane Drilling Corp., a well-established Yukon-based contractor with over 30 years of experience in diamond drilling.

"We are very pleased to have secured the services of Kluane Drilling Ltd. for what will be our largest ever diamond drilling program planned for our RC Gold Project in 2025," said Coe. "Kluane provided Sitka with exceptional drilling services throughout our winter and summer drilling programs at RC Gold in both 2023 and 2024 and we look forward to continuing to develop the project with them in the coming year as we substantially increase the scale and scope of drilling."

 

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