Gold price up over 1%, closing in on new record
Bullion is now 18% higher for the year, boosted by anticipation of Fed loosening as well as significant buying by central banks.
Seabridge Gold (TSX: NEA; NYSE: SA) has expanded the known Bronson Slope gold-copper deposit at its Iskut project near Stikine, BC. The best hole, SGS-23-11 returned 6.36 g/t gold, 0.02% copper and 4.7 g/t silver over 10 metres. The same hole also intersected 0.61 g/t gold over 171 metres and 0.45 g/t gold over 66.5 metres.
The 2023 Bronson Slope drill program was designed to simultaneously test the potential to expand the Bronson Slope deposit, particularly at depth. Drilling the area adjacent to and mainly to the east of the quartz-magnetite breccia pipe (QMBX) discovered in 2022 proved fruitful. Extensive gold grades were intersected in an identifiable lower zone.
“One of the concepts that led us to acquire the Iskut project was the expectation that a larger epithermal mineral deposit could potentially be preserved at Bronson Slope. This expectation has been confirmed but as we have learned more about this occurrence, we have become more convinced and excited about the potential to find its source porphyry,” said Seabridge chair and CEO Rudi Fronk.
“Next year’s program will aim to integrate the upside at Bronson Slope with our hypothesis of a regional structurally controlled porphyry district encompassing the entire Iskut project.”
Drilling this year included deep holes to evaluate the source of the QMBX. Narrow intervals of intrusive rocks were encountered at depth, but no source intrusion for the QMBX was observed. Further drilling is planned for 2024.
Seabridge noted that the results so far are early stage. Establishing the orientation of the mineralized zones is still in progress. Additional studies are needed to establish true widths of the intersections.
