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HighGold Mining (TSXV: HIGH) announced on Wednesday what could be considered “game-changing” drill results from the Difficult Creek prospect, part of the company’s Johnson Tract project in Alaska.
Johnson Tract is a district-scale project located near tidewater in the southcentral region. The property covers at least 10 regional prospects over a 12 km strike including the high-grade JT deposit, with 750,000 oz of gold equivalent indicated resources at 10.9 g/t AuEq.
The Difficult Creek (DC) prospect is located 4 km northeast of the JT deposit resource, and is characterized by a series of large gossan alteration zones similar in style to the JT deposit.
Initial drilling at DC this year has intersected mineralization at a very shallow depth, confirming continuity of the mineralized zone and demonstrating the presence of bonanza gold and silver grades.
This was evidenced by HighGold’s first drill hole (DC21-010) targeting the Middle DC zone, which returned exceptionally high grades of 577.9 g/t Au and 2,023 g/t Ag (plus 2.15% Zn and 0.30% Cu) over 6.4 m, including grades of 2,860 g/t Au and 9,990 g/t Ag over 1.26 m.
DC21-010 was part of a first pass drill test of multiple target areas including the DC prospect (17 holes total). Assays for the remaining holes are pending.
Another 17 holes have been completed at JT deposit area. HighGold is planning to deliver an updated mineral resource estimate following the completion and receipt of all assays from the 2021 drill program.
HighGold CEO Darwin Green said the latest results “firmly establishes the DC prospect as a second center of high-grade mineralization” at the property and validates the multi-deposit potential at Johnson Tract.
“The bonanza grade intersection in hole DC21-010 represents the highest grade drilled to date on the JT project, which is a significant achievement given the number of outstanding drill intersections generated previously in the main JT deposit area,” Green said.
According to HighGold, the importance of the DC prospect has been elevated significantly by the initial high-grade results returned in hole DC21-010.
The mineralized zone at Middle DC is open to expansion at depth and along strike, and this will be a major area of focus moving forward, the company said.
HighGold’s shares surged 77.2% by 12:45 p.m. EDT following the new drill results. The North America-focused gold explorer has a market capitalization of C$109.1 million.
