Seabridge Gold (TSX: SEA; NYSE: SA) reported its first resource for the Bronson Slope copper-gold deposit with 5.4 million oz. gold and 1.1 billion lb. copper. The deposit is part of the company’s Iskut porphyry project in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia.
Using a net smelter royalty cut-off of $10, the inferred resource is 517.3 million tonnes grading 0.33 g/t gold, 0.09% copper and 2.7 g/t silver, containing 5.4 million oz. gold, 1.1 billion lb. copper and 45 million oz. silver. The numbers include drilling by previous operators and by Seabridge since it purchased the project in 2016.
“Although it is not a material part of our total resources holdings and is not our primary objective, the Bronson Slope resource could play a valuable role in finding and developing the source porphyry copper-gold system which we are targeting,” Seabridge CEO Rudi Fronk said in a news release.
“Our team is back on the ground pursuing the understanding provided from building this mineral resource,” he added.
The Iskut property covers 294 km2 and is located about 110 km northwest of Stewart, BC. It includes the former Johnny Mountain gold mine as well as the Bronson Slope deposit.
An older 43-101 estimate put the measured and indicated resource for Bronson Slope at 186.9 tonnes grading 0.360 g/t gold, 0.112% copper and 2.192 g/t silver. There was also an inferred resource of 4.9 million tonnes at 0.321 g/t gold, 0.074% copper and 2.187 g/t silver. An updated resource estimate for Bronson Slope is expected in the second half of this year.
Seabridge holds a 100% interest in several North American gold projects. Seabridge’s principal assets, the KSM project is currently ranked the biggest gold project in the world (proven and probable reserves of 47.3 million oz. gold and 7.3 billion lb. copper), and its Iskut project (20 km east of KSM), are located in British Columbia.
The Courageous Lake project is in the Northwest Territories, the Snowstorm project in the Getchell gold belt of northern Nevada, and the 3 Aces project set in the Yukon.