Pilot Gold lifts off on Turkey play

A small market cap can be a wonderful thing as evidenced by the market action of two different companies in early May.

Although Teck Resources (TCK.B-T, TCK-N) holds 60% of the TV Tower gold property in Turkey, it was minority joint venture partner Pilot Gold (PLG-T) who benefited from the latest drill results from the project.

In Toronto on May 10 – the day the news was released – Pilot shares shot up 9% or 27¢ to $3.42 on 814,000 shares traded, while the news had no impact on the much-larger Teck, whose shares actually fell 1.7% to $48.13.

The results are the final assays from the first phase of drilling on the Kucukdag and Kayali targets.

At Kucukdag, highlight intercepts included 136.2 metres grading 4.28 grams per tonne gold, 0.68% copper, and 15.82 grams per tonne silver starting from 12.3 metres. A second hole intercepted 24.2 metres grading 16.62 grams gold, 2.49% copper, and 55.21 grams silver from a depth of 78.2 metres.

The grades at Kayali were not as high, but the widths were still impressive as one hole returned 0.87 gram gold over 114.5 metres starting from a depth of 4.5 metres, while a second returned 0.78 gram gold over 88.6 metres starting from surface.

The near-surface mineralization was not a surprise, as the companies focused the drills on zones of outcropping epithermal mineralization at the targets.

“Given our history of discovery and project advancement in this part of Turkey over the past seven years, and our continued success at the neighbouring Halilaga copper-gold porphyry, we are well-positioned to make additional discoveries on the TV Tower property,” Ian Cunningham-Dunlop, Pilot’s COO, said in a statement.

The Kucukdag target is characterized alongside a 750-by-100-metre zone of strong silicification. Gold-copper-silver mineralization is related to multi-phase sulphidic breccias cutting a north-dipping sequence of silicified felsic ash and ash lapilli tuff. The geometry and extent of this breccia development is unknown at this time and is the focus of further drilling.

The Kayali target, 8 km south of Kucukdag, comprises extensive outcroppings of vuggy silica and a strong, advanced argillic alteration pattern over a 2-by-1.5-km area. Oxide gold mineralization is hosted mainly by an east-west trending structure within a silicified lapilli tuff unit. 

A second phase of drilling, which will see 15,000 metres drilled, began in April. Pilot is on the hook for $1.5 million of the program’s costs.

The company says the program will look to expand Kucukdag and Kayali, and explore two more targets.

Kucukdag and Kayali comprise only two of eight high-priority targets defined on the property.

TV Tower is a large, road-accessible property covering more than 65 sq. km in the Biga District of northwest Turkey.