TNM Drill Down: Revival Gold in Idaho leads assays for July-August

Drilling in the United States and Canada returned the top gold results for the July 16 to Aug. 14 period, with assays from Revival Gold (TSXV: RVG), Thunder Gold (TSXV: TGOL) Sentinel Metals (ASX: SNM) leading the pack.

Drill holes are ranked by grade times width. Here are the top 10. 

Beartrack-Arnett

Drilling at Revival Gold’s Beartrack-Arnett project in east-central Idaho cut 131.7 metres grading 3.43 grams gold per tonne from 543 metres downhole, including 42.5 metres grading 6.56 grams gold and 12.1 metres grading 11.58 grams gold in hole BT26-255D, the company reported on Aug. 4. That amounts to a width x grade value of 452.

The result, one of the highest grade-thickness intercepts reported from the project, came from the Joss area, where Revival is targeting expansion of a high-grade underground sulphide resource. The intercept lies about 70 metres above a 2022 hole that returned 11.4 metres at 10.1 grams gold and about 150 metres below a 2021 hole that cut 11.8 metres grading 8.9 grams gold. The results suggest the beginning of a north-plunging mineralized shoot, Revival said.

Joss hosts 6.7 million inferred tonnes grading 4.05 grams gold for 877,000 oz., which are excluded from the economics of Revival’s 2023 prefeasibility study for a first-stage open-pit heap-leach operation. The company’s 5,500-metre drill program is aimed at expanding the Joss resource ahead of a potential resource update and future underground economic study.

Tower Mountain

Hole TM26-210 at Thunder Gold’s Tower Mountain project cut 661.5 metres grading 0.55 gram gold from 72 metres downhole, including 24 metres grading 1.82 grams gold, for a width x grade value of 366, the company reported on Aug. 11. The project is about 40 km west of Thunder Bay, Ont.

It was the longest continuously mineralized interval reported at the project to date, Tower said. Click to see a 3-D image of the drilling. 

About 516 metres of the intercept, grading 0.50 gram gold, lies within the pit shell used for Tower Mountain’s resource estimate. The remaining 145.5 metres below the pit shell graded 0.73 gram gold, and the hole ended in mineralization, pointing to potential for extending the resource at depth.

A resource from January outlined 34.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.46 gram gold for 514,000 oz., plus 211.1 million inferred tonnes at 0.45 gram gold for 3.05 million ounces.

Columbia

DDCO26-001, the first hole at Sentinel Metals’ Columbia project in Montana returned 46.8 metres grading 5.5 grams gold from 88.2 metres downhole, including 21.4 metres grading 11.1 grams gold and 13.5 metres grading 16.6 grams gold, for a width x grade value of 257, the company reported Aug. 10.

The hole confirmed mineralization extends into fresh rock below the historically targeted oxide zone. However, core recovery averaged only about 20% through the 13.5-metre high-grade interval, meaning sampling bias cannot be ruled out. Sentinel has switched to triple-tube drilling to improve recovery and plans to redrill the interval.

The company’s initial 5,000-metre, 21-hole program is testing extensions at depth and along strike while also targeting areas for potential resource upgrades.

Columbia hosts 23.6 million inferred tons (21.4 million tonnes) grading 1.34 grams gold for 920,000 oz., according to a resource from 2024.