HighGold drills Johnson Tract polymetallic project in Alaska

HighGold Mining (TSXV: HIGH; US-OTC: HGGOF) has reported additional drill results from its 15,000-metre drill program on its flagship Johnson Tract polymetallic project in southcentral Alaska, 15km west of Tuxedni Bay and 200 km southwest of Anchorage.

The 85-sq.-km property includes the high-grade Johnson Tract deposit (JT deposit) and at least nine prospects over a 12-km strike length. The drill results come from the project’s main JT deposit, the deeper Footwall Copper zone, and the Northeast Offset target.

The JT deposit is a thick, steeply dipping silicified body (approximately 20 metres to 50 metres true thickness) that contains a stockwork of quartz-sulphide veinlets and brecciation, cutting through and surrounded by a widespread zone of anhydrite alteration.

Resources for the deposit stand at 2.14 million tonnes in the indicated category grading 6.1 grams gold per tonne, 5.8 grams silver per tonne, 0.6% copper, 5.9% zinc, and 08% lead (10.93 grams gold equivalent per tonne) for 417,000 contained oz. gold, 397,000 oz. silver, 26.8 million lb. copper, 275.3 million lb. zinc, and 37.6 million lb. lead (750,000 oz. gold-equivalent).

Inferred resources add 581,000 tonnes grading 2.1 grams gold, 8.7 grams silver, 0.5% copper, 6.7% zinc, and 0.3% lead (7.2 grams gold equivalent) for 38,000 oz. gold, 162,000 oz. silver, 6.9 million lb. copper, 85.5 million lb. zinc, and 4.2 million lb. lead (134,000 oz. gold-equivalent).

Highlights from step-out drilling at the JT deposit include drill hole JT20-096, which intersected 20 metres grading 11.5 grams gold, 3.6 grams silver, 0.5% copper, and 3.1% zinc (14.1 grams gold equivalent) starting from 205 metres downhole, including 15 metres grading 15.4 grams gold, 4.3 grams silver, 0.6% copper, and 2.1% zinc (17.6 grams gold-equivalent) from 210 metres, and 4 metres grading 43.7 grams gold, 6.9 grams silver, 0.8% copper, and 0.6% zinc (45.2 grams gold equivalent) from 221 metres.

Hole JT20-095 returned 41 metres grading 1.8 grams gold, 6 grams silver, 1% copper, 3.8% zinc, and 0.3% lead (5.9 grams gold-equivalent) from 245 metres, including 4 metres grading 10.4 grams gold, 5 grams silver, 0.5% copper, and 9% zinc (16.6 grams gold equivalent) from 281 metres.

The JT deposit is open to further expansion, the company noted, with assay results pending for eight additional step-out drill holes. “Resource expansion drilling at the main JT deposit continues to deliver solid results of high-grade mineralization in these step-outs,” Darwin Green, HighGold’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are equally pleased with the emergence of a significant thick zone of copper-silver rich mineralization in the footwall to the JT Deposit, in drilling done to follow up on last year’s late-season discovery.”

Drill hole JT20-96 also encountered two closely spaced intersections of copper- and silver-rich mineralization in the footwall zone. The first intersection returned 14 metres grading 0.14 gram gold, 34.2 grams silver, 2.7% copper, 1% zinc, 0.1% lead (5 grams gold-equivalent) from 329 metres, including 7 metres grading 0.17 gram gold, 58.7 grams silver, 4.4% copper, 1.9% zinc, and 0.2% lead (8.4 grams gold-equivalent) from 335 metres. The second intersection cut 12 metres grading 0.31 gram gold, 38.3 grams silver, 1.79% copper, 0.9% zinc, and 0.4% lead (4 grams gold-equivalent) from 311 metres.

The two intersections were 45-metre step-outs to the northeast of last year’s discovery drill hole in the footwall zone, JT19-089. That hole returned 21 metres grading 0.18 gram gold, 31.8 grams silver, 2.4% copper, 4.9% zinc, and 0.1% lead from 364 metres.

The company also reported drill results from the Northeast Offset target, about 500 to 800 metres northeast of the JT deposit. The area is where the company plans to focus about one-third of its drill program and where it has completed eight holes so far.

Results have been received for the two northernmost drill holes in the target, JT20-091 and JT20-094, which intersected alteration and mineralization similar to that found near the JT deposit.

Assays for hole JT20-094 include 1 metre grading 0.82 gram gold, 173 grams silver, 15.2% copper, 0.1% zinc, and 0.01% lead (24.5 grams gold-equivalent) from 794 metres, including 4 metres grading 0.17 gram gold, 7.4 grams silver, 1.2% copper, and 0.4% zinc (2.2 grams gold-equivalent) from 463 metres; and 1 metre grading 3.5 grams gold, 3.3 grams silver, 1.2% copper, and 0.02% zinc (5.2 grams gold-equivalent) from 492 metres.

The company has completed 28 drill holes (about 14,500 metres) of its planned 15,000-metre program and has now expanded the program to 17,000 metres.

“With only six holes reported so far for the 2020 program, initial results reveal promising developments at each of the priority target areas, including at the earlier stage Northeast Offset target,” Green said in a statement. “Three drills continue to test these targets in addition to surface crews advancing our regional exploration prospects.”

At press time in Toronto, HighGold was trading at $2.72 per share within a 52-week trading range of 57¢ and $3.14. The company has 44 million common shares outstanding for a $120.7-million market capitalization.