GT Gold surges on greenfield discovery

VANCOUVER — GT  Gold (TSXV: GTT; US-OTC: GTGDF) has unearthed the first noteworthy greenfield gold discovery of the current exploration wave in northwestern B.C.’s historic Golden Triangle region.

On July 25, the company tabled assays from 20 reverse-circulation (RC) drill holes at its Tatogga property,  highlighted by 13 grams gold per tonne over 10.7 metres from 7 metres deep in hole 8.

Aerial shot of the Saddle gold ridge at the Tatogga gold project. Credit: GT Gold.

More intercepts include: 17.41 grams gold over 9.1 metres from 46 metres deep in hole 19; 15.33 grams gold over 8.8 metres from 5.5 metres deep in hole 22; and 10.7 grams gold over 9.1 metres from 14.3 metres deep in hole 20.

The 308 sq. km property sits 70 km south of Dease Lake on the Klastline Plateau, and is accessible from Highway 37.

GT Gold is targeting its Saddle South prospect, which hosts a 1.5 km, east–west anomaly with an “irregular core” of gold-in-soil values and grades of more than 0.5 gram gold. The company expedited its drill program after reporting 58 soil samples that averaged 7.45 grams gold at the target last year.

A close-up sample of mineralization at the Saddle target area. Credit: GT Gold.

“The market is starved for discoveries, and they are becoming harder to find. It’s nice to deliver one and see the results have an impact,” president and CEO Kevin Keough says during an interview.

“We needed to show not only grade, but also widths and continuity, and we see promising signs at Saddle South. It’s been a pleasant surprise because, due to a lack of exposure, we only had the soil anomaly to guide us.”

The mineralization at Saddle reportedly varies, but is described as transitional, low-sulphidation epithermal. The company notes that “higher-grade sections are characterized by decimetre- to metre-scale, quartz-carbonate, semi-massive to massive sulphide veins and vein-breccias dominated by pyrite, but also containing subordinate sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and probable sulphosalts.”

The mineralized zones appear to trend east–west, with a moderate to steeply south-dipping structure.

GT Gold is using portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers to screen RC drill chips for the Tatogga pathfinder elements arsenic, lead and zinc. The company says that sulphide minerals in early RC visual drill results, along with analytical results from the XRFs, could guide further drilling to find the source of the gold-in-soil anomaly.

Gold-bearing outcrop at the Saddle North target area. Credit: GT Gold.

“We don’t know if we have ‘nuggety’ gold. We’re starting mineralogy work to have a good look,” Keough says. “We haven’t found visible gold yet, but it’s there, and we need to understand that association. We tend to know we’re into the high-grade gold portion whenever we see XRF high values of the pathfinder elements. You also see a lot of sulphide in the core.”

The company completed 2,500 metres of HQ-diameter diamond drilling, and assay results should be released in August.

GT Gold plans to move to full-time diamond drilling at Tatogga, and bring in a second rig. It will also test the Saddle North target, which lies 200 metres below Saddle South’s upland ridge and tableland.

“Saddle North looks promising. There’s better exposure down there, and it has never seen a drill hole,” Keough says.“Our latest geophysical work painted a lovely induced-polarization anomaly along strike of the target, and we’re seeing beautiful alteration.”

GT Gold shares gained more than 200%, or 76¢, after the news, to hit an all-time high of $1.15 at press time. The company has 29 million shares outstanding for an $82-million market capitalization.

GT Gold used its higher share price to announce a $5-million private placement, where it intends to issue 6 million shares priced at 85¢ each. The financing co-leads include Haywood Securities, M Partners and PI Financial.

The company plans to drill up to 10,000 metres at Tatogga in 2017, depending on weather and equipment availability. It says it could sustain two drills through October and may drill 12,000 metres.

A helicopter hovers above a drill site on the Saddle South zone in July 2017 at GT Gold’s Tatogga gold property in northwest British Columbia. Credit: GT Gold.

“Our goal is to establish the size potential at both targets before the end of the field season. We need to paint the large picture because that’s the real story,” Keough says.

“The financing came together after the drill results, and it’s about the company evolving and strategically bringing in shareholders to adjust our base. There are always high-risk gamblers that will jump in right at the beginning, but it’s the institutions and strong shareholders that step in when you make this kind of discovery.”

Keough later added the success “is really a credit to our VP Exploration, Charlie Greig, who put quite a bit of his own money on the line in 2016 to make it blossom into the target we ultimately drilled. Charlie and our crew, many of whom are Tahltan, are about the hardest, smartest-working exploration bunch I’ve ever dealt with, and the results from the field show.”