Sitka doubles RC project’s gold in Yukon

Sitka Gold (TSXV: SIG) (OTCQB: SITKF) has more than doubled the gold resource for its Blackjack deposit in the Yukon.

The explorer’s first result in the indicated category amounts to 1.29 million oz. at a gold grade of 1.01 grams per tonne from nearly 40 million tonnes, Sitka said on Tuesday. 

Additionally, there are about 1.04 million oz. in the inferred category grading 0.94 gram from 34.6 million tonnes, compared to 900,000 oz. at 0.83 gram from the initial inferred resource estimate of January 2023.

“We have substantially increased the number of ounces contained at the Blackjack gold deposit by over 2.5 times while also increasing the overall grade,” Sitka Gold CEO Cor Coe said in a release. “This updated resource estimation reflects the quality of this discovery, highlighted by the robust, non-refractory gold mineralization.”

Shares in Sitka gold gained 19% or 5¢ on Tuesday in Toronto to 32¢ apiece before easing by mid-Wednesday to 30¢. The company’s market capitalization is $102.2 million. 

High-grade core

The updated resource comes after the modest 11,725 metres of diamond drilling since the initial mineral resource estimate was published in 2023, Coe said. It’s hit a higher grade core of 1 gram per tonne or greater that runs 660 metres deep from the surface, he said. 

The new resource was calculated from results of drilling in 2023-2024 in addition to the 7,074 metres (21 holes) completed to arrive at the initial estimate.

The Blackjack deposit is part of Sitka’s primary RC property that covers 431 sq. km within Yukon’s Tombstone gold belt.

Located about 100 km east of Dawson City, it’s the largest consolidated land package in Yukon between the shuttered Eagle gold mine and the past-producing Brewery Creek mine.

Intrusion system

Exploration on the property has mainly focused on identifying an intrusion-related gold system (IRGS), which is a prominent feature of the Tombstone gold belt. Notable deposits from the belt include the aforementioned Eagle and Brewery Creek, as well as Kinross Gold’s (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) Fort Knox mine in Alaska.

To date, Sitka’s team has identified two at- or near-surface deposits (Blackjack and Eiger) from the 11 gold-bearing intrusions found on the property. 

The company also has plans to grow the resource through more drilling. A 30,000-metre program is planned for this year, focusing on further expansion of the 2-km long Blackjack-Eiger area and follow-up on initial drilling of the Rhosgobel and Pukelman areas.