Sitka hits gold ‘almost 1 km deep’ at RC project in Yukon

Summer drilling by Sitka Gold (TSXV: SIG; US-OTC: SITKF) cut a highlight result of 65 metres grading 2 grams gold per tonne at its RC project in west-central Yukon. Shares rose.

That result, in hole DDRCCC-25-076 of the Blackjack deposit from 806 metres depth, included 27 metres at 2.67 grams gold, 13.9 metres grading 3.31 grams gold and 8 metres at 4.8 grams gold, Sitka reported Wednesday.

“Sitka has demonstrated there is strong vertical potential at the Blackjack gold system, and we think tighter drilling will be key in demonstrating continuity potential for an underground resource,” Agentis Capital mining analyst Michael Gray said in a note. 

Hole 76, the deepest drilled to date adds to growing evidence of that potential, Sitka Director and CEO Cor Coe said in a release. 

“[It also] demonstrates that intervals of significant gold values persist almost a kilometre deep from where this deposit begins at surface. The higher-grade gold seen at depth in this and other deep drill holes, supports the notion that we could be vectoring towards the potential source of this gold system.”

Company tailwinds

The hole 76 results are an extension of the strong intersection the hole pierced just over one month ago. That further adds to tailwinds for Sitka this year, after it closed a $11.8-million financing in April for drilling at RC and released a resource update in January that more than doubled indicated tonnage in the Blackjack zone. Gray noted in a January report that the update raised resources by 159% and grades by 17%. The project could have a strip ratio of about 5:1, which indicates a favourable open-pit scenario, he added.

Sitka shares gained 13% to 56¢ apiece on Wednesday morning in Toronto, for a market capitalization of $187.67 million. Its shares traded in a 12-month range of 13¢ to 69¢.

Hole 76, which was extended from 810.8 metres depth to 945 metres in the summer program, also revealed visible gold in the higher-grade intersections hosted inside metasediments and intrusive rocks.  

Rhosgobel high grades

South of Blackjack, Sitka started the first diamond drilling at the Rhosgobel intrusion, with discovery hole DDRCRG-24-001 cutting 164.8 metres grading 0.82 gram gold from 9 metres depth. That intercept included 119 metres at 1.05 grams gold, 37.9 metres at 2.05 grams gold and 11.5 metres grading 4.32 grams gold.

The company plans 10,000 metres of drilling at Rhosgobel.

Meanwhile, drilling in the Saddle zone, just east of Blackjack, showed its first example of visible gold with hole DDRCCC-25-086. Sitka is investigating the potential of a link between the Blackjack and Eiger deposits, which is just southeast of Saddle.

“Saddle is a key target area for expansion of open pit mineralization east of Blackjack and we think Sitka will target known lamprophyre dykes associated with high-grade mineralization,” Gray said.

30,000-metre program

Drilling is ongoing at RC with three rigs turning at the Blackjack, Saddle and Eiger zones, part of Sitka’s 30,000-metre program for this year. More than 6,127 metres across 17 holes have been completed so far this year.

RC hosts about 40 million indicated tonnes grading 1.01 grams gold for 1.3 million oz., according to the resource update. Inferred resources total 34.6 million tonnes at 0.94 gram gold for 1 million ounces. The previous resource was released in 2023.

The RC property covers 431 sq. km within Yukon’s Tombstone gold belt and is located about 100 km east of Dawson City.

RC hosts one of the largest gold projects along the belt by resource size, in league with Snowline Gold’s (TSXV: SGD; US-OTC: SNWGF) Valley project and Banyan Gold’s (TSXV: BYN; US-OTC: BYAGF) AurMac. It also comprises the largest consolidated land package in Yukon between the shuttered Eagle gold mine and the past-producing Brewery Creek mine.