Eskay Creek gold-silver Project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle recently completed regional and near-mine exploration campaigns that have provided additional drilling results from the 21A West Zone delineation program for Skeena Resources Ltd. (TSX: SKE).
Before the discovery of high-grade gold and silver mineralization in Rhyolite-facies rocks at SK-22-1131, a previous area was perceived as barren. This exploratory drill hole was drilled 14 meters below the surface, averaging 7.73 g/t Au, 16.8 g/t Ag (7.91 g/t AuEq) over 17.20 m with prominent subintervals of high-grade gold and silver mineralization including 9.47 g/t Au, 13.7 g/t Ag (9.62 g/t AuEq) over 4.02 m and 14.61 g/t Au, 31.3 g/t Ag (14.96 g/t AuEq) over 5.20 m. A previously reported 2022 drill hole located 50 meters away from this spot, SK-22-1031, intersected 2.21 g/t Au, 4.6 g/t Ag (2.27 g/t AuEq). Furthermore, the exploration drill hole SK-22-1103 encountered additional near-surface Rhyolite mineralization, producing 3.08 g/t Au, 32.9 g/t Ag (3.45 g/t AuEq) over 21.80 m, and 4.52 g/t Au, 84.7 g/t Ag (5.46 g/t AuEq) over 9.75 m, within the proposed open-pit and 35 m to the south of SK-22-1131.
Due to the lack of historical drilling, Eskay Creek’s 21A West Zone was determined to be a barren waste rock in the 2022 Resource Estimate and Feasibility Study. The recently discovered feeder-style mineralization in the feasibility study pit will be included in the future resource and economic updates for Eskay Creek in the wake of 68,543 meters of exploration drilling performed between September 2021 and September 2022. As shown in the cross-section below, drilling holes SK-22-1103, SK-22-1104, and SK-22-1131 have contributed to the expansion and validation of the 21A West Zone discovered in late 2021. Both down-dip and along-strike expansion are still possible.
All drill core is divided into two parts, labeled, and bagged after being retrieved from the drill. A chain of custody requirement requires that security tags be placed on laboratory shipments using numbered tags. Quality control (QC) samples, including blanks and reference materials, are inserted regularly in the sample stream to monitor laboratory performance. The QCQC program was created and approved by Lynda Bloom, P.Geo. of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is supervised by Paul Geddes, P.Geo, Senior Vice President of Exploration and Resource Development.
