Fully funded 30,000 metre drill program initiated at RC Gold with approximately 15,000 metres allocated to expanding and further defining the wide-open Blackjack gold deposit along with additional drilling at the Saddle target and wide-open Eiger gold deposit
15,000 metres allocated to follow up drilling at the Rhosgobel and Pukelman discoveries and to test additional drill ready targets within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex
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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 20, 2025) - Sitka Gold Corp. (TSXV: SIG) (FSE: 1RF) (OTCQB: SITKF) ("Sitka" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced its 2025 diamond drilling program at its road accessible, 100% owned RC Gold Project ("RC Gold" or the "Project") located in the prolific Tombstone Gold Belt in Yukon. The primary focus of the planned 30,000 metre drilling program at RC Gold this year will be to continue expanding the Blackjack gold deposit, which remains open in all directions, and further test gold mineralization within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex (CCIC), including at the Eiger gold deposit, which also remains open in all directions, and at the Saddle, Rhosgobel, Contact and Pukelman targets (see Figure 1).
"We are very excited to be back at RC Gold with an early start for what will be our largest drilling campaign to date," said Cor Coe, Director and CEO of Sitka Gold. "Following up on the substantial progress of 2024, the 30,000 metres of diamond drilling planned this year will more than double the total amount of drilling we have completed at RC Gold to date. At Blackjack, drilling will focus on expanding the relatively high-grade gold deposit which begins at surface, remains open in all directions and currently hosts an indicated resource of 1.3 million ounces at 1.01 g/t gold and an inferred resource of 1.04 million ounces at 0.93 g/t gold (see news release dated January 21, 2025). Drilling will also focus on other high-priority targets within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex, including at Rhosgobel, where the first ever diamond drill holes completed last year discovered up to 119.0 m of 1.05 g/t gold including 37.9 m of 2.05 g/t gold and 11.5 m of 4.32 g/t gold, and at Pukelman where initial diamond drilling discovered robust intrusion related gold mineralization is present similar to that observed at the Blackjack deposit. With this fully funded drill campaign now underway, we look forward to rapidly advancing RC Gold this year as we push to further unlock the value of this impressive gold system."
2025 Exploration Plans
Blackjack - Saddle - Eiger
Of the 30,000 metres of diamond drilling planned at RC Gold this year, approximately 15,000 metres will be dedicated to drilling within the Blackjack-Saddle-Eiger zone (see Figures 1 and 2). Drilling this winter will be aimed at laterally expanding the wide-open Blackjack gold deposit and further delineating the higher-grade zone discovered at depth in Hole 68 late last year (see news release dated October 21, 2024). The results from Hole 68 returned the best gold intervals discovered to date at Blackjack, with a 678.1 metres interval of 1.04 g/t gold returned from surface which contained numerous higher grade intervals, the most significant being 93.0 metres of 2.57 g/t gold from 589.5 metres. The highest grade intersection returned from the hole was 5.5 metres of 17.59 g/t gold from 598.5 metres, including 1.5 metres of 54.80 g/t gold, suggesting that gold mineralization is getting stronger at depth in the Blackjack system.
This focus will continue through the summer drilling phase along with expansion drilling at the Eiger gold deposit, which currently hosts a 440,000 ounce gold resource that is open in all directions(1), and drill testing at the Saddle target area, which has the largest and strongest gold-in-soil anomaly within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex area (see Figure 1). While the majority of the recent drilling efforts have been focused on the Blackjack deposit area, the potential to significantly expand and further delineate the Eiger deposit, located approximately 2 kilometres to the east, has always been a goal of the Company and this year Sitka has the resources to push that agenda. The Saddle zone, located between Blackjack and Eiger, is another high-priority target where surface sampling and drill testing have shown there is potential to link gold mineralization between Blackjack and Eiger. Drill testing at the Saddle target in 2023 returned strong gold intercepts including 84.0 m of 1.21 g/t gold from surface in DDRCCC-23-054 which included 4.0 m of 5.12 g/t Au and 51.1 m of 1.52 g/t Au (see news release dated October 30, 2023). Drilling on the eastern periphery of the Blackjack deposit has also returned some significant gold intercepts with DDRCCC-23-046 intersecting 56.0 m of 1.23 g/t Au from 134.0 m and a separate interval of 38.2 m of 4.15 g/t Au from 320.8 m that included 4.3 m of 33.10 g/t Au from 326.1 m and 1.2 m of 108.00 g/t Au from 327.8 m (see news release dated September 11, 2023). These results highlight the potential for robust gold mineralization to continue east of the Blackjack deposit, through the Saddle target and towards the Eiger gold deposit and the Company plans to aggressively drill across this area during the summer field season.
Rhosgobel-Pukelman
The remaining 15,000 metres of this year's drilling program is assigned to follow up drilling at the Rhosgobel and Pukelman intrusion targets. In late 2024, the Company completed the first ever diamond drill holes at Rhosgobel which significantly increased the depth of known gold mineralization at the target area with gold mineralization now extending from surface to a depth of at least 300 metres. Two holes were completed and returned multiple observations of visible gold and impressive intervals of strong gold mineralization with assays of up to 119.0 m of 1.05 g/t gold including 37.9 m of 2.05 g/t gold and 11.5 m of 4.32 g/t gold (see news release dated November 25, 2024). Mineralization is open in all directions at Rhosgobel where a large 1.5 km x 2 km gold-in-soil surface signature has also been defined and gold mineralization has been confirmed with historic shallow drilling (< 70 m in depth), further highlighting the potential for this target to host a gold deposit of significant size and grade.
The first diamond drill holes ever completed at the Pukelman target last year also confirmed that this intrusion hosts robust gold mineralization similar to that observed at the Blackjack deposit 2.5 kilometres to the north (see news release dated January 7, 2025). These drill holes were collared approximately 500 m north of the Contact Zone at the northern periphery of the target area. Historic drilling at the Contact Zone has returned some impressive gold intercepts, including up to 10.7 m of 20.46 g/t gold in CC10-02. Surface sampling completed by Sitka last year also significantly expanded the gold-in-soil anomaly that outlines the target area produced strong gold values within the target area where rock samples returned up to 67.90 g/t gold further showcasing the potential of this target to host another multi-million ounce gold deposit similar to Blackjack (see news release dated October 21, 2024). Drilling this year will follow up on these impressive results.
Additional drilling and exploration is also proposed this year at other drill-ready, high priority target areas within the CCIC, including at the Bear Paw Breccia and at the Barney, Josephine and Big Creek stocks (see Figure 1).
(1) Simpson, R. January 19, 2023. Clear Creek Property, RC Gold Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Dawson Mining District, Yukon Territory
Figure 1 - Plan map showing the multiple high-priority target areas within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex. 30,000 metres of drilling is planned in this area for 2025 with a proposed allocation of approximately 15,000 metres across the Blackjack - Eiger target area, 10,000 metres at Rhosgobel - Bear Paw and 5,000 metres at Pukelman/Contact Zone. Drill targets have also been defined at the Barney, Josephine and Big Creek Stocks.
Figure 2 - Long Section showing target areas from the Blackjack deposit to the Rhosgobel target and the proposed drilling allocated as part of the 30,000 metre diamond drilling program planned for 2025.
The RC Gold Project consists of a 431 square kilometre contiguous district-scale land package located in the heart of Yukon's Tombstone Gold Belt. The project is located approximately 100 kilometres east of Dawson City, which has a 5,000 foot paved runway, and is accessed via a secondary gravel road from the Klondike Highway which is usable year-round and is an approximate 2 hour drive from Dawson City. It is the largest consolidated land package strategically positioned mid-way between the Eagle Gold Mine and the past producing Brewery Creek Gold Mine.
The RC Gold Project now has pit-constrained mineral resources prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") guidelines that are contained in two zones: the Blackjack and Eiger gold deposits with 1,291,000 ounces of gold grading 1.01 g/t goldin an indicated category and 1,044,000 ounces of gold grading 0.94 g/t in an inferred category at Blackjack and 440,000 ounces of gold grading 0.50 g/t gold in an inferred category at Eiger. Both of these deposits are at/near surface, are potentially open pit minable and amenable to heap leaching, with initial bottle roll tests indicating that the gold is not refractory and has high gold recoveries of up to 94% with minimal NaCN consumption (see News Release July 13, 2022). The Mineral Resource Estimate is presented in the following table:
Current pit-constrained gold resources at the RC Gold Project*
Deposit
Gold Cut-off (g/t Au)
Mineral Resource Category
Tonnes (000's)
Gold Grade (Au g/t)
Oz Au (000's)
Blackjack
0.30
Indicated
39,962
1.01
1,291
Blackjack
0.30
Inferred
34,603
0.94
1,044
Eiger
0.25
Inferred
27,362
0.50
440
* For details of the resource estimate please see Company news release dated January 21, 2025.
To date, 72 diamond drill holes have been drilled into this system by the Company for a total of approximately 25,136 metres. Other targets drilled to date include the Saddle, Josephine, Rhosgobel and Pukelman zones. The resource expansion drilling in 2023 at Blackjack produced results of up to 219.0 m of 1.34 g/t gold Including 124.8 m of 2.01 g/t gold and 55.0 m of 3.11 g/t gold in drill hole DDRCCC-23-047 (see news release dated September 26, 2023) and in 2024 results of up to 678.1 metres of 1.04 g/t gold starting from surface in DDRCCC-24-068, Including 409.5 metres of 1.36 g/t gold, 93.0 metres of 2.57 g/t gold and 5.5 metres of 17.59 g/t gold (see news release dated October 21, 2024).
RC Gold Deposit Model
Exploration on the Property has mainly focused on identifying an intrusion-related gold system ("IRGS"). The property is within the Tombstone Gold Belt which is the prominent host to IRGS deposits within the Tintina Gold Province in Yukon and Alaska. Notable deposits from the belt include: Fort Knox Mine in Alaska with current Proven and Probable Reserves of 230 million tonnes at 0.3 g/t Au (2.471 million ounces; Sims 2018)(1); Eagle Gold Mine with current Measured and Indicated Resources of 233 million tonnes at a grade of 0.57 g/t Au at the Eagle Main Zone (4.303 million ounces; Harvey et al, 2022)(2); the Brewery Creek deposit with current Indicated Mineral Resource of 22.2 million tonnes at a gold grade of 1.11 g/t (0.789 million ounces; Hulse et al. 2020)(3); the Florin Gold deposit with a current Inferred Mineral Resource of 170.99 million tonnes grading 0.45 g/t (2.47 million ounces; Simpson 2021)(4); the AurMac Project with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 347.49 million tonnes grading 0.63 gram per tonne gold (7.00 million ounces)(5) and the Valley Deposit, with a current Indicated Mineral Resource of 4.05 million oz gold at 1.66 g/t and an additional Inferred Mineral Resource of 3.26 million oz at 1.25 g/t gold(6).
(1) Sims J. Fort Knox Mine Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USA National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report. June 11, 2018. https://s2.q4cdn.com/496390694/files/doc_downloads/2018/Fort-Knox-June-2018-Technical-Report.pdf (2) Harvey N., Gray P., Winterton J., Jutras M., Levy M.,Technical Report for the Eagle Gold Mine, Yukon Territory, Canada. Victoria Gold Corp. December 31, 2022. https://vgcx.com/site/assets/files/6534/vgcx_-_2023_eagle_mine_technical_report_final.pdf (3) Hulse D, Emanuel C, Cook C. NI 43-101 Technical Report on Mineral Resources. Gustavson Associates. May 31, 2020. https://minedocs.com/22/Brewery-Creek-PEA-01182022.pdf (4) Simpson R. Florin Gold Project NI 43-101 Technical Report. Geosim Services Inc. April 21, 2021. https://sedar.com/GetFile.do?lang=EN&docClass=24&issuerNo=00005795&issuerType=03&projectNo=03236138&docI d=4984158 (5) Thornton T., Jutras M., Malhotra D. Technical Report Aurmac Property Mayo Mining District, Yukon Territory, Canada. JDS Energy and Mining Inc. February 6, 2024. https://banyangold.com/site/assets/files/5251/banyan_gold_ni_43-101_technical_report_2024_03_18.pdf (6) Burrell H., Redmond D.J., Haggarty P., Rogue Gold Project: NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate, Yukon Territory, Canada. Snowline Gold Corp. May 15, 2024. https://snowlinegold.com
Upcoming Events
Sitka Gold will be attending and/or presenting at the following events*:
PDAC - Toronto, ON: March 2 - 5, 2025
Swiss Mining Institute - Zurich, Switzerland: March 18 - 19, 2025
Canaccord Global Metals and Mining Conference - Henderson, NV: May 20 - 22, 2025
Yukon Mining Alliance - Dawson City, Yukon: July 9 - 14, 2025
*All events are subject to change.
About Sitka Gold Corp.
Sitka Gold Corp. is a well-funded mineral exploration company headquartered in Canada with approximately $14 million in its treasury and no debt. The Company is managed by a team of experienced industry professionals and is focused on exploring for economically viable mineral deposits with its primary emphasis on gold, silver and copper mineral properties of merit. Sitka is currently advancing its 100% owned, 431 square kilometre flagship RC Gold Project located within the Tombstone Gold Belt in the Yukon Territory. The Company is also advancing the Alpha Gold Project in Nevada and currently has drill permits for its Burro Creek Gold and Silver Project in Arizona and the Coppermine River Project in Nunavut.
*For more detailed information on the Company's properties please visit our website at www.sitkagoldcorp.com
The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Cor Coe, P.Geo., Director and CEO of the Company, and a Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward‐looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions and the Company's anticipated work programs.
These forward‐looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market uncertainty and the results of the Company's anticipated work programs.
Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. We seek safe harbor.
