SNOWLINE GOLD CORP (TSXV:SGD)(OTCQB:SNWGF) (the "Company" or "Snowline") is pleased to provide a summary of key activities and achievements over the past calendar year. In June 2024, Snowline released an initial Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its 100% owned Valley deposit on its Rogue Project, just two and a half years after the initial drill discovery, establishing Valley as a significant, continuous, near-surface gold deposit with clean, non-refractory mineralization and unusually high grades for a reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS). Following the initial MRE, Snowline safely and efficiently completed an additional 25,000 m drilling at Valley during 2024, expanding the footprint of known mineralization at Valley and nearly doubling the number of metres drilled into the deposit. The Company completed an additional 10,000 m of exploratory drilling on regional targets. With more than C$43.2M in the treasury, Snowline is well positioned for a momentous year in 2025. Active regional exploration and drilling will complement a core focus on rigorous, rapid and responsible advancement of Valley.
Snowline's top 5 highlights from 2024:
Valley Deposit Initial MRE: 4.05 Moz Au Indicated at 1.66 g/t Au and an additional 3.26 Moz Au Inferred at 1.25 g/t Au. The high degree of consistency and near-surface nature of mineralization allowed for delineation of the initial MRE, with 55% of the total resource estimate defined as Indicated, based on 27,911 m drilling. This represents a drill discovery cost of just C$3.20 per ounce of gold across all categories at Valley.
Operational Excellence: Completed >35,000 m drilling-by far Snowline's largest drill campaign to date-safely and under budget, including >25,000 m at Valley. This is a 90% increase in total metres drilled at Valley since the initial MRE, with high grades seen in infill holes and several notable areas of expansion. Results for >11,600 m from 29 holes (33% of 2024 drilling) remain outstanding from Valley and other targets.
Environmental Stewardship: Received second consecutive Robert E. Leckie Award for Excellence in Environmental Stewardship. The 2024 award, conferred by representatives from the Government of Yukon, the Council of Yukon First Nations and Yukon Chamber of Mines, was granted in recognition of Snowline's Phase I cleanup project at the Plata airstrip and staging site, located off Company claims but in the vicinity of the Valley deposit and formerly used to service small-scale silver mines in the area.
Financial Strength: Raised a total of $31.9M at a 46% premium to market allowing for growth through an upscaled exploration program with minimal dilution. With C$43.2M remaining in the treasury as of December 31, 2024, Snowline is fully financed for an aggressive exploration campaign alongside project advancement through 2025.
Expanding Skillsets: Appointment of Brian Hegarty as VP Sustainability & External Relations and accomplished mining engineer Gil Lawson as an independent director along with other roles adding in-house expertise for the efficient and responsible advancement of the Valley deposit towards production. As of writing, Snowline has an open job posting for a VP Engineering to help steer planning efforts and oversee further expansion of a development-focused team.
"Thanks to an incredible performance by our team, 2024 has seen a phase change for Snowline in terms of the definition, de-risking and advancement of our flagship Valley deposit," said Scott Berdahl, CEO & Director of Snowline. "We entered the year with exciting drill results from Valley. By June, we had an initial Mineral Resource Estimate establishing Valley as a significant, multi-million-ounce gold deposit, emphatically checking important boxes in terms of its strong gold grades, continuous near-surface geometry, and favourable metallurgy. By October, we'd increased the total metres drilled at Valley by 90% through a combination of expansionary holes and infill drilling. We did this safely and within the budget of a much smaller initial program, while drill testing multiple additional targets in the district and discovering new mineralized systems through ongoing baseline and generative work. We plan to release an updated MRE for Valley prior to the commencement of the 2025 field program.
"I would like to thank our team as well as our service providers, suppliers, consultants and partners for another incredible year, and our shareholders for their ongoing support as we advance a unique deposit and work to explore what could become an exciting new gold district."
Additional highlights from 2024 include:
Construction of the 50-person Valley Camp in additional to Snowline's 50-person Forks Camp, increasing efficiency and capacity for exploration and project advancement at Valley. Together with the acquisition of a 30-person camp on the Einarson Project, Snowline's field capacity has increased by 160% from 2023.
100% consolidation of the Einarson Project - a large, underexplored area immediately north of and contiguous with the Rogue Project marked by multiple kilometers-scale geochemical anomalies and prospecting discoveries - including consolidation of Snowline's Jupiter target and acquisition of the Venus target with historical drill results reported up to 9.67 g/t Au over 38.7 m.
Continued strong results from Valley, including 5.99 g/t Au over 101.0 m within a broader 4.05 g/t Au over 244.9 m from surface in infill hole V-24-078, and 1.61 g/t Au over 435.0 m, including 2.39 g/t Au over 150.5 m in expansionary hole V-24-077. A visible-gold-bearing quartz vein has been observed on average once every 7.2 m through all >53,000 m of drilling to date at Valley. Assays for >8,300 m from 20 holes at Valley are still outstanding.
A robust and growing district-level pipeline, with exploratory drilling conducted on six non-Valley targets, discovery of multiple new RIRGS and orogenic gold targets through prospecting and surface mapping, and enhancement of regional baseline geochemical and geophysical surveys. Assays for >3,300 m from nine holes across two regional targets (Aurelius and Jupiter) are still outstanding.
Strong local support, with 80% of $C30.2M external exploration expenditures spent with Yukon-based companies, including 61% of external exploration expenditures spent with companies owned by or directly partnered with Yukon First Nations.
Formal analyst coverage initiated by four independent industry analysts, bringing total coverage to 10 analysts including four major banks.
Wider institutional ownership, with several cornerstone long funds beginning and/or expanding on large equity positions in Snowline throughout the year.
Expansion of Yukon mineral tenure to 360,000 hectares through early season staking and acquisition, with a geographical focus around the Valley deposit.
Up to C$35.4M in infrastructure funding commitments by the Canadian and United States governments to support possible road and power upgrades for and project advancement on Fireweed Metals Corp.'s adjacent, development-stage critical metals properties near Macmillan Pass, southeast of the Rogue Project's Valley deposit.
Multiple industry awards recognizing Snowline management and team; in addition to the 2024 Robert E. Leckie Award, these were the Association for Mineral Exploration's H.H. "Spud" Huestis Award for excellence in prospecting and mineral exploration in BC and/or the Yukon, the Yukon Prospector's Association's Prospector of the Year Award, Young Mining Professionals' Peter Munk Award for contributions to the mining industry, Commodity Discovery Fund's Discovery Award for the discovery of Valley, and Kitco Mining's Mining CEO of the Year Award in the non-producing category (for 2023).
Figure 1 - Long section through Valley initial MRE block model. A large zone of continuous, >2 g/t Au mineralization is present from surface. Sequential shells highlighting the distribution of grades are shown on this figure, with classification breakdowns shown in Table 1. Resource blocks are 15 x 15 x 10 m. Only blocks above cutoff grade of 0.4 g/t Au located within the revenue factor 0.72 shell are included in initial MRE for Valley - none of the mineralized blocks shown outside of this shell are included. Holes drilled in 2024 are not yet factored into the MRE and are not included in this figure. For the section display, drill hole grades are composited within 10 m benches and project 25 m in front of and behind section.
Table 1 - An incremental breakdown of the initial MRE for Valley as contained within sequentially expanding shells. It should be read with reference to Figure 1, which illustrates these sequential shells on a long section of the Valley deposit. This table provides a quantitative basis for the description of relatively high-grade, continuous, near-surface mineralization at Valley. The Company believes that the front-heavy distribution of mineralization between these iterative pit shells and the low ratios of waste material to mineralization above cutoff (note only 3,304 kt of waste material in the first incremental pit shell) materially enhance the potential of the project, providing strength and optionality in potential future development scenarios.
Figure 2 - Histogram of the initial MRE for Valley sorted by 20 m elevation brackets, illustrating the near-surface nature of gold distribution in the deposit. Surface elevations across the Valley deposit typically range from 1,170 m to 1,190 m.
Figure 3 - Snowline's new 50-person Valley Camp, within 300 m of the Valley deposit, is a key infrastructure component that allowed the Company to complete a 35,000 m drill program with a high level of efficiency.
Figure 4 - Members of the Snowline team celebrating the close of a successful 2024 field season during the Yukon Geoscience Forum in November 2024.
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2025
With a strong treasury and five diamond drills parked on site at the Rogue Project, Snowline is looking forward to another highly active exploration season in 2025. Through the upcoming year, the Company will adhere to its commitment to safe, environmentally sound, and socially responsible exploration, building on its economic engagement within the Yukon and further strengthening lines of communication, engagement and collaboration with First Nations and Yukon communities.
The scale and nature of the 2025 program will be finalized early in the coming year, but the program will continue to pursue two primary operational objectives: 1) continued exploration of the open Valley deposit, as well as significant progress towards economic assessment and environmental baseline studies to support permitting efforts, and 2) to follow up on promising results from other targets on Rogue and on the Company's surrounding projects with the goal of establishing a new gold district. An updated MRE incorporating the 25,099 m of drilling at Valley in 2024 is planned for the first half of 2025.
Figure 5 - Project location map for Snowline Gold's eastern Selwyn Basin projects: Rogue, Einarson, Ursa, Cynthia and Olympus. The Valley deposit is one of a cluster of prospective reduced intrusion-related gold targets on the broader 30 x 60 km Rogue Project and the surrounding area.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering roughly 360,000 ha (3,600 km2). The Company is exploring its flagship 111,000 ha (1,110 km2) Rogue Project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline's project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits. The Company's first-mover position and extensive exploration database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
Since its launch in 2021, Snowline has progressed the Rogue Project's Valley deposit from a greenfield prospecting discovery to a significant bulk tonnage gold resource, with 4.05 Moz gold Indicated mineral resource at 1.66 g/t Au and an additional 3.26 Moz Inferred mineral resource at 1.25 g/t Au within a revenue factor 0.72 pit-shell constraint. The resource estimate numbers are supported by the recent technical report for Rogue, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 standards, entitled "Rogue Gold Project: NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate," authored by Heather Burrell, P. Geo., Daniel J. Redmond, P. Geo., and Steven C. Haggarty, P. Eng., with an effective date of May 15, 2024.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Thomas K. Branson, M.Sc., P. Geo., VP Exploration of Snowline Gold Corp, as Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
For specifics of the initial MRE at Valley, please see the Company's July 23, 2024, NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Rogue Project, available on our website and on SEDAR+.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Scott Berdahl CEO & Director
For further information, please contact: Snowline Gold Corp. +1 778 650 5485 info@snowlinegold.com
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.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the significance of analytical results, plans to release an updated mineral resource estimate in H1 2025, future advanced permitting and development activities, the potential for investors to participate in multiple future discoveries, the Rogue Project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company's future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as "may", "will", "should", "could", "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict" or "potential" or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company's plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
