- 12 m grading 17.5 g/t gold (starting at 15 m)
- 12 m grading 15.3 g/t gold (starting at 3 m)
- 45 m grading 5.6 g/t gold (starting at 18 m)
- 33 m grading 10.4 g/t gold (starting at 33 m)
- 21 m grading 12.4 g/t gold (starting at 18 m)
- 39 m grading 6.5 g/t gold (starting at 21 m)
- 27 m grading 12.5 g/t gold (starting at 24 m)
With all of the final assay results now completed and interpreted, the Program has significantly increased confidence in the elevated gold grades within the wide, near surface mineralization in the target area earmarked for the first year of operations at Blackwater. Based on the results, the Program supports the elevated gold grades at the beginning of the mine life as outlined in the 2020 Pre-Feasibility Study for Blackwater ("Blackwater Gold Project British Columbia NI 43- 101 Technical Report on Pre-Feasibility Study" with an effective date of
Grade Control Drilling Program
The Program consisted of 561 holes and 33,216 m of reverse circulation ("RC") drilling, which commenced in mid-
The Program was designed to bring the drill density from up to 50 x 50m diamond drill hole ("DDH") spacing down to 12.5 x 12.5m spacing, generating up to 16 times the data when compared to the reserve definition drill program conducted by the Project's previous owner, New Gold Inc. The Program targeted a zone within the first 60 m (six mining benches) from surface containing in excess of five million tonnes of high-grade ore to improve short-term mine planning at the start of production.
The other primary objectives of the Program were to:
- Optimize the grade selectivity and mine schedule for managing the ore tonnes and grade to be processed in the first year of operations;
- More accurately delineate ore and waste boundaries to mitigate dilution;
- Optimize drill and blast designs;
- Provide a larger sample size to reduce grade variability.
In production, Artemis plans a continuous grade control drilling program targeting mine blocks 9-12 months ahead of ore production to the mill to maintain this discipline throughout the life of mine operations.
Summary of Selected Grade Control Drilling Results
Assay results from the full Program of 10,258 samples have now been returned, confirming the planned high-grade early mining phase for Blackwater (see attached Figure 1). Selected results from the last batch of assay results from the Program are highlighted below:
Table 1: Near-Surface Intercepts from Grade Control Drilling Program1
Hole ID* | East | North | From | To (m) | Interval | Au | Ag | |
*** | BWRC00088 | 375612.5 | 5892750.0 | 21 | 39 | 18 | 9.3 | 23.8 |
*** | BWRC00101 | 375450.0 | 5892750.0 | 24 | 39 | 15 | 6.7 | 12.8 |
*** | BWRC00110 | 375600.0 | 5892762.5 | 18 | 63 | 45 | 5.6 | 11.1 |
*** | incl. | 18 | 21 | 3 | 30.5 | 18.7 | ||
*** | BWRC00119 | 375487.5 | 5892762.5 | 3 | 42 | 39 | 4.0 | 10.5 |
*** | BWRC00122 | 375450.0 | 5892762.5 | 3 | 45 | 42 | 3.7 | 12.7 |
*** | BWRC00147 | 375400.0 | 5892775.0 | 3 | 33 | 30 | 3.5 | 5.6 |
*** | BWRC00157 | 375537.5 | 5892787.5 | 33 | 66 | 33 | 10.4 | 12.7 |
*** | incl. | 45 | 51 | 6 | 39.4 | 36.3 | ||
*** | BWRC00179 | 375575.0 | 5892800.0 | 21 | 45 | 24 | 5.9 | 9.3 |
*** | BWRC00180 | 375562.5 | 5892800.0 | 27 | 54 | 27 | 5.8 | 9.5 |
*** | BWRC00190 | 375437.5 | 5892800.0 | 18 | 39 | 21 | 12.4 | 12.2 |
*** | incl. | 21 | 24 | 3 | 43.2 | 29.2 | ||
*** | BWRC00193 | 375400.0 | 5892800.0 | 9 | 18 | 9 | 11.4 | 11.5 |
*** | incl. | 9 | 12 | 3 | 22.5 | 11.9 | ||
*** | BWRC00250 | 375250.0 | 5892812.5 | 6 | 60 | 54 | 3.2 | 7.1 |
*** | BWRC00251 | 375237.5 | 5892812.5 | 21 | 60 | 39 | 6.5 | 10.8 |
*** | incl. | 51 | 54 | 3 | 26.4 | 12.3 | ||
*** | BWRC00259 | 375700.0 | 5892825.0 | 6 | 36 | 30 | 4.0 | 4.2 |
*** | BWRC00265 | 375625.0 | 5892825.0 | 45 | 54 | 9 | 12.1 | 31.5 |
*** | incl. | 48 | 51 | 3 | 21.5 | 57.2 | ||
*** | BWRC00267 | 375600.0 | 5892825.0 | 21 | 48 | 27 | 6.8 | 14.8 |
*** | BWRC00280 | 375437.5 | 5892825.0 | 48 | 60 | 12 | 12.6 | 15.5 |
*** | incl. | 51 | 54 | 3 | 24.9 | 25.8 | ||
*** | BWRC00297 | 375225.0 | 5892825.0 | 45 | 60 | 15 | 11.9 | 36.4 |
*** | incl. | 54 | 57 | 3 | 30.8 | 72.3 | ||
*** | BWRC00298 | 375212.5 | 5892825.0 | 42 | 60 | 18 | 48.7 | 12.0 |
*** | incl. | 57 | 60 | 3 | 21.9 | 21.4 | ||
*** | BWRC00319 | 375512.5 | 5892837.5 | 24 | 51 | 27 | 12.5 | 16.7 |
*** | incl. | 39 | 42 | 3 | 58.5 | 54.3 | ||
*** | BWRC00344 | 375200.0 | 5892837.5 | 33 | 57 | 24 | 7.9 | 6.3 |
*** | incl. | 45 | 48 | 3 | 21.2 | 15.1 | ||
*** | BWRC00357 | 375600.0 | 5892850.0 | 30 | 42 | 12 | 9.9 | 68.7 |
*** | BWRC00389 | 375200.0 | 5892850.0 | 45 | 57 | 12 | 13.8 | 12.2 |
*** | incl. | 51 | 54 | 3 | 27.5 | 13.9 | ||
BWRC00435 | 375450.0 | 5892875.0 | 3 | 15 | 12 | 15.3 | 24.6 | |
incl. | 6 | 9 | 3 | 50.7 | 81.3 | |||
BWRC00463 | 375512.5 | 5892887.5 | 33 | 57 | 24 | 5.7 | 10.2 | |
BWRC00520 | 375212.5 | 5892900.0 | 24 | 54 | 30 | 3.5 | 13.0 | |
BWRC00532 | 375225.0 | 5892912.5 | 21 | 54 | 33 | 3.7 | 8.5 | |
BWRC00538 | 375262.5 | 5892925.0 | 15 | 27 | 12 | 17.5 | 25.8 | |
incl. | 18 | 24 | 6 | 29.4 | 43.0 |
* All holes were drilled with a dip of -90º (vertical). Drill hole intercepts reflect minimum 70% of the true widths of the orebody. Only intercepts greater than 9 m of length and width x grade greater than 100 g–m of gold are reflected in this news release. | ||
** Assay results are based on the leached Au and Ag after 5-hour LeachWELLTM accelerated leach, and exclude Au and Ag remaining in residue solids. | ||
***Previously released grade control intercepts |
______________________ |
1 Refer to notes 1, 2, and 3 within the section entitled "Technical Disclosure" at the end of this press release |
The LeachWELLTM assay method was selected to increase the sample size from a more standard 50g to 1,000g sample, which reduces variability and increases repeatability of assay results. Additionally, the LeachWELLTM method increases the understanding of leachability of the orebody with the information feeding directly into the process design. Extensive duplicate analyses highlight excellent LeachWELLTM repeatability of assay results and recoverable gold and silver.
Of the total samples assayed, 1,207 samples were also assayed for residue gold and silver concentration in the LeachWELLTM residues, resulting in a calculated overall recovery of 96.5% for gold and 69.3% for silver.
Including the previously released results, the Program has also confirmed excellent continuity of mineralization, as illustrated in the sections provided in Figures 3-7. The location of these sections is provided in Figure 2.
Technical Disclosure
Drill sampling consisted of reverse circulation drill cuttings being collected at a drill mounted Metzke rotating cone splitter by Artemis personnel on 3 m intervals. Samples were placed into bags and further split at the Blackwater sampling facility to ~3 kg sample size using a jones riffle splitter. Samples were tagged with barcodes, placed in a sample crate and a laboratory dispatch form was completed. Samples were stored in a secure location prior to shipping. Chain-of-custody procedures consisted of filling out sample submittal forms that were sent to the laboratory with sample shipments to make certain that all samples were received by the laboratory.
Sample preparation and analysis were performed by
The representativeness of the LeachWELLTM analytical technique to a mineral deposit is dependent on the leaching characteristics of the material submitted. As no certified standard reference material had been prepared from the same material that was to be leached, no standard reference materials were inserted in the grade control sample stream to directly monitor analytical precision. Precision checks consisted of comparisons to results from split samples using 50 g fire assay methods, comparison of data to existing diamond drill holes and review of SGS laboratory standards. Additionally, LeachWELLTM tails solids were consistently checked for non leachable gold and silver using 50 g fire assay for gold and 2 g 4-acid digestion for silver. The Company randomly inserted blank and duplicate samples into the sample stream as part of the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) monitoring for the Program at an insertion rate of ~14%. These samples had closely monitored contamination, splitter functionality and analytical repeatability, respectively.
Mr.
Qualified Persons
ARTEMIS GOLD INC.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
"Steven Dean"
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
+1 604 558 1107
Neither the
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and
SOURCE
© Canada Newswire, source