BeMetals Corp. announced a batch of recent assay results from its ongoing drilling program at the Kato Gold Project in Hokkaido, Japan. The Company reports results from approximately 1,660 metres of drilling completed in six drill holes at the Kato Project.

This drilling has returned multiple zones of epithermal gold mineralization related to the Seta, Kamitake and other new vein zones intersected in the program to date. Drill hole KT23-19, some 400 metres along strike to the southeast from KT22-12, intersected the Seta Vein in the transition zone where the company observe both clay (kaolinite) overprint and pristine epithermal, gold-bearing quartz vein. The favourably textured quartz plus adularia vein zones in the KT23-19 Seta Vein intersection are demonstrated by the included intervals of 9.46 g/t and 9.65 g/t gold over 1.00 and 0.43 metres, respectively.

These occur within a broader lower grade zone where the Seta Vein has been overprinted by clay alteration. Drill testing a target zone for potentially higher-grade gold mineralization below and along strike from the KT23-19 intersection is motivated. The drilling of two holes to test this zone are in progress with the planned Seta Vein intersection points shown on as KT23-21 and KT23-22.

Hole KT23-19A was drilled as a wedged deflection from the KT23-19 mother hole and returned a comparable gold intersection of the Seta Vein to the original hole. Drill hole KT23-20 was targeted to intersect the Seta Vein below hole KT22-13 which intersected the steam-heated zone, as previously reported, with a mineralized zone of 30.00 metres grading 0.47 g/t Au, including: 5.25 metres grading 1.25 g/t Au. The tenor of the gold mineralization interval in KT23-20 is higher than that in KT22-13 to provide 13.55 metres grading 1.19 g/t Au, including 1.95 metres grading 3.55 g/t Au.

The results of KT23-20, relative to its observed quartz vein textures, might suggest that the Seta Vein, in certain areas, includes zones commonly referred to as shoots of higher-grade gold mineralization. Further drilling is required in such areas to better understand this control on the higher-grade. KT23-16 intersected a unit known as black breccia at the targeted Seta Vein elevation.

This breccia is interpreted to postdate gold mineralization and disrupts the epithermal veins and gold grades in certain areas. This unit in KT23-16 includes fragments of gold-bearing vein quartz material suggesting a more consistent quartz vein could be developed below or adjacent to this intersection. Drill hole KT23-17 was collared close to the outcrop of an extensive sinter unit.

Such units represent the surface expression of epithermal systems, and their existence shows the full system is preserved. Examples of this mineralization are 3.60 metres grading 2.12 g/t Au and 14.9 Ag from 78.50 metres, including 1.00 metres grading 6.31 g/t Au and 17.8 g/t Ag and 3.15 metres grading 1.18 g/t Au and 7.7 g/t Ag from 146.45 metres, including: 0.75 metres grading 3.32 g/t Au and 13.0 g/t Ag. The results from this drill hole indicate the extensive nature of the Kato Corridor with mineralized quartz veins and stockwork zones developed in both the upper sediment and andesite host units.

Assay results from quartz veins in KT23-18 returned an intersection of 10.54 metres grading 1.28 g/t Au and 17.4 g/t Ag, including 1.37 metres grading 4.48 g/t Au and 75.5 g/t Ag from 88.26 metres down-hole depth. This intersection does not correlate with either the Seta or Kamitake veins but appears to be a new, relatively shallow zone of mineralization. An additional zone of mineralization in this hole of 6.70 metres grading 2.48 g/t Au and 36.1 g/t Ag from 229.60 metres, including 1.90 metres grading 7.50 g/t Au and 91.7 g/t Ag is currently interpreted to lie between the Kamitake and Seta Veins.

KT23-18, however, did not reach the Seta Vein target. The Kato Gold Project is BeMetals' most advanced, of its five exploration projects in Japan based on the amount of available historical drilling information in central Hokkaido. The Kato Project (historically referred to as the Seta River Prospect) is an example of a remarkably well-preserved epithermal gold system.

This mineralization style is an example of an epithermal system and the classic analogy for this deposit type in Japan is the Hishikari Gold Mine, in Kyushu island. Global examples of this type of mineralization include mines such as Lihir (Papua New Guinea), Kupol and Julietta (Russia), Waihi (New Zealand) and Masbate (Philippines).* The Kato property was previously drilled by MMAJ the Japanese state agency in the 1990s and during that time results included high-grade intervals such as 17.5 metres grading 8.15 g/t Au in hole 5MAHB-2 and 18.65 metres grading 5.01 g/t Au in hole 7MAHB-1.