Nevada-based gold producer and developer Fortitude Gold Corp. [OTCQB: FTCO] said it has found new oxide gold drill intercepts not far from its existing Isabella Pearl gold heap leach and process facility. The new ore is only a short haul away from Isabella Pearl and will likely be processed in the same fashion as its current gold ores.
The Scarlet drill intercepts are located either at the very surface or just below and are 700 metres away from the company’s operating process facility. They include 13.72 meters grading 1.28 grammes per tonne of gold and 50.29 meters grading 0.86 g/t gold.
The overall environment for gold production remains very positive despite a recent price drop. Although prices have touched $1,822 in the last week they are still trading within a band that is at the highest level in the last 10-11 years. For gold producers the long term price trend is far more relevant because they typically plan their development and production decisions between two to ten years ahead.
The company has already said that after Scarlet it will continue its drill programme to better understand adjacent mineralization and plans to extend the life of its Isabella Pearl deposit.
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The company said that during the previous drilling programme at the southern end of the Scarlet target it had discovered gold mineralization 200 meters southwest of this newly discovered northern zone.
During the drilling in this new northern end of the Scarlet target Fortitude Gold encountered multiple intervals of oxide gold mineralization grading over 1 gramme per tonne. The gold producer is in the process of completing its current drill programme and is aiming to return to Scarlet for further infill and step-out drilling over the coming weeks, as soon as the relevant permits are in place.
Mineralization consistency similar to Isabella Pearl deposit
Initial metallurgical tests suggest that the oxide gold mineralization is of a similar consistency to the nearby Isabella Pearl deposit, which means that the Scarlet oxide gold ores could be processed using a standard heap leach process. This latest drilling at Scarlet has identified several surface and near surface pods of mineralization and the company plans to do further drilling not only to expand the mineralization but also better understand the geologic setting.
“We are excited to see nice intervals of oxide gold mineralization at and near the surface in this latest drill program on the north end of the Scarlet target,” said Allan Turner, Vice President of Exploration for Fortitude Gold. “Our Isabella Pearl mine is positioned on a significant fault corridor which extends further to the northwest and we are not surprised to continue to see gold mineralization along this fault corridor. We are currently finalizing plans for a follow up drill program at Scarlet.”
Also, an extensive mapping programme on an adjacent target called Prospect Mountain north of Scarlet has returned numerous gold surface samples at 500 feet above this newly drilled mineralization. There are a number of faults in this area and the company is working to better understand what continuity may exist between these new mineralized areas.
Fortitude Gold’s Chief Executive Jason Reid, explained further, “We look forward to the next round of drilling with several goals in mind. First, we want to see if we can define enough mineralization to warrant moving forward to delineate, permit and supplement ore feed at Isabella Pearl. Second, we want to see if this mineralization is on the periphery of a larger and perhaps higher-grade zone. Several high-grade intercepts, including eighteen meters of over one gramme per tonne gold, including three meters of two point seven grams per tonne gold starting at surface, demonstrate there is a high-grade component to this area. It is exciting as we do not yet know the limits of this mineralization and we have a lot of area remaining to test at Scarlet, let alone our vast area ten kilometers along trend. We have deployed a record drill budget this year that has delivered this new mineralized zone and we plan to continue to aggressively explore it and many of our additional targets and properties as well.”
