Ascot Resources Ltd. (TSX: AOT) (OTCQX: AOTVF) is pleased to announce the first batch of assay results at the Big Missouri deposit from the 2022 exploration drill program at the Company’s Premier Gold Project, located on Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands in the prolific Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. These results are from surface drilling for in-fill and exploration purposes at the Big Missouri deposit, approximately six kilometres north of the past-producing Premier mill.
Highlights from the drill results include:
To date, 46 holes have been completed for a total of 4,260 metres at the Big Missouri deposit this season. This release summarizes the assay results from the first 15 drill holes for a total of 1,195 metres from surface pad BM–1/22. Drill holes were targeting the A Zone of the Big Missouri deposit in planned stoping areas, potential extensions of stopes, and gaps in previous drilling on the deposit.
Derek White, President and CEO of Ascot commented, “This season’s drill program at Big Missouri is important as it enables us to refine and gain more confidence on our initial stoping areas for underground mining. We are pleased to see high-grade intercepts and visible gold encountered in the first batch of assay results from this area. The drilling revealed various locations where planned stope shapes can be extended, where existing stope shape geometry was confirmed, and provide useful information in previously undrilled gaps in the historical database.
We look forward to seeing continued success from the drill program at Big Missouri this season, and in combination with ongoing underground development and sampling, vastly improving the confidence in our geological model at PGP as we advance towards production.”
The Big Missouri deposit hosts a probable reserve of 809 kt grading 7.15 g/t Au and 12.2 g/t Ag and containing 186 koz Au and 317 koz Ag, an indicated resource of 1,116 kt grading 8.36 g/t Au and 16.9 g/t Ag and containing 300 koz Au and 607 koz Ag, and an inferred resource of 1,897 kt grading 8.34 g/t Au and 14.7 g/t Ag and containing 508 koz Au and 896 koz Ag. These reserves and resources are outlined in the NI 43-101 technical report entitled “Premier & Red Mountain Gold Project Feasibility Study NI 43-101 Technical Report, British Columbia”, dated May 22, 2020, with an effective date of April 15, 2020.
An overview of drill hole locations is shown in Figure 2 and a cross section is shown in Figure 3. The results are headlined by hole P22-2405 which intercepted 136.50 g/t Au and 39.7 g/t Ag over 1.00m, within a broader interval of 2.00m grading 71.28 g/t Au and 23.00 g/t Ag, starting from a depth of 57.74m – just below a planned stope shape. This drill intercept also encountered visible gold as shown in Figure 4.
As shown in Figure 3, these drill results show strong potential for the planned stope shapes to be extended by high-grade intercepts such as the 10.70 g/t Au intercept in hole P22-2407, the 7.49 g/t Au and 5.10 g/t Au intercepts in holes P22-2412 and P22-2410, respectively, and the 15.74 g/t Au and 7.90 g/t Au intercepts near the bottom of holes P22-2412 and P22-2410, respectively. Many of these potential stope extensions also occur at the predicted locations based on mineralization wireframe geometry, which strengthens confidence in the geological model.
In various locations, the new drill holes intercepted high-grade gold within the boundaries of planned stope shapes, reinforcing the current wireframe geometry. This is showcased by the 7.17 g/t Au intercept in hole P22-2407 and the 29.90 g/t Au and 10.90 g/t Au intercepts in hole P22-2406.
ten more holes were drilled from the same pad, mostly towards the east, with assay results pending. Two additional surface pads were established to the north, from which an additional 21 holes were drilled. Currently, drilling is being carried out from surface at the Day Zone on the western side of the Big Missouri ridge.
Figure 1 – Northwest looking overview of Big Missouri ridge showing drill pad location
Figure 2 – Plan view of Big Missouri A Zone drilling
Figure 3 – North-northwest looking cross section view of Big Missouri A Zone drilling
Figure 4 – Visible gold in hole P22-2405
Table 1 – Big Missouri drill results
Hole # | Azimuth /dip |
From (m) |
To (m) |
Width (m) |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
P22-2403 | 180/-50 | 33.50 | 35.50 | 2.00 | 1.03 | 6.9 |
and | 55.00 | 59.50 | 4.50 | 1.16 | 8.8 | |
and | 62.79 | 65.00 | 2.21 | 2.00 | 4.5 | |
P22-2404 | 180/-79 | 21.88 | 23.00 | 1.12 | 1.32 | 4.3 |
and | 25.00 | 26.00 | 1.00 | 1.47 | 5.1 | |
and | 31.52 | 32.50 | 0.98 | 1.54 | 9.4 | |
and | 37.50 | 49.50 | 12.00 | 5.09 | 6.6 | |
incl. | 42.00 | 49.50 | 7.50 | 7.17 | 6.7 | |
incl. | 42.00 | 43.50 | 1.50 | 15.10 | 15.4 | |
P22-2405 | 211/-70 | 22.50 | 23.50 | 1.00 | 1.05 | 22.7 |
and | 28.50 | 29.50 | 1.00 | 1.04 | 6.4 | |
and | 34.50 | 36.50 | 2.00 | 1.54 | 7.6 | |
and | 45.00 | 46.59 | 1.59 | 1.29 | 4.8 | |
and | 49.50 | 51.00 | 1.50 | 1.16 | 3.7 | |
and | 57.74 | 59.74 | 2.00 | 71.28 | 23.0 | |
incl. | 58.74 | 59.74 | 1.00 | 136.50 | 39.7 | |
P22-2406 | 212/-62 | 26.00 | 28.50 | 2.50 | 4.81 | 12.0 |
incl. | 26.00 | 27.50 | 1.50 | 6.88 | 13.1 | |
and | 41.00 | 45.00 | 4.00 | 3.54 | 10.5 | |
incl. | 43.70 | 45.00 | 1.30 | 4.98 | 7.2 | |
and | 57.00 | 59.00 | 2.00 | 16.55 | 25.4 | |
incl. | 57.00 | 58.00 | 1.00 | 29.90 | 47.0 | |
and | 68.50 | 71.93 | 3.43 | 5.66 | 5.7 | |
incl. | 68.50 | 70.00 | 1.50 | 10.90 | 9.9 | |
P22-2407 | 214/-50 | 34.50 | 39.15 | 4.65 | 6.32 | 43.1 |
incl. | 37.50 | 39.15 | 1.65 | 10.70 | 70.8 | |
and | 49.50 | 54.00 | 4.50 | 2.00 | 4.5 | |
and | 66.20 | 67.00 | 0.80 | 1.53 | 4.0 | |
P22-2408 | 228/-59 | 38.00 | 45.22 | 7.22 | 1.87 | 10.6 |
incl. | 40.00 | 41.00 | 1.00 | 4.03 | 10.5 | |
and | 51.50 | 54.50 | 3.00 | 1.97 | 12.0 | |
incl. | 53.50 | 54.50 | 1.00 | 3.36 | 7.1 | |
and | 63.00 | 67.87 | 4.87 | 1.85 | 8.6 | |
and | 84.50 | 86.50 | 2.00 | 3.44 | 12.0 | |
incl. | 84.50 | 85.50 | 1.00 | 4.32 | 15.9 | |
P22-2409 | 250/-50 | 38.50 | 39.50 | 1.00 | 1.72 | 5.7 |
and | 51.83 | 61.12 | 9.29 | 1.00 | 5.3 | |
P22-2410 | 257/-50 | 55.50 | 60.50 | 5.00 | 2.32 | 4.6 |
incl. | 55.50 | 56.50 | 1.00 | 5.10 | 4.9 | |
and | 81.00 | 82.00 | 1.00 | 7.90 | 8.5 | |
P22-2411 | 259/-74 | 51.00 | 53.00 | 2.00 | 4.04 | 20.1 |
and | 67.00 | 68.00 | 1.00 | 1.01 | 3.6 | |
and | 82.00 | 83.00 | 1.00 | 2.15 | 6.0 | |
P22-2412 | 267/-48 | 61.00 | 64.29 | 3.29 | 3.64 | 8.7 |
incl. | 63.00 | 64.29 | 1.29 | 7.49 | 6.5 | |
and | 78.31 | 92.96 | 14.65 | 3.28 | 7.4 | |
incl. | 90.45 | 92.96 | 2.51 | 15.74 | 6.8 | |
P22-2413 | 271/-48 | 53.00 | 56.00 | 3.00 | 1.98 | 11.3 |
P22-2414 | 277/-59 | 59.00 | 62.00 | 3.00 | 1.00 | 2.3 |
P22-2415 | 305/-72 | 41.12 | 44.12 | 3.00 | 1.04 | 6.3 |
P22-2416 | 30/-75 | 39.15 | 41.15 | 2.00 | 1.60 | 33.0 |
P22-2417 | 41/-54 | 40.65 | 42.65 | 2.00 | 0.53 | 5.8 |
and | 47.24 | 49.04 | 1.80 | 9.75 | 14.6 |
Note: Reported intercepts are estimated to be between 60% to 80% of true width.
Table 2 – Drill pad location
Pad # | UTM N | UTM E | Elevation (masl) | Hole no. |
BM-1/22 | 6219486 | 436514 | 995 | P22-2403 to P22-2417 |
Qualified Person
Lawrence Tsang, P.Geo., the Company’s Senior Geologist provides the field management for the PGP exploration program. John Kiernan, P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer of the Company is the Company’s Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
Analytical work is being carried out by ALS Canada Ltd. Ascot’s quality-assurance and quality-control program includes the use of analytical blanks to monitor for cross contamination, certified reference material standards to assess analytical accuracy, and duplicate samples to quantify sampling precision. This is in addition to the internal quality assurance program employed by ALS.
Samples are dried and weighed by ALS. They are then crushed to 75% passing 2mm, with 250g split and pulverized to 85% passing 75µm. Samples are processed at the ALS preparation lab in Terrace and sent to ALS in North Vancouver for analysis. There, all samples are dissolved using four acid digestion with an ICP-AES finish and fire assay with AA finish for gold. Samples over 100ppm silver are digested with aqua regia and then volumetrically diluted before an ICP-AES or AA finish (up to 1,500ppm). Samples over 1,500ppm silver are fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Samples over 10ppm gold are fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Identified or suspected metallic gold or silver are subjected to “metallics” assays. Sampling and storage is located at the Company’s secure facility in Stewart, British Columbia.
About Ascot Resources Ltd.
Ascot is a Canadian junior exploration and development company focused on re-starting the past producing Premier gold mine, located on Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands, in British Columbia’s prolific Golden Triangle. Ascot shares trade on the TSX. Concurrent with progressing the development of Premier, the Company continues to successfully explore its properties for additional high-grade underground resources. Ascot is committed to the safe and responsible development of Premier in collaboration with Nisga’a Nation as outlined in the Benefits Agreement.
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