Benchmark Metals Inc. [BNCH-TSXV; CYRTF-OTCQB; 87CA-FSE] said Friday August 30 that it is stepping up drilling activity at its Lawyers property in northern British Columbia by adding a second drill rig.
Benchmark shares advanced on the news, rising 4.1% or $0.015 to 38 cents. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 16 cents and 40.5 cents.
The Lawyers property is located in the Toodoggone region of the Omineca Mining Division of B.C., just east of the Golden Triangle region, and consists of 37 contiguous mineral claims. The claims cover 127 km2 of land that encompasses the Lawyers group of prospects, including the former Lawyers underground gold-silver mine and the Silver Pond group of prospects, and includes over 16 gold-silver mineral occurrences.
The property is situated 45 km northwest of Centerra Gold Inc.’s [CG-TSX; CAGDF-OTC] Kemess Copper-Gold mine, where underground development and construction is under way.
Exploration in the area began in the late 1960s and peaked in the 1980s, identifying numerous showings, prospects and deposits culminating in the development of the Lawyers gold-silver mine that operated from 1989 to 1992, producing 171,000 ounces of gold and 3.6 million ounces of silver.
Five underground developments remain in place, in addition to historical resources and new targets.
Benchmark said the Lawyers Project is exhibiting geological similarities to world-class low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver mines located in the Patagonia region of Argentina.
When the company recently announced a proposed 2019 exploration program at Lawyers, it said drilling will focus on infill, step-out and deeper drilling to expand the current resources at [the] Cliff Creek and Dukes Ridge [zones] and establish new resources at the Phoenix and AGB zones. The aim is to facilitate a new resource estimate by 2020.
The program was expected to include 14,000 to 25,000 metres of drilling, 2,000 to 3,500 soil samples, 600 to 1,000 rock samples, mapping and ground geophysics.
On Friday the company said drilling this year has demonstrated success by intersecting broad zones of alteration and mineralization in almost every hole (16 out of 17 drill holes)
The company said drill No. 2 will focus on step-out drilling along strike at 50-to-100 metre intervals from known zones at the core of the Lawyers trend (Cliff Creek, Dukes Ridge, Phoenix and ABG zones).
The most recent step-out hole intersected over 140 metres of intense alteration and multiphase veining and extended the Cliff Creek to strike length of over 1 km.
Meanwhile, the company anticipates that drilling will continue into the first week of October and it will disseminate drill results as they are received from laboratory and interpreted.
Benchmark was recently granted a five-year work permit by the Government of British Columbia for the Lawyers property.
The 5-year work permit allows for 50,000 metres of drilling at key areas, including the Cliff Creek, Dukes Ridge and Phoenix zone, as well as 5,000 metres of drilling at new targets, including the AGB zone.