White Gold Corp. [TSX.V: WGO, OTC – Nasdaq Intl: WHGOF, FRA: 29W] (the “Company”) is pleased to announce positive trench and surface sample results on the Vertigo target and other surrounding targets on its JP Ross (“JPR”) property, including the Sabotage, North Frenzy and Topaz targets. These results further validate at least four high-grade gold trends over a 15km by 15km area, including 10 gold targets on the JPR property located 25km north-east of the Company’s flagship Golden Saddle & Arc deposit. The 2019 trenching and surface sampling program was designed to follow up on and obtain a better understanding of the targets’ specific host rocks, styles of mineralization, structural controls and to ultimately define drill targets on these newly discovered gold in soil anomalies, with follow up RAB drilling to be conducted in the current and future seasons. The Company’s fully-funded $13 million 2019 exploration program backed by partners Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (TSX: AEM, NYSE: AEM) and Kinross Gold Corp (TSX: K, NYSE: KGC) includes diamond drilling on the Vertigo target (JP Ross property), Golden Saddle & Arc deposits (White Gold property) as well as soil sampling, prospecting, GT Probe, trenching and RAB/RC drilling on various other properties across the Company’s expansive land package located in the prolific White Gold District, Yukon, Canada.
Highlights Include:
• Vertigo and surrounding targets produced some of the highest-grade trench results to date with assays ranging from trace to 140 g/t Au, on the road accessible JPR property.
• Results further validate a robust regional-scale, structurally controlled, mineralized system across at least four identified high-grade gold trends over 15km x 15km area, including at 10 gold targets identified to date on the JPR property.
• Vertigo trenches included JPRVER19T010 encountering 24.86 g/t Au over 7m, including 53.43 g/t Au over 3.2m and 125.5 g/t Au over 1m; JPRVER19T011 encountering 30.86 g/t Au over 7m, including 102.15 g/t Au over 2m and JPRVER19T013 encountering 83.13 g/t Au over 2.2m, including 120 g/t Au over 1m.
• JPR property trench JPRSAB19T016 on the Sabotage target returned 2.69 g/t Au over 10m, including 4.49 g/t Au over 2.5m, and grab samples up to 14.4 g/t Au; Trench JPRNRF19T008A on the North Frenzy target returned 2.48 g/t Au over 5m, including 4.02 g/t Au over 2m; Trench JPRTOP19T005 on the Topaz target returned 0.368 g/t Au over 18m, including 1.03 g/t Au over 7m.
• Regional exploration activity is ongoing across the White Gold, JPR and Hen (Titan target) properties, with related soil sampling, prospecting, GT Probe sampling, trenching and RAB/RC drill results to be released in due course.
• Additional drill results for the Vertigo discovery and the QV deposit are forthcoming and will be released in due course.
Images to accompany this news release can be found at http://whitegoldcorp.ca/investors/exploration-highlights/.
“We are extremely pleased with the continued ultra-high-grade results on the Vertigo and newly discovered Sabotage, Topaz and North Frenzy targets on our JP Ross property, further validating that the abundant high-grade gold mineralization is part of a robust regional scale structurally controlled system. To date at least 10 gold targets have been identified on this property, supporting our theory that Vertigo is one of many potential deposits in the area,” stated David D’Onofrio, Chief Executive Officer. “We have now identified at least four distinct gold trends across a 15km by 15km area on the property, including the 1,500m Vertigo trend, which appears to be a source of the rich placer production in the area. This program provided valuable insight into the orientation and geometry of the mineralized systems – information that will be used as part of our scientific and data driven approach to identify drill targets to be followed up on in in the current and future seasons.”
JP Ross Property
A total of 62 trenches/pits over 1,625m were placed on 9 target areas across the JP Ross property. The trenches ranged from 2m – 59m in length and ranged in depth from 0.5m to >2m in depth, depending on location and ground conditions. The trenching was conducted using a Can-Dig heliportable excavator with five Vertigo trenches (JPRVER19T010 – JPRVER19T014) excavated into bedrock using a tracked excavator. Continuous composite chip samples were collected from each trench in lengths ranging from 0.5 – 4m (avg. 2.27m) and individual assays for the chip sampling ranged from trace to 140 g/t Au. Grab samples were also collected from selected trenches with results received to date ranging from trace to 38.9 g/t Au. The most significant results were returned from the Vertigo, Sabotage, North Frenzy and Topaz targets and discussed in more detail below.
Vertigo
A total of 16 trenches were excavated in the Vertigo area. The initial 11 trenches were designed to evaluate and expand the mineralized trends identified on the target. The final five trenches utilized a tracked excavator that could expose additional in-situ alteration and mineralization deeper into the bedrock. The most significant results are discussed in more detail below.
JPRVER19T006 was placed on the western extent of the Vertigo to follow up on high grade prospecting samples in the area. The trench returned 4.17 g/t Au over 2m and 1.54 g/t Au over 2m from opposite ends of the trench, confirming bedrock mineralization over 300m along strike to the west of 2019 diamond drilling. The mineralization in the trench is associated with strongly oxidized quartz veining and brecciation and shows an association with elevated Ag-Bi-Pb and grab samples up to 5.65 g/t Au.
JPRVER19T010 was a re-excavation of previously released trench JPRVER18T002 which had returned 109.93 g/t Au over 3m. This follow up trenching was completed to provide additional visibility into the bedrock’s high-grade mineralization. The trench exposed a 3m, E-SE trending, moderately south dipping, zone of quartz veining and brecciation with semi-massive sulfide mineralization (arsenopyrite-galena-chalcopyrite-pyrite) and localised visible gold. Alteration and anomalous mineralization extend at least 3m beyond, in the hanging wall, of the zone to the end of the trench. Composite chip sampling in the trench returned 24.86 g/t Au over 7m; including 53.43 g/t Au over 3.2m and 125.5 g/t Au over 1m.
JPRVER19T011 was a re-excavation of previously released trench JPRVER18T003 which had returned 20.79 g/t Au over 8m. This follow up trenching was completed to provide deeper and greater visibility into the zone’ high-grade mineralization. The new trenching exposed a 2m, E-SE trending, moderately south dipping, zone of quartz veining and brecciation with semi-massive sulfide mineralization (arsenopyrite-galena-chalcopyrite-pyrite) and localised visible gold within a broader zone of alteration and anomalous mineralization. Composite chip sampling in the trench returned 30.86 g/t Au over 7m; including 102.15 g/t Au over 2m.
JPRVER19T012 is located approximately 25m east of trench 011 above. Can-Dig trench JPRVER19T004 was initially placed in the area but failed to reach bedrock. The new trenching exposed 2 zones of mineralization in the area. The upper zone returned 9.66 g/t Au over 1.3m and the lower returned 37.9 g/t Au over 2m. Both were associated with quartz veining, brecciation and semi-massive sulfide mineralization (arsenopyrite-galena-chalcopyrite-pyrite), similar too trenches 10 & 11 above.
JPR trenches JPRVER19T010 to 012 confirm a continuous shoot of high-grade mineralization over a minimum 75m strike length at true widths ranging between 2 – 7m and average grades >20 g/t Au. Initially reported diamond drilling results in hole JPRVER19D005 & 006 were beneath trench 10 and confirm this high-grade mineralization continues to a minimum of depth of 35m downdip. It is anticipated that the high-grade mineralization will occur along individual structures in plunging shoots, as is common in high-grade, structurally controlled, gold deposits. Diamond drilling was also conducted under the projection of this zone to the east to refine the geometry and plunge controls for future work.
JPRVER19T013 is located approximately 145m west of trench 010 and 15m east of 2018 RAB hole JRPRVERRAB18001 (56.25 g/t Au over 3.05m from 3.05m depth). The new trenching exposed a 2.2m zone of strongly oxidized quartz veining and brecciation, with locally abundant visible gold, trending E-SE and dipping moderately to the south. Composite chip sampling within the trench returned 83.13 g/t Au over 2.2m, consisting of 52.4 g/t Au over 1.2m and 120 g/t Au over 1m. Alteration and anomalous mineralization extend up to 9m within the hanging wall of the zone. The mineralization exposed in trench 13 was considered a high priority for follow up diamond drilling and 3 holes were placed beneath the trench and assays are currently pending. The zone is on strike with mineralization intercepted in JRPRVERRAB18001 and represents a separate high-grade zone from that intercepted in trenches JPRVER19T010 – 012.
JPRVER19T014 is located approximately 50m to the SW of trench 13 and was designed to evaluate the area for potential subparallel zones of mineralization based on RAB drilling results in the area. A broad, 9m zone of alteration, localised veining with sulfide mineralization, and brecciation were noted in the trench. Chip samples returned 0.66 g/t Au over 9m. Select grab samples of mineralized material within the trend returned results of 13.75 g/t Au and 5.01 g/t Au.
Vertigo Trench Highlights:
Individual assays for the reported results ranged from trace to 140 g/t Au. The most significant trench results for Vertigo included in this release are included in the table below:
Sabotage
The Sabotage target is located approximately 7.5km to the NE of Vertigo and 16 Can-Dig trenches were placed on the target to follow up on previously announced infill soil, GT Probe, and prospecting results up to 15.35 g/t Au(1) . The trenches were designed to evaluate multiple (NE, NW, & EW) structural trends highlighted in the soil, geophysical and LiDAR data. The most significant results were returned from the center of the Sabotage anomaly and are outlined in the table below.
All structural trends in the Sabotage area appear to have anomalous mineralization and there appear to be overprinting alteration assemblages including strong quartz-potassium feldspar followed by late quartz-sericite-carbonate-clay with disseminated to fracture controlled pyrite. Overall, the mineralization observed to date is similar to the Golden Saddle deposit on the Company’s White Gold property and is “gold only” with minor associated elements including Mo and Pb. Historic diamond drilling conducted in the area was focused on evaluating NE oriented trends; similar to the Golden Saddle. However, based on work completed on the target in 2019, NW & EW trends appear to carry the most significant gold mineralization (>1 g/t Au) indicating historic drilling on the target was likely subparallel to the mineralized zones. Follow up RAB drilling will be conducted to evaluate the NW & EW structural orientations to better evaluate the target.
(1) See WGO news released dated July 11, 2019. Available on SEDAR.
Topaz
Topaz is located 1km south of the Vertigo, and 7 Can-Dig trenches were placed on the target area to follow up on previously announced GT Probe and prospecting results up to 5.24 g/t Au(1). All but one of the trenches returned anomalous gold values (>0.1 g/t Au) with the most significant being JPRTOP19T00 with 1.03 g/t Au over 7m.
The mineralization is associated with strong sericite-carbonate alteration and minor quartz veining with anomalous Bi-Pb and appears to similar to the adjacent Vertigo zone. Overall the trenches, GT Probe, and soil sampling in the area define an ENE trending zone of alteration (over 450m of strike length) and mineralization that is considered a strong target for follow up RAB drilling.
North Frenzy
North Frenzy is located 9km north of Vertigo, and 8 Can-Dig trenches were placed in the target area to follow up on detailed infill soil sampling completed in the area. 6 of the 8 trenches returned anomalous gold values (>0.1 g/t Au) over intervals ranging from 1 – 20m and included grab samples ranging from trace to 38.9 g/t Au. The most significant results are outlined in the table below.
The trenching defines a NS trending, west dipping zone of alteration, brecciation, and quartz veining over 570m of strike length. The mineralization is hosted within quartz biotite gneiss and quartzites and shows a strong association with elevated As, and has strong similarities to targets on the White Gold property including the Arc, Minneapolis and Ullis targets. Minor, wide spaced, historic diamond drilling conducted in the area was oriented subparallel to the mineralized zone(s) and the target is a priority for follow-up RAB drilling.
Sabotage/Topaz/North Frenzy, Trench Highlights:
Individual assays for the reported results ranged from trace to 14.4 g/t Au. The most significant trench results for Vertigo included in this release are included in the table below:
QA/QC
The analytical work for the 2019 drilling program will be performed by ALS Canada Ltd. an internationally recognized analytical services provider, at its Vancouver, British Columbia laboratory. Sample preparation was carried out at its Whitehorse, Yukon facility. All RC chip and diamond core samples will be prepared using procedure PREP-31H (crush 90% less than 2mm, riffle split off 500g, pulverize split to better than 85% passing 75 microns) and analyzed by method Au-AA23 (30g fire assay with AAS finish) and ME-ICP41 (0.5g, aqua regia digestion and ICP-AES analysis). Samples containing >10 g/t Au will be reanalyzed using method Au-GRAV21 (30g Fire Assay with gravimetric finish).
The reported work will be completed using industry standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control (“QA/QC”) program consisting of the insertion of certified standard, blanks and duplicates into the sample stream.
About White Gold Corp.
The Company owns a portfolio of 22,040 quartz claims across 35 properties covering over 439,000 hectares representing over 40% of the Yukon’s White Gold District. The Company’s flagship White Gold property has a mineral resource of 1,039,600 ounces Indicated at 2.26 g/t Au and 508,700 ounces Inferred at 1.48 g/t Au. Mineralization on the Golden Saddle and Arc is also known to extend beyond the limits of the current resource estimate. Regional exploration work has also produced several other prospective targets on the Company’s claim packages which border sizable gold discoveries including the Coffee project owned by Newmont Goldcorp Corporation with a M&I gold resource(2) of 3.4M oz and Western Copper and Gold Corporation’s Casino project which has P&P gold reserves(2) of 8.9M oz Au and 4.5B lb Cu. For more information visit www.whitegoldcorp.ca.
(2) Noted mineralization is as disclosed by the owner of each property respectively and is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization hosted on the Company’s property.
Qualified Person
Jodie Gibson, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company is a “qualified person” as defined under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has reviewed and approved the content of this news release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information
This news release contains “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “proposed”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, the Company’s objectives, goals and exploration activities conducted and proposed to be conducted at the Company’s properties; future growth potential of the Company, including whether any proposed exploration programs at any of the Company’s properties will be successful; exploration results; and future exploration plans and costs and financing availability.
These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include:; expected benefits to the Company relating to exploration conducted and proposed to be conducted at the Company’s properties; failure to identify any additional mineral resources or significant mineralization; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, including to fund any exploration programs on the Company’s properties; business integration risks; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold, silver, base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar to United States dollar exchange rate); change in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations pressures, cave-ins and flooding); inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining and mineral exploration; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); the unlikelihood that properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated; soil sampling results being preliminary in nature and are not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of a mineral deposit; title to properties; and those factors described in the most recently filed management’s discussion and analysis of the Company. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information, or the material factors or assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information, will prove to be accurate. The Company does not undertake to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange”) nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Contact Information:
David D’Onofrio
Chief Executive Officer
White Gold Corp.
(647) 930-1880
ir@whitegoldcorp.ca