Banyan Gold Co. [BYN-TSXV] shares rallied Monday November 18 after the junior released drilling results from its Aurex-McQuesten gold project near Mayo, Yukon.
The latest results are from the first four diamond drill holes of a Phase 2 program consisting of 3,385 metres of diamond drilling in 26 holes and 497-metres of reverse circulation drilling in five holes. The program is designed to expand the Airstrip and Powerline targets to one kilometre and 250 metres of strike, respectively.
Highlights include 91.4 metres of 0.44 g/t, the company said.
The contiguous Aurex and McQuesten properties are located in the Yukon’s Mayo Mining District, adjacent to Victoria Gold Corp.’s [VIT-TSXV] Eagle heap leach mine and Alexco Resources Corp.’s [AXR-TSX; AXU-NYSE] Keno Hill silver district.
The Airstrip and Powerline zones are located just off the main Yukon government highway between Mayo and Keno. There is an existing airstrip on the property and the Mayo airport is a 20-minute drive on the highway from the property.
“These first results continue to define broad intervals of near-surface gold mineralization expanding the Airstrip Zone,” said Banyan President and CEO Tara Christie. “Drilling was designed to test the continuation of mineralization by 500 metres along strike, meaningfully adding tonnes and defining higher-grade shoots,” she said.
Banyan shares rallied on the news, rising 12.5% or $0.005 to $0.045 on volume of 289,000. The shares are trading in a 52-week range of $0.035 and $0.06.
The company said Block 1 was defined at the Airstrip Zone in 2018 and outlines an approximately 90 metres thick package of near surface and on surface mineralization with 500 metres of strike. These first four drill holes confirm 150 metres of strike extension to the west of Block 1 of the Airstrip Zone and confirm the mineralization continues to be open to the west.
All holes intersected consistent and broad intervals of gold mineralization from 0.4 to 0.6 g/t gold, including: 74.2 metres of 0.48 g/t gold, 89.4 metres of 0.43 g/t gold, 36.2 metres of 0.61 g/t gold and 38 metres of 0.43 g/t gold.
Banyan recently re-negotiated the terms on the Aurex-McQuesten properties options, that will allow the company to earn a 100% interest in the Yukon properties.
Banyan said the addendum to both agreements gives it the option to extend the time frame to complete the first earn-in (51% total interest) by up to three years.
The amended agreements require Banyan to spend minimums of $1.66 million on the Aurex property and $1.6 million on McQuesten to complete the 51% earn-in on both properties.
Aurex-McQuesten has a rich history of exploration and mining dating back to the early 1900s. Historically, the area nearby at Keno and Galena Hill has been subject to intense silver exploration, development and mining. The earliest prospecting for gold began as early as 1898, shortly after the Klondike gold rush.