The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry granted Japan Gold (TSXV: JG) prospecting rights over the historic Aibetsu Goldfield in the Kitami Region of northern Hokkaido.
In a press release, the Canadian company explained that nine of the 22 prospecting rights applications at the Aibetsu project, comprising 2,916 hectares, have been converted to prospecting rights.
Historic production at Tokusei came from a series of 20 banded-epithermal veins
According to Japan Gold, the conversion paves the way for drill target definition over high-priority targets in the 2020 field season.
The historic Aibetsu Goldfield includes three known hard rock and eluvial gold and mercury workings, namely, Tokusei (Au), Motoyama (Hg) and Yamamezawa (Hg). The largest of these was the Tokusei gold mine, which was reported to have produced 38,000 ounces of gold and 474,000 ounces of silver from underground development between 1930 and 1943.
Japan Gold said that it has identified extensive areas of anomalous gold and pathfinder elements in soil sampling which highlights the prospectivity of the Tokusei mine extensions.
“The company will investigate these anomalies in more detail and will prepare a drilling plan in the 2020 field season,” the miner’s media brief states.