Taiga Gold Corp. [TGC-CSE; TGGDF-OTC] has received a report from SGO Mining Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SSR Mining Inc. [SSRM-TSX, NASDAQ], containing partial drill results for the 2020 first quarter drill program on the Fisher property located 125 km east of La Ronge, Saskatchewan. The property is owned 100% by Taiga and is under option to SSR, which is financing all exploration.
Drilling was completed in late March and consisted of 31 diamond drill holes for a total of 9,463 metres (31,039 feet). Four showing areas were tested during the winter 2020 program, with significant high-grade mineralization discovered in three separate areas and visible gold reported in five holes.
Results are pending for eight holes and partial results are still outstanding for hole FIS 20-043. Since optioning the Fisher property in 2015, SSR has completed extensive systematic exploration including prospecting, soil geochemical sampling, detailed geological mapping, geophysical surveys and has accomplished a total of 31,071 metres (101,913 feet) of drilling in 79 holes at a total cost of approximately $10.3-million. The Fisher Project is contiguous to the north, south and east with SSRM’s Seabee gold operation.
Significant results (greater than one g/t gold) were reported in 14 holes from the Abel Lake, Mac North, Mac North hangingwall and Yin showing areas. Two targets from 2020 winter drilling remain untested due to ice road access and suspension of work due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Highlights:
• New discovery made at the Yin Zone, adjacent to the Seabee gold operation boundary, with results of 13.74 g/t gold over 2.29 metres, including 55.5 g/t gold over 0.53 metres; additional assays pending;
• New discovery made at Mac North hangingwall, with 16.80 g/t gold over 0.50 metres;
• Drilling at Abel Lake returned 12.13 g/t gold over 1.5 metres;
• Additional high-grade intercepts at Mac North including 9.1 g/t gold reported over 1.92 metres;
• Over $4-million in additional expenditures budgeted for remaining 2020 work (subject to COVID-19 restrictions).
Additional analytical data is available on the Taiga website.
SSR is investing over $5.0-million in exploration on the Fisher property in 2020 with programs designed to target a mineral resource discovery. Data compilation from recent drilling is under way and will guide future work. Two areas targeted for winter drilling may see follow-up drilling and additional high-priority areas will be selected for geological and structural mapping with extensive soil geochemical sampling and prospecting possibly over the summer months (subject to COVID-19 restrictions).
The 2020 goals for the program are to further identify drill targets for testing evolving models and identifying additional mineralization in a structural setting similar to that observed at the nearby Santoy mine.
Tim Termuende, PGeo, President and CEO of Taiga, said: “We are excited by the recent discoveries made by the SSRM exploration team at Fisher and look forward to receiving the remaining results from the recently completed program in addition to results from future programs planned for the property.”
Since 1991, the Seabee gold operation has produced over 1.57 million ounces of gold from the Seabee and Santoy deposits. In 2019, the Seabee gold operation produced 112,137 ounces of gold at cash costs of US$464/oz with an average mill feed grade of 9.56 g/t, the fourth consecutive annual production record, with 2020 Q1 production of 29,521 ounces. SSR Mining has reported uncut drill intercepts grading up to 1,004 g/t gold over 1.6 metres, including 3,887 g/t gold over 0.4 metres (true widths) along the Santoy shear in an area located approximately 3 km northwest of the Fisher boundary.
Taiga Gold was created through a plan of arrangement with Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. [EPL-TSXV] and owns five projects targeting gold in the area near the Seabee gold operation, owned and operated by SSR Mining Inc.