![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/6a-Nighthawk.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA worker wets drill core from the Colomac deposit at Nighthawk Gold\u2019s Indin Lake gold project. Photo by Nighthawk Gold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThose are wicked hits and are brand new in this area,\u201d Byron says. \u201cNow it\u2019s just a function of understanding the mechanism of the emplacement of that higher grade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Treasure Island is the northernmost project on Nighthawk\u2019s Indin Lake property and is situated along the eastern end of a 7-kilogram mineralized corridor that hosts several high-priority gold showings, including Laurie Lake, 4 km west. So far drilling has confirmed the gold system is upwards of 200 metres wide, 700 metres long and open in all directions, and supports Byron\u2019s thesis that it could become a high-grade feeder to any future mining operation at Colomac.<\/p>\n
Nighthawk also went back to Damoti Lake, a high-grade gold deposit in iron formation that it had not touched since 2010. Previous owner Anaconda Gold completed a resource estimate for Damoti Lake in 2005. The deposit has a measured and indicated resource of 40,600 tonnes grading 26.17 grams gold per tonne, with another inferred mineral resource of 17,800 tonnes grading 16.38 gram gold per tonne at a cut-off grade of 8 grams gold.<\/p>\n
Nighthawk says there is an opportunity to grow the resource beyond its high-grade core and will release drill results before year-end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to go back there this year and see if we could build out those mineralized domains a little farther afield, and grow that resource,\u201d Bryon says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have a 43-101 that encapsulates the entire mineralization. We\u2019re hoping to deliver that in early 2019, so we\u2019ll see how that goes \u2014 that\u2019s our intention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byron says they will also test some exploration models at Damoti Lake because previous operators typically stepped out only 25 metres or so if they had a good hole. \u201cNo one looked at it as an exploration exercise to say \u2018where else could it leak into, and let\u2019s test some conceptual targets,\u2019 so that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the company also drilled its Leta Arm gold project, where it had not worked since 2011. Leta Arm straddles the Leta Arm fault zone, a north- to south-trending regional deformation zone up to 10 km long and 500 metres wide, which hosts two historical gold mines \u2014 North Inca and Diversified \u2014 and two gold showings: No. 3 and Lexindrin.<\/p>\n
The Diversified mine is 1.3 km north of the North Inca mine and the No. 3 showing is situated in between (450 metres south of the Diversified shaft and 800 metres south of North Inca\u2019s East zone), while Lexindrin is 1.2 km north of the Diversified shaft.<\/p>\n
Exploration shafts and limited underground development were done on the North Inca and Diversified deposits in the 1940s to explore quartz veins with high-grade gold mineralization.<\/p>\n
Byron says Diversified, North Inca, No. 3 and Lexindrin are part of the same mineralized system because they share similar mineralization styles, mineralized widths, morphology, a common, steep northern plunge, and are distributed along a linear array.<\/p>\n
Drilling this year focused on extending the deposits and exploring for a connection along strike, while searching for new deposits along the Leta Arm fault zone.<\/p>\n
All 11 holes drilled into North Inca intersected mineralization, with visible gold in eight of them. The highlight was 18-3B, which returned 26 metres of 2.68 grams gold from 94 metres downhole, including 10 metres of 4.90 grams gold. Another hole, 18-2B, assayed 9 metres of 4.49 grams gold from 86 metres downhole, including 2 metres of 10.45 grams gold.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/ti-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNighthawk staff inspecting core samples at the Indin Lake gold property. Photo by Nighthawk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At Diversified, drill highlights included 18 metres grading 5.81 grams gold, including 9 metres of 9.65 grams gold in hole 18-8 and 14 metres of 3.50 grams gold from 127 metres downhole, including 7 metres of 6.67 grams gold in hole 18-6.<\/p>\n
The best results from the No. 3 showing were 10 metres of 2.67 grams gold from 42 metres downhole in 318-2B, and from the Lexindrin showing, 21.8 metres of 1.20 grams gold from 121 metres downhole in 18-1B.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more and more we do this [drilling], we\u2019re basically proving up our thesis, which is \u2014 we\u2019ve got a gold camp here,\u201d Byron says. \u201cWe\u2019re closer to the beginning than the end, that\u2019s why it is so exciting. You never know what the next drill hole is going to give you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company also drilled its four zones at the main Colomac deposit (1, 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5) and at its Grizzly Bear deposit.<\/p>\n
At Grizzly Bear, 4 km southwest of Colomac\u2019s Zone 1.5, all 11 holes intersected mineralization, including several broad zones that are open to depth. Highlights include 6 metres of 4.04 grams gold per tonne from 62 metres downhole, including 3 metres of 7.78 grams gold.<\/p>\n
Other positive results from Colomac this year include 20 metres of 2.98 grams gold from 153 metres, including 13 metres of 4.30 grams gold in Zone 3; 26 metres of 2.04 grams gold from 232 metres downhole in Zone 2.5; 25 metres of 3.42 grams gold from 138 metres downhole in Zone 2; 68 metres of 2.24 grams gold, including 6 metres of 5.70 grams gold from 298 metres downhole in Zone 3.5; and 84 metres of 2.91 grams gold from 276 metres downhole, including 25 metres of 5.05 grams gold in Zone 1.5.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/14b-Nighthawk.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBill Waychison, Nighthawk Gold\u2019s exploration manager, examines a core sample at the Colomac gold project in the Northwest Territories. Photo by Nighthawk Gold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Nighthawk\u2019s 899 sq. km land package takes up 95% of the entire Indin Lake greenstone belt, Byron estimates \u2014 or \u201cthree times the size of the core of the Timmins camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grabbed every showing, every deposit,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat we did at Indin Lake was just identify that it had potential to be like these other mining camps, and it was cheap, because no one else was thinking along those lines, and there was no competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annual costs to hold the land are reasonable, too. Mining claim assessment requirements cost the company $100,000 a year and taxes on mining leases add $50,000 annually, for a total $150,000.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, the company has no work commitments on any of the ground, Byron says. When it did its deals for Colomac and Leta Arm, for example, Nighthawk took full ownership.<\/p>\n
Nighthawk has $15 million in cash, and Byron says the company could afford to do another large drill program next year.<\/p>\n
But, he says, Nighthawk\u2019s management team is flexible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is an opportunity to look at a financing at good terms and our share price is there and we can do flow-through, we\u2019ll look at that, but we haven\u2019t made any plans to go down that road,\u201d he says. \u201cIf it presents itself, we will. But we\u2019re not desperate here \u2014 let me put it that way. We\u2019re not running on fumes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In July the company raised $2.5 million in a non-brokered, flow-through private placement to boost its 2018 exploration drill and prospecting program from 25,000 metres to 32,500 metres.<\/p>\n
As for working in the Northwest Territories, Byron says, it\u2019s all pretty good.<\/p>\n
The First Nations and Metis are on the same page about protecting the environment and the importance of creating jobs for their youth, he notes.<\/p>\n
He says 30% of the gross domestic product in the Northwest Territories comes from diamond mining, so the government is well aware of its economic dependence on mining.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe diamonds last forever, but diamond mines don\u2019t,\u201d Byron says. \u201cAnd there will come a day when you have to find that 30% somewhere else and mining is the logical choice, as they are already schooled in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was written by Trish Saywell and it first appeared<\/a> in the print edition of The Northern Miner, volume 104 number 25 november 10 \u2013 23, 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Nighthawk explores regions near Colomac in NWT<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “This past year a little over half of our drill metres were outside Colomac on our larger land package,” Michael Byron, Nighthawk’s president and CEO, said.<\/p>\n The post Nighthawk explores regions near Colomac in NWT<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[404,369,643],"tags":[25,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1090381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1090382,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1090381\/revisions\/1090382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1090381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1090381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1090381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}