Liberty Gold Corp. (TSX: LGD) (OTCQX: LGDTF) has reported positive gold intercepts from its Black Pine deposit in southeast Idaho.
The results come from the recently concluded 2022 drill program involving 324 reverse circulation holes over 67,000 metres.
The news follows the company announcing an updated and improved mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Black Pine on February 7 that included a 51 per cent increase in indicated ounces for the project. The newly released results include the following:
- 2.13 g/t Au over 18.3 metres including 10.3 g/t Au over 1.5 metres in Hole LBP793
- 1.19 g/t Au over 33.5 metres including 3.33 g/t Au over 4.6 metres in Hole LBP809
- 0.69 g/t Au over 64.0 metres including 1.38 g/t Au over 12.2 metres in Hole LBP815
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Liberty estimates that the Black Pine deposit contains 2,613,000 ounces of indicated oxide gold. The company will be releasing additional results from 73 holes drilled last year and 16 drilled this year in the near future.
“Black Pine is unique in that we can access and drill the deposit 12 months a year. The drill program this year builds on the tremendous success of our recently released MRE which expanded the resource by 52 per cent in the indicated category and 31 per cent in the inferred category,” said Jason Attew, President and CEO of Liberty Gold.
“With a strong treasury, our 2023 work program comprising of a minimum of 32,000 metres of drilling and a series of de-risking engineering studies, is well-funded to execute on the Black Pine exploration and development strategy to year end.”
In addition to the Black Pine deposit in Idaho, Liberty Gold has one operation in Utah (Goldstrike) and one in Turkey (TV Tower).
According to Geology for Investors, a publication dedicated to educating readers about exploration and mining geology, reverse circulation drilling is a much cheaper alternative than diamond drilling.
Reverse circulation involves forcing air down an outer drill pipe using an air compressor while an air-powered hammer drives a tungsten-iron drill bit into the rock breaking it apart.
The drill bit, stem and pipe are constantly rotating while the rock is being broken apart at the bottom and fragments of rock and dust known as chips or cuttings are carried up from the middle of the bit into an inner drill pipe as a result of the downward air pressure from the compressor, hammer and drill bit.
The air current is powerful enough to enable rock material to be brought up to the surface from hundreds of metres downward where it is then processed and analyzed.
Reverse circulation drilling diagram. Photo via Geology for Investors
The United States National Park Service has also described the process of collecting core samples with a diamond drill bit:
“A special hollow diamond drill is used to cut a drill core from the surrounding hard rock formation. It has a protective steel pipe (core barrel) that surrounds the core during the drilling process. After a certain depth has been reached, the core is extracted while still encased in the core barrel,” says the government agency.
“These solid cores are removed from the barrel, marked with depths, cut into appropriate lengths and placed in core boxes for transport and storage.”
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NevGold Corp. (TSX: NAU) (OTCQX: NAUFF) (FSE: 5E50) is another Vancouver-based gold producer that has been seeing positive intercepts at its American operations.
“Fantastic” is how the company’s CEO described results from the 10,000+ metres that have been drilled at the company’s Limousine Butte Project in Nevada.
Between its flagship operations in Nevada and Idaho the company aims to deliver north of a 3 million-ounce oxide gold resource by the end of this year.
NevGold is a sponsor of Mugglehead news coverage
rowan@mugglehead.com
