Skeena Resources (TSXV: SKE; US-OTC: SKREF) has released a maiden underground resource for its wholly owned Snip gold project, within B.C.'s prospective Golden Triangle.
The resource is made up of the Main-V, Main-S and Twin West zones, and includes 539,000 indicated tonnes grading 14 grams gold per tonne containing 244,000 oz. gold, as well as 942,000 inferred tonnes, at 13.3 grams gold per tonne, for a further 402,000 oz. gold. The resources are derived using a 2.5 gram gold per tonne gold cutoff.
"We are very excited about the maiden resource at Snip, particularly because of the excellent grade and the proximity to Eskay Creek," Walter Coles Jr., the company's president and CEO, said in a news release.
Coles added that the company plans to start drilling at Snip in the near-term, to follow-up on areas that returned strong results last summer as the company looks to grow its mineralized inventory. Last year's drill highlights from this site include 1.4 metres of 12 grams gold and 1.5 metres of 1,131 grams gold.
"Our efforts in the coming months will focus on expanding these now well-defined resources with expansion drilling in the newly evolving 200 Footwall corridor as well as other near-mine targets," Paul Geddes, the company's vice president of exploration and resource development, stated in the press release.
According to Geddes, the company, together with SRK Consulting, has developed a robust resource model for Snip, which will be used for future economic studies of the property.
The latest resource numbers assume a longhole stoping mining scenario and exclude mineralization within 1 metre of historical underground development. A total of 72 veins were modelled for the high-grade narrow vein deposit.
The Snip mine produced approximately one million gold oz. between 1991 and 1999, at an average grade of 27.5 grams gold - the majority from the Twin zone vein system.
Skeena's most advanced project is the past-producing Eskay Creek site, also within the Golden Triangle. In June, the company announced that it has started a prefeasibility study for the asset.
Current open-pit resources at Eskay include 12.7 million indicated tonnes at 4.3 grams gold and 110 grams silver for a total of 1.7 million oz. gold and 44.7 million oz. silver. Inferred resources add 14.4 million tonnes at 2.3 grams gold and 47 grams silver for 1.1 million oz. gold and 21.7 million oz. silver. These are estimated using a 0.7 gram gold-equivalent cutoff.
- This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal.