TDG Gold (TSXV: TDG) has published an initial resource estimate for the former producing Shasta gold-silver mine in north-central B.C. following the conclusion of its 2021 drill program, which confirmed the historic drilling results on the property since 1983. The resource amounted to 22 million tonnes averaging 0.79 g/t gold and 26.7 g/t silver in the inferred category.
The resource is restricted to drilling of the central zone of the Shasta deposit. It excluded the higher-grade gold-silver mineralization that TDG drilled to the south in the Cayley-Rainier zone, which was the only step-out hole it drilled during the 2021 program.
According to CEO Fletcher Morgan, this initial resource estimate represents a "solid start" towards redefining Shasta as a bulk-tonnage gold-silver project. The resource is amenable to open pit mining, containing significant mineralization near surface.
"We've managed to define an initial 709,200 gold-equivalent inferred ounces for just over 8,000 metres drilled in our first phase of drilling, and which tested around 40% of the mineralized footprint included within our published exploration target range area at Shasta," Morgan added.
The Shasta project is part of the asset portfolio located in B.C.'s Toodoggone district that TDG acquired from Talisker Resources (TSX: TSK) in late 2020. Also included in the portfolio was the historic Baker gold-silver mine. The Baker and Shasta mines operated intermittently from the 1980s until 2012, when a lack of funding caused operations to cease.
Together, the Baker-Shasta property covers just over 6,000 ha of land that is accessible by road 430 km northwest of Prince George, via Mackenzie and the Omineca Resource access route past Centerra Gold's (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU) Kemess copper-gold mine.