Ready To Futher Test Idaho Project Upside
New Jersey Mining Company (OTCQB:NJMC) has reported improving grade results from drilling and sampling activities at Golden Chest project in Idaho.
“As we close out the year, recent months have revealed a subtle, and not insignificant, trend of more frequent high-grade assays from both surface and underground mine operations – something we didn’t see as much in prior years,” NJMC President and CEO, John Swallow, said.
“In addition to the surface and underground sampling highlights and opportunities for expanded mine development, we are also pleased to announce a few high-grade drill results from the recently completed step-out drillhole in the Katie-Dora, the northern-most of the six identified ore shoots.
“With over 7,800 blast holes, 431 muck samples and 523 longhole assays in our database, the amount of ‘exploration conducted in support of operations cannot be understated.
“As is common with most surface and underground operations; mine development, drilling of holes, sampling, assaying and blasting are all standard operating procedure. By contrast, with most non-producing ‘exploration only’ entities of our size, these endeavours exist only in non-revenue producing, theoretical mine models and detailed feasibility studies.”
At Golden Chest, the Katie-Dora drillhole was completed to 220m (20m below historic production levels) and intercepted three different veins which correspond to the historic Popcorn, Katie and Dora veins.
While these veins were all relatively narrow, with average thickness of 20 cm, visible gold was seen in the core at all three vein intervals and had high-grade gold assays of 75 grams per tonne (gpt), 15 gpt, and 10 gpt gold.
Mr Swallow said the results from this step-out drillhole are encouraging because the vein intercepts are on strike and 600 meters north of current underground mining stopes and indicate a strong gold mineralised system is present at the Golden Chest. Follow-up drilling is already planned for this area in the spring.
The 2020/21 exploration programme is based on NJMC’s increasingly predictive exploration and mining ore shoot model constructed from the reinterpretation of area’s geology and structure by company geologists.
In order to complete the down-dip exploration of six ore shoots in a timely manner, NJMC has retained the services of an outside drill contractor to work along-side the company drill rig.
The contracted drilling is expected to begin mid-January 2021 with step-out targets at the southern-most Joe Dandy ore shoot. This rig will also aim to extend the down-dip and strike projections of each identified ore-shoot.
In the meantime, the company drill rig was moved to a lower elevation to begin work on exploration targets in the Paymaster ore shoot as a follow-up on some of the high-grade gold intercepts identified in NJMC’s earlier drill programmes.
Recent highlights from the underground operations at the Golden Chest mine include – completion of the 836 Level, starting the 888 Level and advancing the development of the spiral ramp downward deeper into the mine.
Upon reaching the 836 Level, NJMC’s underground team has attained the deepest elevation ever mined at the Golden Chest. The 836 ‘South Cut’ is in a unique area where the vein system is wide enough to take two side by side mining drifts. This allows for additional tonnage without the costs of more development.
Highlights from the 836 Level included an average stope grade 6.79 gpt Au for the 836 North heading, with select vein samples assaying up to 21.1 gpt Au, and higher-grade samples of select sulphide clusters in the second cut of the 836 South heading assayed up to 145 gpt.
Mining operations began on the 888 level of the mine in October 2020. This is in the upper portion of the Skookum orebody that has not yet been mined. Highlights from the 888 Level have been muck samples that assayed 8.23 gpt Au with vein samples up to 49.95 gpt Au.
Additionally, NJMC’s underground crews are advancing the spiral ramp downwards to even lower levels of the mine. This development heading, which includes a secondary escape-way bore raise, is projected to be at the vein system in February 2021.
