Westhaven Gold Corp. (TSXV:WHN) has received strong initial drill results from its recently completed drill campaign at its wholly owned Skoonka Creek gold property. Skoonka Creek is located within the prospective Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), a four-hour drive from Vancouver, and 12 km northeast of Lytton, British Columbia.
Westhaven reported assays for 11 holes from its Fall drill campaign at Skoonka Creek. An additional five holes are in the lab pending assay.
“Westhaven’s inaugural drill programme at Skoonka Creek has surpassed our expectations, not only where gold was drilled historically, but in areas that had not previously been drill-tested,” President and CEO, Gareth Thomas, said.
“Both high-grade gold mineralization, and broad, lower-grade gold zones were encountered. This bodes well for future targeting on what is a prospective property within the Spences Bridge Gold Belt and strengthens management’s belief in the district-scale potential of this largely untested gold belt.
“Westhaven is starting 2023 with a strong treasury and planning has begun for a follow-up exploration programme at Skoonka Creek.”
Skoonka Creek Highlights:
- SC22-006: 1.90 metres (m) of 21.15 g/t Au (gold) and 13.65 g/t Ag (silver) was intercepted within 48.05m of 1.28 g/t Au and 1.29 g/t Ag starting near surface.
- SC22-005: 5.66m of 6.83 g/t Au and 4.60 g/t Ag, including 2.77m of 12.35 g/t Au and 7.75 g/t Ag was intercepted within 48.00m of 1.07 g/t Au and 1.11 g/t Ag.
- Extended the previously known gold-silver mineralization along strike by 900m
“The 2022 drilling at Skoonka Creek confirmed the bonanza gold grades previously encountered in historic drilling at the JJ target,” Exploration Manager, Peter Fischl, said.
“The higher-grade intercepts are contained in epithermal quartz veins comprising the JJ vein zone. The historic and 2022 drilling targeting the JJ vein zone has also intersected gold mineralization contained in up to four discrete gently south dipping horizons varying from several metres to about 40 metres in thickness proximal to the JJ vein zone.
“This mineralization lies mostly in the vein zone footwall at shallower depths above 1450m elevation, and in the vein zone hanging wall at depths below 1450m elevation. These horizons consist of bleached, clay-carbonate (+/- pyrite, +/-silica) altered and hematized andesite and basalt breccias that tend to be veined and brecciated by calcite (+/- iron carbonate, +/- zeolite).
“Broad step out holes farther to the west at the JJ-West target encountered similar mineralization in the vein zone footwall, hosted in bleached and clay-carbonate altered andesites and andesite breccias but over greater widths in hole SC22-014B (0.19 g/t Au over 98.64m, 127.95-226.59m).
“This gold endowment in the system here, 600m southwest of the drilled portion of the JJ vein zone, suggests the potential for continuation of mineralization over this untested strike length.
“I believe what was intersected in hole SC22-015, located 300m to the southwest of SC22-014B at the JJ-West target, is likely the diffusely veined upper part of the system. Future drilling will target an undercut to see if the vein zone focusses down to a more constricted but stronger zone with better grades as is often typical of high-grade gold epithermal systems.”
New intersections of quartz veining and gold mineralization at JJ West, combined with those at JJ suggest the presence of an epithermal system extending over a strike length of 1.6km. The trend remains open to both the northeast and southwest. Additional mineralized trends on the Skoonka Creek property have been identified from previous surface mapping/trenching and confirmed by a limited amount of historical drilling.
JJ Zone:
The primary target at the JJ Zone is high-grade epithermal, bonanza style, gold mineralization associated with quartz veining and quartz breccias, which were successfully intersected over various widths in all eight holes being reported herein (SC22-01 to SC22-08 – see table).
2022 drilling intersected the JJ vein zone over a strike length of 440m with a series of twelve holes spaced 25 to 185m apart. Combined with historic drilling, the vein zone extends over a strike length of 590m with a down dip extent of up to 240m from surface.
Drilling also intersected significant intervals of lower grade gold mineralization, primarily in the footwall below the JJ Zone (for example, SC22-003 with 0.52 g/t Au and 0.85 g/t Ag over 21.04m from 73.37-94.41m). This footwall mineralization is associated with brecciation, alteration and quartz-carbonate veining occurring in various host rocks (predominantly andesites and basalts).
Results to date suggest that the relative location of this footwall zone varies slightly with respect to the JJ veining, likely as a result of both structural control and host rock mineralogy/rheology. Pending laboratory analyses for five other holes completed during the 2022 drill programme are expected to help better define the extent of this footwall mineralization.
JJ West:
Three drill holes were collared in 2022 at the previously untested JJ West exploration target (SC22-014, 014B and 015). Hole SC22-014B was drilled on section 4400E, some 600m southwest of the nearest holes at the JJ Zone. It was drilled at a dip of -55 as an undercut to hole SC22-014 (dip of -45), which was lost in a fault at 98m depth. The JJ vein zone was intersected at 68.5-72.6m.
Farther below, in the vein zone footwall, there are thick sections of andesite breccia at 89.63-142.99m and andesite at 142.99-223.25m that are variably bleached, locally very pyritic, and cut by trace to 1% millimetre scale, sometimes banded quartz-pyrite veins. These sections host a number of lower grade intervals.
The higher gold and arsenic grades tend to be associated with stronger bleaching and sometimes with stronger quartz-pyrite veining.
Farther down hole, in the middle of a thick lapilli tuff horizon at 230.04–450m (EOH), there is an interval of low grade associated with some hydrothermally brecciated tuff at 312.88-313.36m that is healed by 10% pale grey to white chalcedony. The lower grade halo to this alteration zone extends into an underlying basalt dyke at 319.68-323.85m.
Hole SC22-015 was drilled on section 4100E at JJ-West, 300m southwest of SC22-014B and 900m along strike from the JJ Zone.
It intersected the JJ vein zone at 152.9-228.4m, consisting of 1% pale grey to white massive to banded chalcedony veins to 4cm in basalt, some with hairline bands of black ginguro with elevated molybdenum and arsenic.
The zone is cored by a quartz breccia vein at 185.43-185.89m containing 55 to 65% pale grey to white chalcedony, where 0.50 g/t Au, 0.73 g/t Ag were intercepted over 1.25m (184.64-185.89m). A secondary zone of strongly bleached basalt within the vein zone at 198-211m returned elevated gold values as follows; 0.158 Au, 0.29 Ag over 9.10m (202.23-211.33m).
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