A helicopter lowers cargo at White Gold’s namesake project in western Yukon. Credit: Blair McBride
A resource update for Yukon-focused White Gold’s (TSXV: WGO) namesake project positions it among the larger undeveloped open-pit gold resources in the territory.
The update raises indicated ounces by 44% to 35.1 million tonnes grading 1.53 grams gold per tonne for 1.73 million oz. over the previous update from last year, the company reported Thursday. Inferred resources grew by 13% to 32.3 million tonnes at 1.22 grams gold for 1.26 million ounces. The project is about 95 km south of Dawson City.
“The significant increase in gold resources at our flagship White Gold Project is another major milestone for the company,” White Gold CEO David D’Onofrio said in a release. “The updated resource also further highlights the strong growth potential of our near surface deposits which remain open in multiple directions with numerous prospective targets in close proximity that also warrant drill testing based on their exploration results to date.”
White Gold shares gained 3.3% to C$0.47 apiece on Thursday morning in Toronto, for a market capitalization of C$92.89 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of C$0.17 to C$0.57.
High in ranking
The update places White Gold’s deposit roughly in third place for contained gold in Yukon open pit projects. Snowline Gold’s (TSXV: SGD) Valley resource tops the list, with 204 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.21 grams gold for 7.94 million contained oz.; and 45 million inferred tonnes at 0.62 gram gold for 890,000 contained ounces.
Next up is former miner Victoria Gold’s Brewery Creek project, which hosts 34.5 million measured and indicated tonnes at 1.03 grams gold for 1.1 million contained oz.; and 36 million inferred tonnes grading 0.88 gram gold for 1 million ounces. That project is owned and managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the court-appointed receiver for Victoria Gold following the landslide at its Eagle mine last year.
Newmont’s (NYSE: NEM; TSX: NGT) Coffee project, just south of White Gold, is in fourth place with 55.5 million measured and indicated tonnes at 1.2 grams gold, for 2.1 million oz.; and 6.8 million inferred tonnes grading 1.07 grams gold for 230,000 ounces. Veteran prospector Shawn Ryan discovered both the White Gold and Coffee deposits.
Golden Saddle dominates
The update is based on a recent remodelling of the Golden Saddle and Arc deposits at White Gold, the company said. More than half of the update’s total tonnage is concentrated in Golden Saddle, which also hosts a high-grade core of 1.1 million indicated oz. at 2.84 grams gold and 93,000 inferred oz. at 2.03 grams gold at a 1 gram gold cut-off.
The rest of the resource is distributed across the Arc, Ryan and QV targets. A small amount of the total resource is classified as underground.
An ongoing exploration program is designed to further increase the resource at White Gold in support of a preliminary economic assessment, though the company hasn’t given a timeline for its release.