Figure 1 – 3D view of the drill pad locations and drill hole traces reported in this release. Source: Ascot Resources
Ascot Resources (TSX:AOT) has reported the final set of assay results from its 2023 exploration drill program. This program was conducted at the company’s Premier Gold Project, which is situated on the Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands within the Golden Triangle area of northwestern British Columbia, known for its mineral wealth. The announcement specifically relates to the Big Missouri deposit, located about six kilometres north of the Premier mill.
Derek White, President and CEO of Ascot Resources commented in a press release: “Our 2023 surface drilling program finished on a high note, with many planned stope shapes at Big Missouri being confirmed and, in some cases, expanded. We look forward to exploiting this material in the coming months and processing it at the Premier mill, where we anticipate starting pre-commissioning shortly. Similar confirmatory and expansion results were achieved in 2023 at the Prew Zone of the Premier Deposit, where underground access development is also being progressed. Overall, the 2023 drill program enhances our confidence in the geological model, which is all the more important as we become Canada’s next gold producer.”
The exploration drilling at Big Missouri, which forms part of the Premier Gold Project, took place from the beginning of August until the end of October 2023. During this period, a total of 72 holes were drilled from the surface, covering a cumulative length of 6,539 meters. The latest results come from 55 of these holes, spanning a distance of 5,293 meters. These holes were drilled from six different pads and included three holes at the Day Zone on the western side of Big Missouri Ridge.
The primary objective of this drilling exercise was to refine the shapes of various mining stopes. This was done by targeting additional pierce points and addressing gaps between stopes that resulted from previous drilling patterns. The drilling also aimed to explore extensions along the strike and up dip of the deposit. To provide a clearer understanding, the company included an overview of the drill hole locations (Figure 1), a summary of assay results (Table 1), and the coordinates for the drill pads (Table 2) in its report.
Figure 2 – 3D-cross section of drill holes from pad 23BM4. Gold mineralization in the new drill holes shows that the final stope shape will require only minor modifications. Source: Ascot Resources
Figure 3 – 3D-cross section of drill holes from pad 23BM5. High-grade gold was intercepted in between two stope shapes in holes P23-2543 (1 metre grading 10 g/t gold) and P23-2539, suggesting the potential for the stope shapes to expand and be connected. Source: Ascot Resources
Figure 4 – 3D-cross section of drill holes from pads 23BM3, 23BM2 and 23BM6. High-grade gold was intercepted in many areas outside of current stope shapes, such as near-surface to the east of pad 23BM2, or at depth as drilled from pad 23BM6. Source: Ascot Resources
Figures 2 to 4 in the report provide cross-sectional views of the reported drill holes. Importantly, Figure 2 highlights a large stope shape that has been more precisely defined by the recent drilling. For instance, drill hole P23-2532 intersected a notable gold grade of 58.18 grams per ton (g/t) over a 1.99-meter section at a depth of 70.8 meters.
The Day Zone, situated on the western flank of the Big Missouri ridge, was a particular focus. Three drill holes, P23-2515 to 2517, were executed in this area. Previously, the company had identified gold mineralization over a 550-meter strike length at the Day Zone. The potential for further expansion was indicated by IP geophysics conducted in 2023, suggesting a possible extension of 800 meters. While the drilling did encounter gold grades as high as 7.7 g/t, these were not consistent, indicating that further exploration and drilling will be necessary. The next phase of exploration aims to investigate the 1,000-meter unexplored gap between the Day Zone and the Martha Ellen deposit to the northwest.
Concurrently, underground mine development is progressing at the Big Missouri site, particularly in areas targeted for stoping. These areas are included in the near-term mining plans of Ascot Resources, indicating that the company is moving forward with developing this part of the Premier Gold Project.
Highlights from the results are as follows:
58.18 g/t Au over 1.99m from a depth of 70.8m in hole P23-2532, including 77.45 g/t Au over 0.99m.
9.89 g/t Au over 6.94m from a depth of 22.7m in hole P23-2509B, including 51.00 g/t Au over 1.19m
8.26 g/t Au over 7.35m from a depth of 7.35m in hole P23-2506, including 30.88 g/t Au over 1.44m
8.26 g/t Au over 5.57m from a depth of 16.9m in hole P23-2499, including 15.75 g/t Au over 1.27m
Table 1 – Big Missouri drill results
Hole #
Azimuth
/dip
From
(m)
To
(m)
Width
(m)
Au
(g/t)
Ag
(g/t)
P23-2498
-59/70
8.30
11.40
3.10
3.78
35.51
incl.
9.40
10.40
1.00
5.18
68.40
and
19.45
23.20
3.75
7.43
25.97
incl.
21.10
22.15
1.05
21.20
54.30
and
100.30
108.10
7.80
3.15
6.34
and
127.05
129.03
1.98
2.88
5.40
P23-2499
-64/70
7.54
22.47
14.93
4.56
14.36
incl.
16.90
22.47
5.57
8.26
24.66
incl.
21.20
22.47
1.27
15.75
62.70
and
36.00
38.02
2.02
5.78
3.40
and
57.68
59.44
1.76
3.26
6.50
and
65.79
80.27
14.48
2.20
6.01
incl.
69.79
71.79
2.00
3.24
6.10
and
97.40
98.64
1.24
3.46
10.60
P23-2500
-61/78
8.10
21.69
13.59
2.61
14.86
incl.
19.62
21.69
2.07
5.74
31.30
and
39.82
48.00
8.18
1.25
5.66
and
102.11
110.70
8.59
2.50
15.21
and
122.70
126.69
3.99
2.94
4.86
incl.
122.70
123.83
1.13
5.04
8.80
P23-2501
-65/79
7.40
11.50
4.10
2.60
11.68
and
18.50
21.55
3.05
5.68
18.96
and
34.30
36.00
1.70
6.89
5.80
and
55.50
60.00
4.50
2.74
6.23
and
74.05
82.87
8.82
4.24
17.29
and
98.30
101.00
2.70
3.35
14.63
P23-2502
-50/82
8.71
11.90
3.19
3.67
11.20
and
18.85
22.97
4.12
4.05
15.85
incl.
20.69
21.81
1.12
8.27
17.20
and
113.25
117.35
4.10
1.93
8.10
P23-2503
-49/92
18.85
23.00
4.15
6.59
10.66
incl.
18.85
20.35
1.50
12.35
14.90
and
43.55
46.50
2.95
2.69
5.98
P23-2504
-60/100
12.34
18.84
6.50
4.22
7.06
incl.
17.20
18.84
1.64
6.96
10.10
and
53.34
61.62
8.28
1.32
19.78
and
97.48
101.24
3.76
1.57
68.56
and
121.15
124.18
3.03
2.95
26.41
P23-2505
-67/99
16.20
21.94
5.74
1.60
11.23
and
44.20
45.68
1.48
11.20
12.80
and
70.20
71.95
1.75
10.80
10.60
and
79.11
81.77
2.66
3.86
5.83
P23-2506
-52/100
13.90
21.25
7.35
8.26
12.84
incl.
19.81
21.25
1.44
30.88
38.45
and
26.40
27.40
1.00
8.67
8.30
and
42.20
44.20
2.00
2.30
6.20
and
111.65
112.56
0.91
1.88
18.20
P23-2507
-59/108
9.12
18.68
9.56
1.99
6.35
and
26.24
29.52
3.28
1.25
10.73
and
58.00
61.00
3.00
1.77
3.37
P23-2508
-57/115
13.10
20.20
7.10
1.46
7.02
and
125.77
130.37
4.60
2.78
27.37
incl.
127.26
128.37
1.11
5.11
71.70
P23-2509
-42/213
35.18
37.29
2.11
3.87
6.80
P23-2509B
-43/204
22.65
29.59
6.94
9.89
6.37
incl.
22.65
23.84
1.19
51.00
16.00
P23-2510
-44/227
30.96
32.31
1.35
1.12
8.20
P23-2511
-44/257
31.40
39.36
7.96
3.84
9.05
incl.
31.40
33.77
2.37
7.36
15.47
P23-2512
-44/290
31.44
37.00
5.56
9.30
38.96
incl.
34.40
35.53
1.13
18.25
39.30
P23-2513
-43/307
30.40
33.75
3.35
1.69
5.07
and
36.75
39.75
3.00
1.67
7.60
P23-2514
-42/325
34.35
36.00
1.65
2.47
8.20
P23-2515
-86/68
5.00
6.75
1.75
1.22
4.50
P23-2516
-43/72
55.17
65.53
10.36
2.02
4.30
incl.
64.38
65.53
1.15
7.72
20.40
P23-2517
-59/72
42.40
44.40
2.00
1.55
0.90
and
50.40
52.16
1.76
1.14
1.90
P23-2518
-51/70
91.90
93.20
1.30
0.84
7.80
P23-2519
-50/109
90.52
97.50
6.98
1.83
3.75
incl.
96.00
97.50
1.50
4.11
4.90
P23-2520
-45/88
95.10
98.30
3.20
2.81
8.47
incl.
95.10
96.10
1.00
5.07
10.70
P23-2521
-46/102
86.71
87.88
1.17
2.13
3.90
P23-2522
-45/118
91.94
96.00
4.06
11.05
28.71
P23-2523
-46/138
87.17
92.10
4.93
2.80
10.31
and
114.84
124.60
9.76
5.77
4.38
incl.
114.84
116.00
1.16
32.90
9.70
P23-2524
-75/304
87.48
89.50
2.02
0.79
2.90
P23-2525
-58/341
82.20
91.08
8.88
4.99
4.43
P23-2526
-84/360
75.08
80.20
5.12
7.55
10.64
incl.
79.08
80.20
1.12
23.60
17.70
P23-2527
-70/357
77.71
83.40
5.69
2.46
4.06
P23-2528
-54/353
93.27
99.36
6.09
3.84
4.74
P23-2529
-63/28
82.94
88.24
5.30
2.92
4.50
P23-2530
-68/79
82.87
85.23
2.36
2.89
8.21
P23-2531
-71/142
73.76
79.76
6.00
3.79
3.43
and
87.24
87.80
0.56
2.85
7.50
P23-2532
-71/169
70.81
72.80
1.99
58.18
33.86
incl.
70.81
71.80
0.99
77.45
46.45
P23-2533
-58/173
81.08
83.86
2.78
1.61
6.30
P23-2534
-65/189
89.66
91.89
2.23
3.27
32.32
P23-2535
-55/189
87.79
89.21
1.42
1.65
2.00
P23-2536
-80/206
74.95
76.21
1.26
4.83
13.80
and
81.38
82.76
1.38
3.90
7.50
P23-2537
-71/199
88.89
90.70
1.81
5.27
18.40
P23-2538
-41/130
43.95
49.00
5.05
2.75
14.63
P23-2539
-50/151
42.00
49.00
7.00
2.88
4.60
incl.
44.00
45.27
1.27
5.57
7.20
P23-2540
-40/159
49.08
54.00
4.92
3.96
6.51
incl.
52.00
53.00
1.00
14.70
14.80
P23-2541
-41/162
49.00
51.00
2.00
4.87
6.15
P23-2542
-50/177
40.00
45.00
5.00
4.35
6.10
incl.
41.00
42.00
1.00
9.65
4.60
P23-2543
-53/195
30.52
32.31
1.79
1.75
2.10
and
36.88
39.07
2.19
2.45
4.76
P23-2544
-60/204
30.60
33.60
3.00
2.63
3.50
P23-2545
-55/215
31.70
34.70
3.00
4.98
6.53
P23-2546
-48/332
99.00
103.29
4.29
4.85
24.29
P23-2547
-63/333
67.64
70.57
2.93
6.49
9.92
and
77.00
80.67
3.67
2.92
7.50
P23-2548
-74/334
60.00
61.75
1.75
3.23
14.60
and
83.00
87.00
4.00
3.65
6.13
P23-2549
-64/349
65.00
67.50
2.50
3.08
5.06
and
70.50
72.50
2.00
2.72
7.05
P23-2550
-62/11
66.50
68.50
2.00
2.78
48.95
P23-2551
-76/24
70.00
73.50
3.50
2.76
5.14
incl.
70.00
71.00
1.00
5.00
5.00
and
80.14
83.00
2.86
2.00
5.88
Note: True widths are estimated to be between 70% to 90% of reported interval widths.
Table 2 – Drill pad locations
Pad #
UTM N
UTM E
Elevation (masl)
Hole no.
23BM2
436671
6219676
998
P23-2498 to P23-2514
23Day1
435816
6219437
926
P23-2515 to P23-2517
23BM3
436577
6219681
1042
P23-2518 to P23-2523
23BM4
436525
6219752
1050
P23-2524 to P23-2537
23BM5
436647
6219528
971
P23-2538 to P23-2547
23BM6
436766
6219582
965
P23-2548 to P23-2551
The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a licensed professional for investment advice. The author is not an insider or shareholder of any of the companies mentioned above.
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