TORONTO, Oct. 31, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV:BGM) (the “Company” or “Barkerville”) is pleased to announce additional drilling results from the ongoing 160,000 metre Phase II Island Mountain exploration and infill drilling program at the Company’s flagship Cariboo Gold Project.
The Company is currently exploring and delineating the Valley and Shaft Zones with nine drill rigs, while a tenth drill is expanding the known mineralization on the BC Vein. Detailed drilling results, a drill hole location plan map and vertical sections are presented at the end of this release. The exact geometry and hence true width of the mineralized zones cannot be assuredly concluded at this time therefore core lengths are reported.
Highlights:
- IM-17-156: 17.65 g/t Au over 6.70 metres
- IM-17-166: 12.23 g/t Au over 6.70 metres
- IM-17-168: 16.05 g/t Au over 5.72 metres
- IM-17-169: 19.58 g/t Au over 6.65 metres
- IM-17-170: 20.50 g/t Au over 5.50 metres
- IM-17-173: 10.82 g/t Au over 8.60 metres
- IM-17-173: 35.20 g/t Au over 4.00 metres
Beta Corridor Continues to Expand to Depth
The Company is pleased to announce that Phase II drillhole IM-17-169 has expanded the recently announced Beta Corridor via the intersection of 19.58 g/t Au over 6.65 metres at a vertical depth of 320 metres below surface. The expansion occurs 90 metres southwest and up dip along corridor strike from previously disclosed Phase II drillhole IM-17-142 which intersected 10.04 g/t Au over 8.20 metres. Infill drilling between the above-mentioned drillholes has demonstrated the grade and geological continuity of this area as IM-17-173 intersected two veining systems grading 10.82 g/t Au over 8.60 metres and 7.70 g/t Au over 8.35 metres at respective vertical depths of 275 and 350 metres below surface. The Beta Corridor still remains open for expansion along vein strike as well as downdip.
Infill drilling in the Beta Corridor is also indicating the grade and geological continuity of this vein system as demonstrated by drillhole IM-17-172 which intersected two zones averaging 12.81 g/t Au over 4.80 metres followed closely by 12.56 g/t over 3.45 metres at a vertical depth of 150 metres below surface. These intersections occur 40 metres up dip of previously released drillhole IM-17-141 which intersected 6.09 g/t Au over 20.40 metres.
Shaft Zone - Corridors Discussion
The sandstone hosted veining which constitutes the newly named Alpha, Beta and Gamma Corridors of the Shaft Zone are manifested as an anastomosing network of high vein density with an overall sub-vertical dip and northeast strike. Based upon drilling results to date, estimated horizontal widths of the corridors are variable and range from 5 to 35 metres. These corridors, as well as others that are developing in the Shaft and Valley Zones have been defined from surface to a vertical depth of 600 metres and remain open for expansion to depth and down plunge. Drillhole spacing in the corridors currently averages 25 metres between drilling sections with vertical drilling separations ranging from 20 to 75 metres with hole spacing increasing to depth. Gold grades are intimately associated with vein-hosted pyrite as well as pyritic, intensely silicified wall rock haloes in close proximity to the veins.
Qualified Persons
Exploration activities at the Cariboo Gold Project are administered on site by the Company’s Exploration Manager, Maggie Layman, P.Geo. As per National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo. Vice President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on the Cariboo Gold Project.
Quality Assurance – Quality Control
Once received from the drill and processed, all drill core samples are sawn in half, labelled and bagged. The remaining drill core is subsequently stored on site at the Company’s secure facility in Wells, BC. Numbered security tags are applied to lab shipments for chain of custody requirements. The Company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals in the sample stream, including blanks and reference materials with all sample shipments to monitor laboratory performance. The QAQC program was designed and approved by Lynda Bloom, P.Geo. of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is overseen by the Company’s Qualified Person, Paul Geddes, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration.
Drill core samples are submitted to ALS Geochemistry’s analytical facility in North Vancouver, British Columbia for preparation and analysis. The ALS facility is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for gold assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria. The entire sample is crushed and 250 grams is pulverized. Analysis for gold is by 50g fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AAS) finish with a lower limit of 0.01 ppm and upper limit of 100 ppm. Samples with gold assays greater than 100 ppm are re-analyzed using a 1,000g screen metallic fire assay. A selected number of samples are also analyzed using a 48 multi-elemental geochemical package by a 4-acid digestion, followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS).
About Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd.
The Company is focused on developing its extensive land package located in the historical Cariboo Mining District of central British Columbia. Barkerville’s mineral tenures cover 2,110 square kilometres along a strike length of 67 kilometres which includes several past producing hard rock mines of the historic Barkerville Gold Mining Camp near the town of Wells, British Columbia. The QR Project, located approximately 110 kilometres by highway and all weather road from Wells was acquired by Barkerville in 2010 and boasts a fully permitted 900 tonne/day gold milling and tailings facility. Test mining of the Bonanza Ledge open pit was completed in March of 2015 with 91,489 tonnes of material milled producing 25,464 ounces of gold. The Company has completed several drilling and exploration programs over the past 20 years and has compiled this data with all historical information in order develop geologic models which are assisting management in defining new deposits in the Cariboo Gold Project. An extensive drill program is currently underway with the goal of delineating additional high grade gold mineralization.
