Calgary, Alberta (FSCwire) - BANYAN GOLD CORP. (“Banyan” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce results from the first four holes of its 2017 Exploration Program at its wholly owned, the Hyland Gold Project (the “Property”) in the Yukon’s emerging Carlin-style district.
Tara Christie, President & CEO, states “This year’s $1 million exploration program on the Property is affording Banyan the opportunity to expand the known Inferred Resource of the Main Zone Deposit, and also to further explore the regional scale potential of this very large land package. Rob Carne, P.Geo., who was instrumental in the discovery of the Main Zone in the 1980’s has been involved with the Hyland Gold Project this season and with his guidance we are greatly expanding our understanding of the structure and geological model of the Property and putting that knowledge to use at the end of the drill-bit.”
The on-going 2017 diamond drill program is focused on critical in-fill drill holes as well as step-out drilling concentrated on the Hyland Gold Main Zone gold-silver deposit. This year’s exploration efforts are focused on the northern portion of the Main Zone which has experienced only limited testing to date. Challenging topography and a lack of heavy equipment suitable to construct access to this portion of the Main Zone precluded conducting any drilling in this area during previous years. The combination of excavator and bulldozer, which were mobilized to Hyland in 2015 along with the diamond drill and fuel on the Company’s fully permitted winter access road, are the first equipment to be on the Hyland Gold Project capable of opening this area for resource definition drill holes.
These results are the first of over 20 planned holes into Main Zone this year, and have begun the process of building gold ounces within the deposit. Highlighted results from these four 2017 exploration drill holes include: 15.3 metres of 0.99 g/t gold and 4.3 g/t Ag from 67.0 to 82.3 metres in HY17-051 and 36.24 metres of 1.3 g/t Au from drill hole HY17-054 from 162.3 metres to 198.5 metres. These long intersections of gold mineralization were punctuated by high-grade intervals such as 1.1 metres of 3.3 g/t gold from 74.5 to 75.6 metres in HY17-051 and 2.0 metres of 5.2 g/t gold from 178.0 to 180.0 metres in drill hole HY17-054.
The full results from the four 2017 drillholes are provided in the following table and a map with drillhole locations can be located on the company website (http://www.banyangold.com/projects/hyland/).
| Hole # | Comment | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Gold (g/t) | Silver (g/t) | |
| HY17-051 | 20.5 | 141.7 | 121.2 | 0.41 | 2.41 | ||
| incl. | 33.5 | 36.7 | 3.2 | 1.76 | 12.86 | ||
| and incl. | 67 | 82.3 | 15.3 | 0.99 | 4.3 | ||
| and incl. | 71.8 | 73.2 | 1.4 | 1.19 | 3.6 | ||
| and incl. | 74.5 | 75.6 | 1.1 | 3.33 | 3.5 | ||
| and incl. | 77.1 | 78.2 | 1.1 | 1.13 | 0.8 | ||
| and incl. | 81 | 82.3 | 1.3 | 1.35 | 6.7 | ||
| and incl. | 99.5 | 103 | 3.5 | 1.17 | 3.92 | ||
| And | 132.6 | 133.7 | 1.1 | 1.11 | 1.3 | ||
| And | 138.8 | 140.2 | 1.4 | 1.29 | 1.2 | ||
| HY17-052 | Incl. | 6.1 | 45.3 | 39.2 | 0.3 | 2.81 | |
| and incl. | 33.5 | 38.1 | 4.6 | 1.32 | 6.3 | ||
| and incl. | 70.9 | 99.7 | 28.8 | 0.32 | 5.35 | ||
| which incl. | 91.8 | 95 | 3.3 | 1.07 | 3.74 | ||
| HY17-053 | 0 | 31.4 | 31.4 | 0.27 | 2.93 | ||
| and | 47.5 | 56.2 | 8.8 | 0.94 | 3.22 | ||
| which incl. | 47.5 | 53.1 | 5.6 | 1.32 | 4.49 | ||
| and | 129.7 | 169.2 | 39.5 | 0.41 | 7.23 | ||
| which incl. | 131.2 | 154.5 | 14.4 | 0.78 | 7.76 | ||
| incl. | 133.6 | 134.6 | 1 | 3.05 | 30.8 | ||
| HY17-054 | 48.5 | 75 | 26.5 | 0.45 | 1.66 | ||
| incl. | 56.3 | 58 | 1.7 | 1.13 | 2.5 | ||
| 162.3 | 198.5 | 36.24 | 1.3 | 2.54 | |||
| incl. | 178 | 195.8 | 17.75 | 1.7 | 3.19 | ||
| and incl. | 178 | 188 | 10 | 2.48 | 4.71 | ||
| which incl. | 178 | 180 | 2 | 5.52 | 3.4 |
These first results are strikingly similar to the 2016 drill holes Banyan collared in the Main Zone; 30.7 metres of 1.30g/t Au and 8.0 g/t Ag from 18.3 to 49.0 metres (drill hole HY-16-48); 27.1 metres of 1.02 g/t Au and 16 g/t Ag from 24.4 to 51.5 metres (drill hole HY-16-49); and 35.7 metres of 1.00 g/t Au and 2.5 g/t Ag from 76.0 to 111.6 metres (drill hole HY-16-10) (see Company News Release Dated September 29, 2016) and speak to the consistency and continuity of the near-surface, gold-silver resource*. Moreover, the robustness of the resource model is evident with clear indications of the upper and lower limb to this sediment-hosted, structurally controlled gold-silver deposit intersected in these first holes of the program.
The still progressing 2017 Hyland Gold exploration program consists of an approximately 4,000-metre diamond drilling program focused on the Main Zone and Camp Zones in the Hyland North portion of the Property. Diamond drilling will primarily focus on the Main Zone with a view toward potential expansion of the existing inferred resource estimate of 396,468 ounces at 0.99 gram per tonne gold equivalent prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101*. Moreover, trenches (632 metres) have been constructed across the Main Zone to bolster the evaluation of this near-surface gold-silver deposit (316 samples).
Additionally, the Camp Zone will see trenches and drilling following up on the 2016 discovery in trench CZ-16-01 which returned 96 metres grading 0.64 g/t Au from zero metres to 96 metres, including 56 metres grading 1.03 g/t Au from zero metres to 56 metres of a broad fault zone consisting of predominantly gouge and brecciated clastic units of the Hyland formation (see Company news release dated Nov. 3, 2016).
The Camp Zone is a new zone at the Hyland deposit which has been the focus of a recent structural analysis aided by a 2016 Property-wide LiDAR survey and re-analysis of historic soil geochemistry, geophysical surveys as well as limited trench and diamond drill initiatives.
In the Hyland South area, 2017 exploration has continued to build out the District-Scale mineralization potential of the Property through reconnaissance to grid-level soils geochemical surveys designed to target areas deemed high-priority targets based on historic ridge-and-spur soils surveys, detailed stream-sediment watershed analysis and re-evaluation of a 1995 airborne magnetics and radiometric survey as well as integration of the 2016 LiDAR data. A total of 1041 soil samples have been collected. Many of these areas of interest have never been soil sampled and represent new mineralization targets on the growing Quartz Lake structural corridor.
As of September 17th, 3,320 m of drilling has been completed in 20 holes. Drilling related exploration activities are expected to continue to the end of September.
Banyan Gold will be attending the 2017 Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek, Colorado September 18-20, 2017.
*The Hyland Main Zone Inferred Gold Resource, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, at a 0.6 g/t gold equivalent ("AuEq") cutoff, contains 12,503,994 tonnes with 361,692 ounces gold at 0.9 g/t and 2,248,948 ounces silver at 5.59 g/t for a combined gold and silver 396,468 ounces gold equivalent at 0.99 g/t.
Technical Information
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, P. Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43
Analytical Method
All drill core samples collected from the Hyland Gold program were analyzed at Bureau Veritas Minerals of Burnaby, B.C. utilizing the four acid digestion ICP-MS 35-element MA300 analytical package with FA450 50-gram Fire Assay with AAS finish for gold on all samples. All core samples were split on-site at Banyan’s core processing facilities at the Hyland Gold Project. Once split, half samples were placed back in the core boxes with the other half of split samples sealed in poly bags with one part of a three-part sample tag inserted within. All these samples were delivered by Banyan personnel or a dedicated expediter to the Bureau Veritas, Whitehorse preparatory laboratory where samples are prepared and then shipped to Bureau Veritas’s Analytical laboratory in Burnaby, B.C. for pulverization and final chemical analysis. A robust system of standards was implemented in the 2017 exploration drilling program and are monitored as chemical assay data become available.
About Banyan Gold
Banyan is a well-financed growth stage gold exploration company whose flagship property, the Hyland Gold Project, is approximately 70km NE of Watson Lake, Yukon, along the southeast end of the Tintina Gold Belt.
The Hyland Main Zone Inferred Gold Resource Estimate, prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, at a 0.6g/t gold equivalent cutoff, contains 12,503,994 tonnes with 361,692 ounces gold at 0.9g/t and 2,248,948 ounces silver at 5.59g/t for a combined gold and silver 396,468 ounces gold equivalent at 0.99 g/t.
The newly acquired 9,230 ha Aurex-McQuesten Property, in close proximity to Victoria Gold's Eagle Project and Alexco Resource's Keno Hill Silver District, is highly perspective for structurally controlled, intrusion related gold-silver mineralization in relation to quartz monzonite dykes of the Tombstone intrusive suite.
Banyan trades on the TSX-Venture Exchange under the symbol “BYN”. For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.BanyanGold.com or contact the Company.
