Vancouver, B.C. May 9, 2022 — Ascot Resources Ltd. (TSX: AOT; OTCQX: AOTVF) (“Ascot” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the 2022 exploration drilling program has started at its Premier Gold Project (“PGP” or the “project”), located on Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands in the prolific Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. The Spring snow melt has enabled drilling to start almost one month earlier than last year.
The 2022 exploration drilling program will comprise approximately 18,000 metres and will be equally split between exploration and in-fill holes. Exploration drilling will be largely concentrated on the Sebakwe and Day Zones and in-fill drilling will focus exclusively on the Big Missouri deposit. Drilling will initially be conducted from surface but is anticipated to shift to underground drill stations as development enables access and will allow for shorter drill holes and more precise targeting. The Company experienced extraordinary assay lab turnaround delays last year, but turnaround times are anticipated to be much shorter this year as a new third party assay lab is being set up in the town of Stewart. Ascot has signed a priority service contract with this new assay lab to enable faster turnaround.
Derek White, President and CEO, commented, “Given the high levels of snowfall early in the winter, we were pleasantly surprised by the mild weather in recent months and are excited to get an earlier start than last year on this season’s exploration drilling program. With the new assay lab being established in Stewart, we look forward to receiving and reporting this year’s exploration results in a timely fashion. The expected shorter assay turnaround times will also enable us to adapt our drill plans more effectively as the exploration program runs its course.
Exploration drilling will follow up on high-priority targets at the Sebakwe and Day Zones – both of which were only discovered in 2021 and 2020, respectively. These zones are proximal to existing and planned underground infrastructure, and represent the highest potential for expanding our resource and reserve base at PGP. In-fill drilling will be concentrated on Big Missouri with a particular focus on stope definition drilling for the early stages of our mine plan and ramp-up phase in 2023 and 2024.”
Sebakwe Zone
At the end of the 2021 exploration drilling season, two holes were drilled from surface at the Sebakwe Zone. The first of these holes (P21-2385) intercepted 36.17 g/t Au and 20.6 g/t Ag over 7.10 metres, including coarse visible gold, from a depth of 368.3 metres (see News Release dated December 15, 2021 for more details). The new gold intercepts, in addition to sparse historical drilling, seem to indicate the possible existence of a third arcuate structure similar to the Premier and Northern Light structures immediately to the south (see Figure 1). The high-grade intercepts are located at a similar elevation to the Premier mill building and only 600 metres to the east.
Initially, a total of 10 holes for approximately 4,000 metres of drilling are planned from last year’s pad (see Figure 2). Holes are planned to step out around the high-grade intercepts from holes P21-2385 and P21-2386 and will target an area of approximately 50 metres of strike length and 50 metres of vertical extent. Additional holes will be planned if mineralization is encountered consistently.
Figure 1 Sebakwe 2021 drilling overview.
Figure 2 Sebakwe 2022 drilling plan.
Day Zone
The Day Zone was expanded in the 2021 drill program (see News Releases dated November 17, 2021 and January 13, 2022 for details). The first hole, P21-2331, intercepted high-grade gold mineralization 400 metres to the south of the previous year’s drill holes. Another drill hole, P21-2384, intercepted 58.60 g/t Au and 24.8 g/t Ag over 1.90 metres from a depth of 35 metres in an area where Ascot is internally evaluating preliminary stope shapes for potential extraction early in the mine life at Big Missouri. With only 32 drill holes so far, Ascot has already outlined a number of high-grade areas across a known strike length of 550 metres, with mineralization open to the north and south. A total of 24 holes drilled from four surface pads comprising approximately 2,000 metres are planned at the Day Zone this year.
Qualified Person
Lawrence Tsang, P.Geo., the Company’s Senior Geologist provides the field management for the PGP exploration program. John Kiernan, P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer of the Company is the Company’s Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Ascot Resources Ltd.
“Derek C. White”
President & CEO
For further information contact:
David Stewart, P.Eng.
VP, Corporate Development & Shareholder Communications
dstewart@ascotgold.com
778-725-1060 ext. 1024
About Ascot Resources Ltd.
Ascot is a Canadian junior exploration and development company focused on re-starting the past producing Premier gold mine, located on Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands, in British Columbia’s prolific Golden Triangle. Ascot shares trade on the TSX under the ticker AOT. Concurrent with progressing the development of Premier, the Company continues to successfully explore its properties for additional high-grade underground resources. Ascot is committed to the safe and responsible development of Premier in collaboration with Nisga’a Nation as outlined in the Benefits Agreement. For more information about the Company, please refer to the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or visit the Company’s web site at www.ascotgold.com, or for a virtual tour visit www.vrify.com under Ascot Resources
