Hole V-22-032 returned 1.76
g/t Au over 207.0 m within a broader mineralized
interval averaging 1.32 g/t Au over 338.0 m
Hole V-22-015 returned 1.18
g/t Au over 170.0 m, within a broader mineralized
interval averaging 0.65 g/t Au over 442.0 m
in 182 m step-back across system width
Results further demonstrate scale and strong
continuity within unusually high-grade reduced intrusion-related
gold system
Assays still pending for 17 of 32 holes (7,232 m
of 13,320 m) drilled at Valley and Gracie in 2022
Vancouver, B.C., December 22, 2022: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
(CSE: SGD) (OTCQB: SNWGF) (the “Company”
or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce additional
preliminary assay results from its 2022 drilling program at the Valley
Zone, Rogue Project, Yukon. Notably, hole V-22-032 intersected a zone of
sheeted quartz vein mineralization within the Valley intrusion averaging
1.72 g/t Au over 207.0 m within a broader mineralized zone averaging 1.32
g/t Au over 338.0 m (Tables 1 and 2). The entire hole, including barren
sections, averaged 0.93 g/t Au across 532.7 m, ending in mineralized
rock. The hole was collared 166 m from any other hole and drilled
northeast to test the system between previously announced V-22-005 (192.0
m @ 1.52 g/t Au) and V-22-010 (318.8 m @ 2.5 g/t Au).
Table 1 –
Preliminary highlight summary of Snowline’s latest assay results. *Interval widths reported; true widths
of the system are not yet known. The geometry of the mineralized zone is
not determined by any individual vein nor structure and depends instead on
the broader geometries of various vein arrays.
“The latest
results from Valley continue to demonstrate substantial scale and strong
grades for a reduced intrusion-related gold system,” said Scott Berdahl,
CEO & Director of Snowline. “Holes V-22-015 and 032 add considerably
to the known tonnage of well-mineralized rock in Valley’s central zone.
The shape, the size, and the distribution of grades that we’re seeing at
Valley—with many of the highest grades encountered to date starting at
surface—bode very well for the potential economics of the discovery. We
eagerly await remaining 2022 assay results and their contributions to our
understanding of this large mineralized system, with more than 5,000 m
still to come at Valley and all five holes (>2,000 m) still pending
from our nearby Gracie target.”
Figure 1 – 2021 and
2022 drilling at the Valley Zone, showing assays received to date (top) and
vein densities alongside instances of visible gold observed during logging
(bottom). Visual results
indicate the presence of a large central zone within the broader Valley
intrusion bearing higher vein densities. Initial analytical results for
this zone consistently carry unusually high grades for a reduced
intrusion-related gold system.
Figure 2– Cross
section A, showing results received (top) and vein densities alongside
instances of visible gold observed during logging (bottom). V-22-033 expands the known width of the
mineralized zone locally to >300m. While broad zones of continuous
mineralization were not encountered at depth in this location, local
intervals were. The deepest >1 g/t Au assay ran 1.2 g/t Au over 1.5 m
from 672.5 m downhole. Views look northwest.
Figure 3 – Cross
section B, showing results received to date (top) and vein densities
alongside instances of visible gold observed during logging (bottom). V-22-015 was drilled to test the
relatively high-grade mineralization encountered in V-22-014 and V-22-007
across a wider width and at depth. Views look northwest.
Table 2 – Summary of
mineralization in current holes. Several zones of higher grades are present but capping
these at 10 g/t Au shows that the intervals are carried by robust
mineralization along large zones within these higher-grade holes. *Interval
widths reported; true widths of the system are not yet known.
HOLE V-22-032
Hole V-22-032 was collared in hornfels sedimentary rock west of the
Valley intrusion, and drilled northeast, roughly perpendicular to the
general southwest orientation of most drill holes to date at Valley. On
crossing into the intrusion at 91.6 m downhole, it averaged 1.32 g/t Au
over the subsequent 338.0 m, with a general increase in grades towards a
gradational boundary between intrusive phases encountered at 341.5 m
downhole. The 100.5 m above this boundary averaged 2.03 g/t Au, including
a 20 m stretch near the boundary averaging 4.19 g/t Au.
The hole demonstrates further continuity of near-surface, gram to
multiple gram per tonne gold mineralization encountered in previous holes
at Valley. The darker, porphyritic phase of the intrusion below the
boundary may be a driver for higher grades in the lighter, medium-grained
granodiorite above.
As with previous holes at Valley, gold grades are carried across broad
intervals, and they are not heavily affected by local high-grade (>10
g/t Au) intersections (Table 2).
Figure 4 – Intrusive
phase boundary in V-22-032, from 325.5 m to 351.7 m downhole, showing heavily veined, medium grained
granodiorite above roughly 341.5 m downhole, and a darker, fine-grained
porphyritic phase of the intrusion below. The polyphase nature of the
intrusion is thought to be a factor in the dense veining and unusually high
gold grades encountered at Valley.
HOLE V-22-015
Hole V-22-015 was collared in the Valley intrusion on section with
V-22-007 (410.0 m @ 1.89 g/t Au including 146.0 m @ 3.24 g/t Au) and
V-22-014 (285.2 m @ 1.45 g/t Au including 128.2 m @ 2.48 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated November 15, 2022),
stepped back roughly 182 m from V-22-007 to better test the width and
depth of the system. V-22-015 encountered its highest grades within the
upper two thirds of the hole. A broad zone of high quartz vein density
encountered lower in the hole (Figure 3) loosely correlates with zones of
the same darker, porphyritic phase of the intrusion seen in V-22-032. The
abrupt decrease in vein density at the intrusive phase boundary observed
in that hole is thus not present in V-22-015. Instead, a decrease in the
regularity of bismuthinite and visible gold in the lower parts of
V-22-015 compared to veins seen roughly 200 m vertically above in
V-22-007 appears to correspond to a decrease in gold values.
ABOUT ROGUE
Rogue’s Valley Zone is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced
intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to
multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production like Kinross’s Fort
Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early
drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system
present near surface across intersections of hundreds of metres. Gold is
associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted
quartz vein arrays along the margins of and within a one-kilometer-scale,
mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-series intrusion. Valley is an early-stage
exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial
results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically
viable orebody cannot be determined until significant additional work is
completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along
with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples.
Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue
Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential
for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
UPDATE ON PENDING ANALYTICAL RESULTS
The long processing times for analytical results are understood to be due
to operational constraints and high sample volumes at the Whitehorse
sample preparation facility. To help manage this backlog, ALS
Laboratories has sent various Snowline sample batches to Langley, BC,
Sudbury, ON and Thunder Bay, ON. The Company expects this to decrease
turnaround time for analytical results on the remaining 17 holes drilled
at Rogue in 2022. As evidenced by the available results for late-season
holes like V-22-032, this process also randomizes the expected order of
receipt of remaining analytical results.
QA/QC
On receipt from the drill site, Valley’s NQ2-sized drill core was
systematically logged for geological attributes, photographed and sampled
at Snowline’s 2022 field camp. Sample lengths as small as 0.5 m were used
to isolate features of interest, otherwise a default 1.5 m downhole
sample length was used. Core was cut in half lengthwise along a
pre-determined line, with one half (same half, consistently) collected
for analysis and one half stored as a record. Standard reference
materials, blanks and duplicate samples were inserted by Snowline
personnel at regular intervals into the sample stream. Bagged samples
were sealed with security tags to ensure integrity during transport. They
were delivered by expeditor and by Snowline personnel to ALS
Laboratories’ preparatory facility in Whitehorse, Yukon, with analyses
completed in Vancouver.
ALS is accredited to ISO 17025:2005 UKAS ref 4028 for its laboratory analysis.
Samples were crushed by ALS to >70% passing below 2 mm and split using
a riffle splitter. 250 g splits were pulverized to >85% passing below
75 microns. A four-acid digest with an inductively coupled plasma mass
spectroscopy (ICP-MS) finish was used for 48-element analysis on 0.25 g
sample pulps (ALS code: ME-MS61L). All samples were analysed for gold
content by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish
on 30 g samples (ALS code: Au-AA23). Any sample returning >10 g/t Au was
reanalysed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 30 g sample (ALS
code: Au-GRA21).
Samples with visible gold and other samples returning >2.0 g/t Au by
fire assay, along with a set of randomly selected samples, will undergo
further processing, analysing the screen rejects to determine whether the
screening process could introduce a sampling bias in current results by
excluding coarse gold from analysis, resulting in an under-reporting of
true grades. Other biases are also possible.
Results reported herein are considered preliminary following receipt of a
low but expected percentage of abnormal assays from standard and blank
samples inserted by the Company into the Valley sample stream. (Standard
samples are prepared by a third-party laboratory to have known quantities
of gold, and blank samples are known to contain very limited
concentrations of gold.) Reanalysis of samples run along with these
reference materials will provide greater certainty in the final assay
numbers. These results will be reported if a material difference is
identified between the current assays and the re-run sample batches.
Based on the widespread and relatively consistent mineralization
throughout mineralized zones, however, the Company does not believe that
the re-analysis of this relatively small number of samples will have a
significant impact on the preliminary mineralized intervals reported
herein.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company
with a seventeen-project portfolio covering >254,000 ha. The Company
is exploring its flagship >111,000 ha Einarson and Rogue gold projects
in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s
project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to
multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’
Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine.
The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a
unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and
the creation of a new gold district.
Figure 5 – Project
location map for Snowline
Gold’s eastern Selwyn Basin properties. The Valley and Gracie Zones on the
Rogue are the sites of Snowline’s 2022 drill programs.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and
approved by Thomas K. Branson, M.Sc., P. Geo., Exploration Manager for
Snowline and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument
43-101.