Mining News: News Nuggets: Peak Gold wraps 2016 program; new resource, drilling up next

Contango ORE Inc. Jan. 19 reported results from the final 11 holes completed during the third phase of 2016 drilling at the Tetlin gold project in Interior Alaska. Overall, the 2016 program at Tetlin – conducted by Peak Gold, LLC, a joint venture between Contango Ore and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Gold Inc. – included 20,523 meters of drilling in 118 holes. The phase-3 drill program, which included 37 holes, focused on the North Peak zone at Tetlin. Highlights from the last 11 holes include22.74 meters of 26.61 grams per metric ton gold from a depth of 14.31 meters in hole TET16302; 21.2 meters of 11.86 g/t gold from a depth of 16.31 meters in TET16304; and 29.54 meters of 7.17 g/t gold from a depth of 17.7 meters in TET16306. The best hole drilled into the North Peak zone last year cut 38.88 meters averaging 51.62 g/t gold from a depth of 14.5 meters. All of the drilling completed since Royal Gold joined the project in 2015 will be included in a resource calculation slated for completion by the end of March. “We anticipate that drilling operations will resume in early February to target open areas at North Peak, as well as exploratory targets in close proximity to both North Peak and Main Peak. This first phase of 2017 drilling is expected to total 6,000 meters of new core drilling,” said Contango Ore President and CEO Brad Juneau.

-Shane Lasley