Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Drills turn on satellite targets at Yukon’s Eagle Gold project

Victoria Gold Corp. March 31 reported that it has begun drilling the Olive-Shamrock target, a satellite zone to the Eagle Gold deposit at the Dublin Gold project in the Yukon Territory. Olive lies 2,000 meters from the proposed infrastructure at the fully permitted Eagle Gold project, where the company plans to develop an open-pit mine and valley heap leach operation that would produce 192,000 ounces of gold annually for roughly nine years, based on probable reserves of 92 million metric tons averaging 0.78 grams per metric ton (2.3 million ounces) gold. Previous drill and trench results at Olive-Shamrock demonstrate the existence of near-surface mineralization to potentially feed into Eagle operations and metallurgical testing has shown the mineralization is amenable to heap leaching. “Olive-Shamrock has the potential to further enhance Eagle Project economics by virtue of additional higher-grade ore, increased flexibility in mine planning and lowering capital intensity through shared infrastructure,” explained Victoria Gold President and CEO John McConnell. A C$3.6 million exploration program is planned for Olive-Shamrock includes diamond drilling, surface trenching and geophysical surveys over the Olive-Shamrock zone with a focus on the previously undrilled areas linking Olive and Shamrock mineralization. The exploration program will concentrate on expanding the strike length of confirmed near-surface, high-grade gold mineralization within the Olive-Shamrock shear zone trend and target the previously un-tested, 300-meter area between the Olive and Shamrock targets. Victoria has partnered with SGS Minerals to provide a mobile on-site prep lab to ensure timely assay results are received. A maiden resource estimate at Olive is anticipated to be included in an updated Eagle Gold Feasibility Study scheduled to be released this fall. With three rigs turning, the roughly 8,000-meter drill program is expected to run for ten weeks.

- Shane Lasley