Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - October 24, 2023) - Cassiar Gold Corp. (TSXV: GLDC) (OTCQX: CGLCF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results from an additional ten diamond drill holes from the 2023 exploration program. The results reported are from the Taurus Deposit and outlying Wings Canyon target located in the Cassiar North area of the Company's flagship Cassiar Gold Property in northern British Columbia. The Taurus Deposit hosts a substantial near-surface, bulk-tonnage Inferred gold resource of 1.4 million ounces grading 1.14 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) [1] which remains open in most directions and has been a priority for further expansion during the 2023 exploration campaign. Results from the eastern portion of the Taurus Deposit (Figure 1) confirm the potential for expansion of known mineralization well outside the current resource footprint, while results from Wings Canyon highlight additional targeting opportunities along prospective structural corridors in outlying areas. Results remain pending for 29 drill holes totaling 10,788 metres (m) of drilling from the 2023 program.
Highlights:
The latest drilling results reported in this news release are from ten holes totaling 2,587 m from the Taurus East and Wings Canyon areas at Cassiar North (Figure 1).
- Drill hole 23TA-195 intersected 27.7 m of 1.18 g/t Au from 152.1 m down hole, including 5.8 m of 2.61 g/t Au, expanding mineralization 65 m beyond the current mineralization model along the Decline Fault at Taurus East (Table 1).
Drill hole 23TA-192 at Taurus East intersected
0.7 m of 89.60 g/t Au from 45.0 m downhole, representing a 60 m extension of a higher-grade intercept encountered during the 2022 drill program
6.3 m of 1.73 g/t Au from 118.5 m downhole, expanding mineralization along the Decline Fault, 50 m down dip of 2022 drill holes and 430 m south of the Taurus East mineralization model
All drill holes at Wings Canyon intersected gold mineralization above the 0.5 g/t Au cutoff grade of the 2022 Inferred Mineral Resource at Taurus, including drill hole 23WC-207 which returned 29.3 m of 0.52 g/t Au from 5.9 m downhole.
"We are pleased to report continued success as we work to further demonstrate the persistence of mineralization along established trends at outlying target areas, well beyond the footprint of the Taurus resource." stated Marco Roque, CEO of Cassiar Gold Corp. "Our 2023 drill program at our flagship project is now complete and the Company is well-positioned to provide project updates as new results are returned."
Table 1. Significant 2023 drilling results from Taurus Deposit and Wings Canyon based on a >0.5 g/t cutoff. While true thickness has not been established, drill holes are designed to cross at high to moderate angles within known corridors of mineralization based on orientations of mineralized areas defined by previous drilling and structural data from oriented drill core and outcropping veins.
| Target Area | Drillhole | From (m) | To (m) | Length* (m) | Grade (g/t Au) | |
| Taurus East | 23TA-192 | 8.6 | 9.0 | 0.4 | 7.05 | |
| 20.1 | 20.5 | 0.4 | 2.62 | |||
| 45.0 | 45.7 | 0.7 | 89.60 | |||
| 66.7 | 67.3 | 0.5 | 6.75 | |||
| 79.2 | 80.0 | 0.8 | 3.24 | |||
| 87.0 | 89.9 | 2.9 | 0.82 | |||
| 118.5 | 124.8 | 6.3 | 1.73 | |||
| 23TA-193 | 16.9 | 17.4 | 0.5 | 7.88 | ||
| 56.9 | 62.4 | 5.6 | 0.91 | |||
| 137.0 | 142.7 | 5.7 | 3.98 | |||
| incl. | 137.6 | 140.0 | 2.4 | 5.37 | ||
| 23TA-195 | 95.5 | 98.2 | 2.7 | 0.98 | ||
| 133.5 | 138.1 | 4.6 | 0.63 | |||
| 152.1 | 179.8 | 27.7 | 1.18 | |||
| incl. | 152.1 | 152.8 | 0.7 | 6.37 | ||
| and | 159.8 | 160.2 | 0.4 | 4.38 | ||
| and | 167.3 | 168.0 | 0.7 | 6.29 | ||
| and | 173.2 | 179.0 | 5.8 | 2.61 | ||
| 23TA-196 | 10.1 | 10.7 | 0.6 | 0.83 | ||
| 31.3 | 31.9 | 0.6 | 0.75 | |||
| 34.1 | 35.4 | 1.3 | 0.73 | |||
| 62.3 | 62.9 | 0.6 | 1.60 | |||
| 66.6 | 67.8 | 1.2 | 0.71 | |||
| 271.6 | 272.2 | 0.5 | 0.66 | |||
| 297.3 | 298.1 | 0.9 | 1.29 | |||
| 23TA-197 | 63.0 | 63.9 | 0.9 | 0.53 | ||
| 23TA-199 | no significant intercepts | |||||
| Wings Canyon | 23WC-205 | 5.2 | 27.5 | 22.3 | 0.92 | |
| incl. | 16.5 | 17.3 | 0.8 | 7.16 | ||
| and | 24.6 | 25.4 | 0.8 | 6.20 | ||
| 55.7 | 57.5 | 1.8 | 0.76 | |||
| 180.7 | 181.7 | 1.0 | 0.95 | |||
| 23WC-206 | 17.8 | 18.3 | 0.5 | 0.79 | ||
| 24.0 | 25.1 | 1.1 | 1.51 | |||
| 23WC-207 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.93 | ||
| 5.9 | 35.2 | 29.3 | 0.52 | |||
| 40.5 | 41.3 | 0.8 | 0.62 | |||
| 49.8 | 50.4 | 0.6 | 0.54 | |||
| 23WC-208 | 19.6 | 20.6 | 1.1 | 0.78 | ||
| * Drill core lengths are reported here. True widths for these intervals have not been established | ||||||
2023 Drilling at the Taurus Deposit and Wings Canyon - Cassiar North Drill Program
The Taurus Deposit hosts a significant near-surface, bulk-tonnage, and pit-constrained inferred gold resource of 1.4 million ounces grading 1.14 g/t Au [2], 90% of the resource occurs within 150 m of surface, and mineralization remains open in most directions. Two mineralization styles comprise the Taurus Deposit collectively forming broad mineralized zones: (i) east-west trending sheeted vein sets and minor shear zones with pyritic alteration halos, and (ii) disseminated pyrite mineralization along the north-northwest trending and east-dipping Taurus West Fault.
The Wings Canyon target area is located 500 m southeast of the Taurus resource within a geologic setting that includes extensive quartz vein development and hydrothermal alteration, with limited drilling. Early stage drill testing at outlying targets such as Wings Canyon supports the ongoing evaluation of potential opportunities to expand the Company's resource base at Cassiar North.
Drilling at Taurus East and Wings Canyon encountered geology that demonstrates similar styles of veining, alteration, and sulphide mineralization to the Taurus resource area. These drill holes continue to reinforce the potential influence of a larger mineralizing system than currently established at Cassiar North and highlight potential along trend and proximal to prospective structural corridors.
Figure 1. Cassiar North 2023 drill campaign drill hole locations plan map of expansion and exploration drilling at the Taurus deposit and Wings Canyon, with the location of drill holes reported within this news release contained within the blue square (shown in detail in Figure 3). Drill hole numbers refer to holes with the prefix "23TA-" unless specified otherwise. Notes - Historical production figures from Taurus MINFILE Production Detail Report, file number 104P 012, BC Geological Survey. The Taurus East mineralization model (orange).
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Taurus East Drill Holes
Six drill holes which are reported here, totaling 1,661 m in cumulative length, were drilled at the eastern extent of the Taurus deposit and aimed to expand mineralization along strike from the Taurus resource, as well as northward and southward while evaluating the Decline Fault model. Drill holes were targeting potential north-northwest mineralized trends along the Decline Fault, as well as potential east-west sheeted vein sets and associated bulk-tonnage style disseminated pyrite mineralization.
Decline Fault Trend:
23TA-195, 23TA-199 (southwest oriented), and 23TA-192, 23TA-197 (northwest oriented) aimed to identify the extension of mineralization northward and southward along the Decline Fault beyond the extent of the 2022 mineralization model. The moderately east-dipping Decline Fault occurs sub-parallel to the Taurus West Fault which is interpreted to be of similar age and importance in local mineralization paragenesis and a potential feeder to broad, shallow south-plunging domains of mineralization at the western extent of the 2022 resource.
Drill hole 23TA-195 (southwest oriented) was designed to evaluate the continuity of mineralization along the Decline Fault, beyond the extent of the Taurus East mineralization model as follow up to intercepts encountered in the 2022 drill program (see NEWS RELEASE, September 13, 2022; NEWS RELEASE, March 3, 2022), as well as test the potential for mineralization to extend into the footwall of the Decline Fault. This drill hole encountered multiple intercepts, infilling and expanding mineralization encountered along the Decline Fault, 50-65 m from 2022 drill holes. Results include (Figure 2, 3; Table 1):
- 27.7 m of 1.18 g/t Au from 152.1 m downhole, including
- 0.7 m of 6.37 g/t Au, and
- 0.4 m of 4.38 g/t Au, and
- 0.7 m of 6.29 g/t Au, and
- 5.8 m of 2.61 g/t Au
This broad intercept exhibits comparable grades to the Taurus resource, infills and expands mineralization beyond the extent of the 2022 Taurus East mineralization model and further extends mineralization into the footwall block of the Decline Fault. See Table 1, Figure 3 for additional assay highlights.
Figure 2. Vertical section showing 23TA-195 at Taurus East, looking to the northwest. Assay results in red and higher-grade nested intervals in black are reported in this news release. Section width +/- 25m.
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Three of the four drill holes testing the Decline Fault trend identified intercepts at grades higher than the 0.5 g/t Au cutoff grade of the 2022 Taurus resource (see Table 1) and largely occur approximately 65 to 450 m outside of the Taurus East mineralization model (0.3 g/t Au; Figures 1 and 3). This includes drill hole 23TA-192 which encountered several narrow but higher-grade intercepts such as:
- 0.7 m of 89.60 g/t Au from 45.0 m downhole 60 m southeast of a narrow high grade intercept encountered in drill hole 22TA-140 during the 2022 program, which returned 0.34 m at 34.00 g/t Au (see NEWS RELEASE, September 13, 2022), as well as
- a broader lower-grade intercept of 6.3 m of 1.73 g/t Au from 118.5 m downhole, expanding mineralization proximal to the Decline Fault, 50 m east of 2022 drilling.
These three drill holes demonstrate the potential for continued lateral expansion of mineralization proximal to this structure.
East-West Taurus Trend:
In the Taurus East area, drilling was designed to test broader potential for expansion of mineralization along east-west trends typically associated with sheeted vein sets internal to the Taurus resource and at the past-producing Taurus Mine.
Drill holes 23TA-193 and 23TA-196 (south oriented), were designed to test along strike for extensions of mineralization associated with the historical Taurus Mine trend (23TA-193) as well as follow up on near-surface intercepts encountered in 2022 while testing for potential parallel vein sets to the south (23TA-196).
- Drill hole 23TA-193 returned:
- 5.6 m of 0.91 g/t Au from 56.9 m downhole, and
- 5.7 m of 3.98 g/t Au from 137.0 m downhole, expanding mineralization 60 m west of the current mineralization model.
- Drill hole 23TA-196 encountered several narrow intercepts above the 0.5 g/t Au cutoff grade of the Taurus resource along the historical Taurus Mine trend starting from 10.1 m downhole, as well as further downhole 150 m to the south of the mineralization model.
- See Table 1, Figure 3 for additional assay highlights.
Figure 3. Plan map of 2023 drill holes reported in this news release. The map location is shown in Figure 1. The vertical projection of the mineralized intercepts which are reported here are included for reference.
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Wings Canyon Drill Holes
Wings Canyon is an area of intense iron-carbonate altered mafic volcanic rocks that lies approximately 500 m to the southeast of, and is similar in character to the Taurus Deposit. Four drill holes, totaling 926 m, drilled at Wings Canyon were designed to evaluate the potential extension of known mineralization and sheeted vein sets present in outcrop and encountered in previous drilling on the west side of Wings Canyon. All four drill holes returned gold values above the cutoff grade of the Taurus resource. Results from the current program include (Figure 3, 4; Table 1):
- 23WC-207: 29.3 m of 0.52 g/t Au from 5.9 m downhole, expanding mineralization 50 m east-northeast of mineralization encountered during the 2022 drill program (see NEWS RELEASE, March 3, 2023)
- 23WC-205: 22.3 m of 0.92 g/t Au from 5.2 m, confirming the distribution of near-surface mineralization encountered in previous drilling.
- See Table 1, Figure 3 for additional results.
Figure 4. Vertical section showing 23WC-207 at Wings Canyon, looking to the southwest. Assay results in red are reported in this news release. Section width +/- 25m.
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Figure 5. View looking east across Wings Canyon, showing an example of a broad area of quartz veins and rusty iron-carbonate-sericite-pyrite alteration in mafic volcanic rocks (basalt) that are characteristic of this target area. Drilling reported here lies to the west, outside of but near the canyon.
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Drill holes 23WC-206 and 23WC-208:
Drill hole 23WC-206 was designed to test for the potential southwest extension of a mineralized shear encountered in previous drilling, while drill hole 23WC-208 was designed to test for potential parallel veining 100 m north of 23WC-205. Both drill holes encountered narrow intercepts of gold mineralization at grades comparable to areas within the Taurus deposit including 1.1 m of 1.51 g/t Au (23WC-206) and 1.1 m of 0.78 g/t Au (23WC-208) (Table 1; Figure 3).
Mineralization remains open on both the west and east sides of Wings Canyon, including between Wings Canyon and the Taurus deposit, 500 m to the northwest, as well as along strike toward the Snow Creek prospect which lies several kilometers to east-northeast. These areas remain targets for future exploration work.
Qualified Person
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Jill Maxwell, P.Geo., Cassiar Gold Corp.'s VP Exploration, who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC)
The 2023 Cassiar drilling program comprises HQ drill core oriented using the REFLEX ACTIII system. Drill core samples are selected and logged by geologists prior to being cut in half using a diamond cutting saw at a secure facility located in Jade City, British Columbia. Certified gold reference standards and blanks are routinely inserted into the sample stream as part of the Company's QA/QC program. All samples are delivered to the ALS Global preparation facility in Whitehorse, Yukon, where they are processed, and then shipped to the ALS Global analytical facility in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Samples are analyzed for gold by 50-gram fire assay with finish by atomic absorption or gravimetric methods. Screen metallic analysis is performed on selected samples. ALS Global quality systems and technical aspects conform to requirements of ISO/IEC Standard 17025 guidelines.
About Cassiar Gold Corp.
Cassiar Gold Corp. is a Canadian gold exploration company holding a 100% interest in its flagship Cassiar Gold Property located in British Columbia, Canada. The Cassiar Gold property spans 590 km2 and consists of two main project areas: Cassiar North, which hosts a NI 43-101-compliant inferred resource estimate of 1.4Moz at 1.14 g/t Au (cutoff grade of 0.5 g/t Au) known as the as the Taurus Deposit (see National Instrument 43-101 Technical report on the Cassiar Gold property, April 28, 2022, by S. Zelligan, J. Moors, C. Jolette, posted to SEDAR); and Cassiar South which hosts numerous gold showings, historical workings, and exploration prospects. Historical underground mines in the Cassiar South area have yielded over 315,000 oz of Au at average head grades of between 10 and 20 g/t Au2, underscoring the high potential for further discovery and expansion of high-grade orogenic gold veins.
The Company also holds a 100% interest in the Sheep Creek gold camp located near Salmo, BC. The Sheep Creek gold district ranks as the third largest past-producing orogenic gold district in BC with historical gold production of 742,000 ounces gold at an average grade of 14.7 g/t gold from 1900 to 1951. Minimal exploration work has been conducted since the 1950s.
Cassiar Gold Corp. acknowledges, respects, and supports the rights of Traditional First Nations in the lands and communities where we operate.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Cassiar Gold Corp.
E-mail: ir@cassiargold.com
Phone: 236-878-6160
2 See April 28, 2022, NI43-101 Report titled "National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Cassiar Gold Property" by Zelligan, P.Geo, Moors, P.Geo, Jolette, P.Geo.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward looking statements including those describing the Company's future plans and the expectations of management that a stated result or condition will occur. Any statement addressing future events or conditions necessarily involves inherent risk and uncertainty. Actual results can differ materially from those anticipated by management at the time of writing due to many factors, the majority of which are beyond the control of the Company and its management. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining, directly or indirectly, to the Company's exploration plans and work commitments, mineral resource estimates and the assumptions underlying such estimates, and economic factors, business and operations strategies.
Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties, actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with the exploration and development industry in general (e.g., operational risks in development, exploration and production; the uncertainty of mineral resource estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks), constraint in the availability of services, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, the current COVID-19 pandemic, changes in legislation impacting the mining industry, adverse weather conditions and uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures.
Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. These statements speak only as of the date of this release or as of the date specified in the documents accompanying this release, as the case may be. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as expressly required by applicable securities laws.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
[1] See April 28, 2022, NI43-101 Report titled "National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Cassiar Gold Property" by Zelligan, P.Geo, Moors, P.Geo, Jolette, P.Geo.
[2] See April 28, 2022, NI43-101 Report titled "National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Cassiar Gold Property" by Zelligan, P.Geo, Moors, P.Geo, Jolette, P.Geo.
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