15:50:16 EDT Thu 28 Mar 2024
Enter Symbol
or Name
USA
CA



Skeena Resources Ltd (4)
Symbol SKE
Shares Issued 65,392,363
Close 2022-01-25 C$ 15.85
Market Cap C$ 1,036,468,954
Recent Sedar Documents

Skeena drills 40.5 m of two g/t AuEq at Eskay Creek

2022-01-26 07:45 ET - News Release

Mr. Walter Coles Jr. reports

SKEENA ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF NEW 23 ZONE AT ESKAY CREEK: 2.00 G/T AUEQ OVER 40.50 METRES

Skeena Resources Ltd. has expanded the recently discovered 23 zone, located outside the limits of the company's current pit-constrained mineral resources at the Eskay Creek gold-silver project in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia. Analytical results from the recently completed drill holes are detailed in this release. Reference images are presented on the company's website.

New 23 zone highlights:

  • 1.97 grams per tonne gold and three g/t silver (2.00 g/t gold equivalent) over 40.50 m (SK-21-971);
  • 0.58 g/t Au and 14 g/t Ag (0.76 g/t AuEq) over 52.00 m (SK-21-963);
  • 3.00 g/t Au and four g/t Ag (3.05 g/t AuEq) over 7.49 m (SK-21-973).

Gold equivalent (AuEq) was calculated via the formula: Au (g/t) plus (Ag (g/t) divided by 75). True widths and zone geometries cannot be definitively determined at this time. Grade capping of individual assays has not been applied to the Au and Ag assays informing the length-weighted AuEq composites. Metallurgical processing recoveries have not been applied to the AuEq calculation and are taken at 100 per cent. Samples below detection limit were nulled to a value of zero.

Stepout drilling expands new 23 zone

Situated beyond the extents of the currently defined pit-constrained resources at Eskay Creek, the company has grown the recently discovered 23 zone of near-surface Au-Ag mineralization. This new zone was revealed by drilling in the fourth quarter of 2021 as part of the continuing regional exploration program.

Drill hole SK-21-971 was collared east of the newly announced discovery drill holes and has expanded the updip mineralization by 90 m having intersected 1.97 g/t Au and three g/t Ag (2.00 g/t AuEq) over 40.50 m. Drilling to date indicates a shallow, westerly dipping geometry and the 23 zone remains open for expansion in all directions.

New 23 zone discussion

Positioned 200 m east of the high-grade 21A zone, the area was historically drilled from surface by previous operators on widely spaced drill centres. Selective drill hole sampling during this era meant that the discovery of the larger and more robust mineralized widths observed as a result of the 2021 drilling program was missed historically. This lack of non-continuous historical sampling is evidenced by 2021 drill hole SK-21-963, which intersected 0.58 g/t Au and 14 g/t Ag (0.76 g/t AuEq) over 52.00 m only metres away from historical 1990 drill hole CA90-433, which due to non-continuous sampling only reported 1.44 g/t AuEq and 0.82 g/t AuEq over 2.00 m and 5.00 m, respectively.

Mineralization in the 23 zone is almost exclusively hosted within dacitic volcanic rocks and to a lesser degree, the overlying lower mudstone unit. As such, the Au-Ag grade is consistent with that observed in footwall mineralization elsewhere on the property (21A, 21B, 21C and 22 zones). Concentrations of the epithermal suite of elements (arsenic, mercury and antimony), are negligible as is the case with this style of footwall mineralization across Eskay Creek.

Southern extension targets

Gold in soil anomalies supported by geological considerations were targeted by an additional six drill holes on the southern extension targets on the property. Despite intersecting highly altered host rocks, no substantial grades were returned in these specific locations.

Current status -- exploration

The regional exploration drilling program was designed to pragmatically test near-surface targets across the Eskay Creek property with the goal of delineating additional near-surface resources to supplement the existing mine plan. To date, 72 drill holes totalling 12,890 m have been completed representing about 37 per cent of the budgeted 35,000 m drill program. Of the 72 drill holes, 44 have been released to date and the remaining 28 will be released once the company receives the pending assay results. The outstanding metreage for the regional exploration program will be drilled once the Albino waste facility drill program has been completed in Q2 2022.

About Skeena Resources Ltd.

Skeena Resources is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on revitalizing the formerly producing Eskay Creek gold-silver mine located in Tahltan territory in the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The company released a prefeasibility study for Eskay Creek in July, 2021, which highlights an open-pit average grade of 4.57 g/t AuEq, an after-tax NPV5 (net present value at a 5-per-cent discount) of $1.4-billion, 56-per-cent IRR (internal rate of return) and a 1.4-year payback at $1,550 (U.S.)/ounce Au. Skeena is currently completing both infill and exploration drilling to advance Eskay Creek to full feasibility study in Q1 2022.

Qualified persons

Exploration activities at the Eskay Creek project are administered on site by the company's exploration managers, Raegan Markel, PGeo, and John Tyler, and director of exploration Adrian Newton, PGeo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, PGeo, vice-president, exploration and resource development, is the qualified person for the company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The company strictly adheres to CIM (Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) best practices guidelines in conducting, documenting and reporting the exploration activities on its projects.

Quality assurance/quality control

Once received from the drill and processed, all drill core samples are sawn in half, labelled and bagged. The remaining drill core is subsequently securely stored on site. Numbered security tags are applied to lab shipments for chain-of-custody requirements. The company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals into the sample stream, including blanks and reference materials with all sample shipments to monitor laboratory performance. The QA/QC program was designed and approved by Lynda Bloom, PGeo, of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is overseen by the company's qualified person, Mr. Geddes.

Drill core samples are submitted to ALS's analytical facility in North Vancouver, B.C., for preparation and analysis. The ALS facility is accredited to the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission 17025 standard for gold assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria. The entire sample is crushed and one kg is pulverized. Analysis for gold is by 50 g fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AAS) finish with a lower limit of 0.01 part per million and upper limit of 100 ppm. Samples with gold assays greater than 100 ppm are reanalyzed using a 50 g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish. Analysis for silver is by 50 g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish with a lower limit of five ppm and upper limit of 10,000 ppm. Samples with silver assays greater than 10,000 ppm are reanalyzed using a gravimetric silver concentrate method. A selected number of samples are also analyzed using a 48-multielement geochemical package by a four-acid digestion, followed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and also for mercury using an aqua regia digest with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish. Samples with sulphur reporting greater than 10 per cent from the multielement analysis are reanalyzed for total sulphur by Leco furnace and infrared spectroscopy.

  ESKAY CREEK PROJECT 2021 EXPLORATORY DRILLING CAMPAIGN LENGTH-WEIGHTED DRILL HOLE COMPOSITES

Hole ID             From            To    Sample length            Au            Ag          AuEq
                     (m)           (m)              (m)         (g/t)         (g/t)         (g/t)

SK-21-954           2.35         20.00            17.65          0.40         12.46          0.56
SK-21-954          32.00         33.80             1.80          0.98        146.00          2.92
SK-21-954          71.20         72.05             0.85          0.64          4.30          0.70
SK-21-954         101.00        102.00             1.00          0.64          0.70          0.65
SK-21-954         298.00        300.90             2.90          0.90          0.75          0.91
SK-21-955           0.84         20.00            19.16          0.54         26.09          0.89
SK-21-955          51.50         53.00             1.50          0.82          1.80          0.84
SK-21-955         101.50        102.40             0.90          6.32         89.20          7.51
SK-21-955         234.00        237.00             3.00          0.70          1.50          0.72
SK-21-956                                                                                 pending
SK-21-957           3.50         20.00            16.50          0.43         18.55          0.68
SK-21-957          34.70         35.70             1.00          1.30         42.20          1.86
SK-21-957          43.50         47.70             4.20          0.52          7.05          0.61
SK-21-958           4.60         36.50            31.90          0.46         18.04          0.70
SK-21-958         120.20        121.10             0.90          0.76          1.60          0.78
SK-21-958         177.00        183.00             6.00          0.40          7.63          0.50
SK-21-962          13.50         20.45             6.95          0.67          4.13          0.72
SK-21-962          31.92         41.00             9.08          1.06          2.57          1.09
SK-21-962         101.50        111.00             9.50          0.76         70.52          1.70
SK-21-963          13.26         13.89             0.63          0.37         11.80          0.53
SK-21-963          40.50         92.50            52.00          0.58         13.53          0.76
SK-21-964           8.52         38.00            29.48          0.55          8.05          0.65
SK-21-964          69.54         81.50            11.96          0.59          4.65          0.65
SK-21-964         109.06        131.95            22.89          0.30          7.15          0.40
SK-21-964         155.50        156.10             0.60          0.54          0.60          0.55
SK-21-965                                                                                     NSA
SK-21-970           7.50         14.44             6.94          0.50          5.42          0.57
SK-21-970          73.50         76.63             3.13          0.67          1.87          0.70
SK-21-971          12.00         13.50             1.50          0.85          5.50          0.92
SK-21-971          22.73         26.72             3.99          0.66         10.19          0.80
SK-21-971          55.46         60.50             5.04          0.48          2.45          0.51
SK-21-971          72.00        112.50            40.50          1.97          2.66          2.00
including          90.00         90.51             0.51         16.70          9.80         16.83
SK-21-972                                                                                 pending
SK-21-973          61.50         63.00             1.50          0.60          1.00          0.61
SK-21-973         116.67        124.16             7.49          3.00          4.14          3.05
SK-21-974          89.00         96.04             7.04          0.65          3.19          0.69
SK-21-974         106.00        111.50             5.50          0.46          8.33          0.57
SK-21-974         119.21        130.30            11.09          0.45         33.63          0.90
SK-21-975                                                                                 pending
SK-21-976                                                                                     NSA
SK-21-977          13.50         22.50             9.00          0.35          0.70          0.36
SK-21-977          45.00         57.00            12.00          0.37          5.86          0.45
SK-21-977          96.09         97.19             1.10          3.19          8.40          3.30
SK-21-978                                                                                     NSA
SK-21-979                                                                                     NSA
SK-21-980                                                                                 pending
SK-21-981                                                                                 pending
SK-21-982                                                                                 pending

Gold equivalent was calculated via the formula: Au (g/t) plus (Ag (g/t) divided by 75). True 
widths and zone geometries cannot be definitively determined at this time. Grade capping of 
individual assays has not been applied to the Au and Ag assays informing the length-weighted 
AuEq composites. Metallurgical processing recoveries have not been applied to the AuEq 
calculation and are taken at 100 per cent. Samples below detection limit were nulled to a value 
of zero. NSA means no significant assays.

We seek Safe Harbor.

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