Seabridge (SA) Reports Significant Expansion at FAT Deposit Zone 8
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Seabridge Gold Inc. (AMEX: SA) reports new drilling results have confirmed a significant expansion of Zone 8 within Courageous Lake's multi-million ounce FAT deposit. Previous drilling on the relatively high-grade Zone 8 had generated only a small portion of the FAT deposit's measured and indicated resource.
All assays have been capped at 10.1 grams of gold per tonne (g/T). True thicknesses of the above reported drill hole intercepts are estimated to be approximately 85-90% of the reported interval. Intercepts in bold in the table above are from Zone 8. Hole CL-175 was drilled on a new target and CL-177 to CL-180 were drilled as condemnation holes.
The drilling component of this year's $16 million program at Courageous Lake, located in Canada's Northwest Territories, was designed to: (i) upgrade inferred resources within the current FAT deposit pit plan by infill drilling; (ii) complete geotechnical drilling required for pit slope and water management planning in the PFS; (iii) condemn areas where project facilities will be located; and (iv) look for new targets along the 53 kilometers of the Matthew's Lake greenstone belt held by Seabridge.
In August, September and November Seabridge reported results from the first 36 core holes (totaling 11,680 meters) from this summer's program. The results reported above represent the final assays from the 2011 infill drill program. All 48 infill holes drilled on the FAT deposit in 2011 intersected gold values above the resource cutoff grade.
The FAT deposit is in the Slave Province, an extensive geological terrain in Canada's Northwest Territories. The deposit's name is an acronym for its dominant rock type, Felsic Ash Tuff. This gold occurrence, hosted by Archean greenstone rocks, was formed in a rhyolite/dacite dome complex that measures about 2km along strike and about 800m of stratigraphic section in width. Although tuffaceous rocks are the most common in the deposit there are also clear intervals of clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks and a few late intrusions.
Sulfide mineralogy in the FAT deposit is relatively simple and consists of pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite in decreasing order of abundance. While all of these minerals can be found in the mineralized zones, only arsenopyrite has a consistent correlative relationship to gold concentrations. Extensive metallurgical test work has been performed on Courageous Lake resulting in an expected gold recovery of approximately 90% utilizing a flotation circuit followed by pressure oxidation. In June, 2011 Seabridge announced the results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for Courageous Lake demonstrating the potential for a robust project in the current gold price environment (see http://www.seabridgegold.net/CL-PEA_ExecSummary2011.pdf for the PEA executive summary).
In constructing a geological model for resource estimation, unique stratigraphic intervals were defined and labeled as domains 1 through 9 and domain 14. Each domain contains specific and unique tuff and sedimentary units arranged in particular stratigraphic sequences. The defined geological domains are relics of the depositional environment in which they were formed. Consequently, within these domains the style of rock types, hydrothermal alteration, vein occurrences and sulfide mineralogy are generally consistent across the length and breadth of each specific domain. Distribution of gold within a domain and the surrounding rock is treated differently from other domains in resource modeling. Although 10 separate geological domains have been recognized in the FAT deposit, domains 3, 4 and 5 currently contain about 90% of the gold in the deposit.
All assays have been capped at 10.1 grams of gold per tonne (g/T). True thicknesses of the above reported drill hole intercepts are estimated to be approximately 85-90% of the reported interval. Intercepts in bold in the table above are from Zone 8. Hole CL-175 was drilled on a new target and CL-177 to CL-180 were drilled as condemnation holes.
The drilling component of this year's $16 million program at Courageous Lake, located in Canada's Northwest Territories, was designed to: (i) upgrade inferred resources within the current FAT deposit pit plan by infill drilling; (ii) complete geotechnical drilling required for pit slope and water management planning in the PFS; (iii) condemn areas where project facilities will be located; and (iv) look for new targets along the 53 kilometers of the Matthew's Lake greenstone belt held by Seabridge.
In August, September and November Seabridge reported results from the first 36 core holes (totaling 11,680 meters) from this summer's program. The results reported above represent the final assays from the 2011 infill drill program. All 48 infill holes drilled on the FAT deposit in 2011 intersected gold values above the resource cutoff grade.
The FAT deposit is in the Slave Province, an extensive geological terrain in Canada's Northwest Territories. The deposit's name is an acronym for its dominant rock type, Felsic Ash Tuff. This gold occurrence, hosted by Archean greenstone rocks, was formed in a rhyolite/dacite dome complex that measures about 2km along strike and about 800m of stratigraphic section in width. Although tuffaceous rocks are the most common in the deposit there are also clear intervals of clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks and a few late intrusions.
Sulfide mineralogy in the FAT deposit is relatively simple and consists of pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite in decreasing order of abundance. While all of these minerals can be found in the mineralized zones, only arsenopyrite has a consistent correlative relationship to gold concentrations. Extensive metallurgical test work has been performed on Courageous Lake resulting in an expected gold recovery of approximately 90% utilizing a flotation circuit followed by pressure oxidation. In June, 2011 Seabridge announced the results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for Courageous Lake demonstrating the potential for a robust project in the current gold price environment (see http://www.seabridgegold.net/CL-PEA_ExecSummary2011.pdf for the PEA executive summary).
In constructing a geological model for resource estimation, unique stratigraphic intervals were defined and labeled as domains 1 through 9 and domain 14. Each domain contains specific and unique tuff and sedimentary units arranged in particular stratigraphic sequences. The defined geological domains are relics of the depositional environment in which they were formed. Consequently, within these domains the style of rock types, hydrothermal alteration, vein occurrences and sulfide mineralogy are generally consistent across the length and breadth of each specific domain. Distribution of gold within a domain and the surrounding rock is treated differently from other domains in resource modeling. Although 10 separate geological domains have been recognized in the FAT deposit, domains 3, 4 and 5 currently contain about 90% of the gold in the deposit.
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