Goliath Resources (TSXV GOT / Frankfurt B4IF) has made a huge gold discovery called Surebet at its Golddigger project in British Columbia, whose world-class potential has been confirmed with each successive drill hole. This sensational success was achieved in less than two years of net exploration. However, the time that Goliath can actually be active on the project each year is limited due to the location of the area. But now, a solution seems to have been found!
CEO Roger Rosmus’ company has just announced that it has engaged the world-renowned experts at JDS Energy & Mining to investigate the viability, permitting and development of an underground adit for further exploration at Surebet! JDS is to construct an exploration adit that will allow Goliath to access a large portion of the gently dipping, high-grade gold vein called the Bonanza Zone, which is located approximately 200 meters above the valley floor.
An exploration adit would offer numerous advantages
The planned adit would have a number of advantages for the company, as it would allow extensive parts of Surebet’s vein system to be drilled from underground, for example, reducing the number of meters of drilling required for advanced resource work. And as CEO Rosmus points out, the drilling costs per meter would also be significantly reduced!
Another advantage, as mentioned, is that Goliath Resources will be much less dependent on the weather on the project, which is located at high altitude and comparatively far north and can therefore stay on the property longer and potentially accelerate the exploration of the area once again.
At the same time, the company is hoping for geological confirmation of the thickness and continuity of the Bonanza zone, where the adit could potentially be used to take bulk samples from this important zone. Among other things, this could also reconfirm recent successful drill intercepts, many of which have returned more than 1 ounce (approx. 30g) per ton. This includes drill hole GD-24-260, which returned 34.52 g/t gold equivalent (34.47 g/t gold and 3.96 g/t silver) over 39.00 meters, including 132.93 g/t AuEq (132.78 g/t Au and 12.98 g/t Ag) over 10.00 meters and 166.04 g/t AuEq (165.84 g/t Au and 16.07 g/t Ag) over 8.00 meters!
Not to mention that the bulk sample material would also allow advanced metallurgical work to be carried out to confirm and/or even improve the favorable data available to date.
Roger Rosmus, founder and CEO of Goliath, detailed: “We recently released the results of a Colorado School of Mines geological study that provided impressive insights and showed that gold mineralization occurs in two separate events with distinctly different depositional temperatures (cooler and hotter gold – collectively ‘Goldilocks’). One of these Goldilocks areas corresponds to the highest-grade gold intercept to date, where the gently dipping Bonanza zone intersects the Surebet zone and both are surrounded by two mineralized vertical RIRG veins. Equally impressive is that age dating of the gold mineralization shows that the veins and veinlets that make up the Surebet discovery are approximately the same age, suggesting a common intrusive source.”
In addition, “it would be very advantageous to drive an adit into the mountain from the side about 200 meters above the valley floor. This would intersect the high-grade Bonanza Gold Zone where we have reported numerous drill holes with mineable widths and grades in excess of 1 oz/T AuEq. Additional benefits for underground exploration drilling include targeting the contact area where the Goldilocks Gold Zone and RIRG mineralized zones have been identified. Knowing the location and controls of these highly productive zones within the mineralized system will certainly aid in the future targeting and planning of a potential bulk sample with the highest economic value.
It would also significantly reduce the overall drilling cost per meter and allow us to increase the number of meters to be drilled. In addition, this would serve as a permanent access point for future mining operations and support scalability. We would be able to drill in multiple directions and explore a larger area underground without surface constraints, while extending the continuity of and increasing confidence in the system. Direct observation of rock formations, faults and high-grade gold zones would provide valuable data to expand the known system in a targeted manner.
Ultimately, we could drill year-round instead of packing up at the end of our short exploration season, which would accelerate the timelines for expanding the system.”
In summary, with such an adit, Goliath Resources could drill more holes, at lower cost, for most of the year instead of just a few months, potentially accelerating the expansion and more accurate definition of this impressive, high-grade system. We look forward to seeing what the experts at JDS Energy & Mining have to say!
