Sitka Gold: Every drill meter at Blackjack increased new resource by an average of 122 ounces!

The efficiency of Sitka Gold’s (TSXV: SIG; FRA: 1RF) drilling campaigns at its RC Gold Project in the Yukon continues to impress, including with the release of the new MRE. With just 11,725 meters of additional diamond drilling since the publication of the first resource estimate in early 2023, the company has more than doubled the gold resource of its Blackjack deposit from 900,000 ounces at 0.83 g/t to a total of 2,335,000 ounces and also significantly increased the average grades in both the indicated and inferred resource categories. With every meter drilled, the company has therefore drilled an additional 122 ounces of gold in resources.

At a cutoff grade of 0.3 g/t gold, the indicated mineral resource is now 1,291,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 1.01 g/t (39,962,000 tons). The inferred mineral resource is 1,044,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 0.94 g/t (34,603,000 tons). The company has – despite a higher gold price – raised the cut-off grade for its new resource calculation compared to 2023. At that time, a cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t gold was used to calculate the Blackjack. This is indicative of a cautious strategy in publishing its results.

The updated MRE at Blackjack has a well-defined and consistent core of 1 g/t or more material that extends from surface to 660 m depth and remains open in all directions. Initial metallurgical testing indicates that the gold at the Blackjack deposit is not refractory and has a high recovery of up to 94% with minimal NaCN consumption.

Figure 1: Block model of Blackjack showing the higher-grade core of the mineralization and a possible pit design.

The gold resource announced today is likely to be nothing more than a snapshot in time, as Sitka Gold is planning its most extensive drilling program to date this year. 30,000 meters of drilling is planned at RC Gold this year to continue the upgrade and expansion of the Blackjack resource and to further develop other significant centers of gold mineralization within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex (“CCIC”), , including the Eiger deposit, which contains an initial inferred MRE of 440,000 ounces of gold, as well as the Saddle, Rhosgobel, Contact, Pukelman, Bear Paw and Josephine targets.

Cor Coe, Director and CEO of Sitka Gold commented, “We are excited about the remarkable growth of the Blackjack gold deposit, which has been achieved in just two years at our flagship Yukon gold RC project. With only 11,725 meters of additional diamond drilling since the publication of the initial mineral resource estimate in 2023, we have increased the number of ounces contained in the Blackjack gold deposit by more than two and a half times, while also increasing the overall grade. This updated resource estimate reflects the quality of this discovery highlighted by the robust, non-refractory gold mineralization with a significant core of higher-grade material of 1 gram per tonne or more starting at surface and extending to a currently defined depth These results also illustrate the exceptional scalability achievable with relatively modest drilling at RC Gold and underscore the potential of this extensive gold system to host world-class, multimillion-ounce gold deposits. The Blackjack deposit is a benchmark for what can be achieved at the various other intrusions within the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex, all of which have proven to host similar gold mineralization. With 30,000 meters of diamond drilling planned this year, we are on track to rapidly advance what is fast becoming a multi-million ounce gold deposit.”
The morphology and grade of this mineralization allows for the potential development of a higher-grade starter pit and faster payback on capital costs of a potential future mine development. The MRE is also relatively insensitive to changes in cut-off grades, further validating the quality of the resource.

Figure 2: Clear Creek Intrusive Complex (CCIC) map provides an overview of the intrusive targets identified to date. The planned 30,000-meter 2025 diamond drilling program will focus on further expanding the 2-kilometer Blackjack-Eiger area with 15,000 meters of drilling. An additional 10,000 meters of drilling is planned at Rhosgobel to follow up on initial diamond drilling of Sitka in late 2024 that encountered intercepts of significant gold mineralization, including 119.0 meters of 1.05 g/t gold.

Conclusion: To date, Sitka Gold has drilled just 72 diamond drill holes totaling approximately 25,136 meters in the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex. In addition to the resource drilling at Blackjack and Eiger, the Saddle, Josephine, Rhosgobel and Pukelman zones have been tested and shown to host similar intrusion related gold mineralization. With its 30,000-meter drill program in 2025, Sitka Gold plans to drill more this year than in all previous years combined. We have already pointed out that this drilling is fully funded. If the Blackjack deposit is any indication of what can be expected from the other intrusion targets, shareholders could be in for a very lucrative year.