According to George Sanders, President of Goldcliff Resource Corporation, rock sampling at the company’s 100% owned Panorama Ridge site in Hedley, British Columbia, yielded geochemical readings that included 6.76 g/t and 5.02 g/t gold.
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This sampling was done as part of a geochemical and prospecting program for reconnaissance in September 2022. The program resulted in the collection of 54 rock samples from outcrop and angular mineralized float, which were then sent to MSALabs for analysis using the 40-g ICP-MS-112 multi-element technique.
The September program concentrated on areas outside of those that had already been drilled. Goldcliff dredged 6,198 m of trenching between 2003 and 2008 and drilled 16,611 m in 190 drill holes. From the surface to shallow depths of up to 30 m, grades of 0.75 g/t gold were continuously and consistently found in two zones, the York Viking, and the Nordic.
The two 2022 strong-grade float samples were from the Skar zone, which is around 900 m southwest of the York Viking zone that had previously been drilled.
Even though this was a previously noted region of significance, it was densely forested and had few outcrops at the time of Goldcliff’s last activity. After that, it was logged, giving access to a more thorough investigation.
These two samples from the Skar area are from a location where a large rock that was discovered next to a brand-new logging route in 2013 measured 2.37 g/t gold. In September 2022, it was discovered that the route had been restored. The angular shape of the 2022 float samples points to a possible source that could be nearby and upslope.
Float rock samples from 2009, roughly 250 m west and downslope from the two Skar samples, produced gold values of 9.77 g/t and 14.57 g/t. In 2019, a second downslope float sample was obtained at around the same height, midway between Skar and York, and it produced 17.8 g/t gold.
The York Viking drilled mineralization is thought to continue as a flat-lying zone to the southwest through the high-grade Bonanza trench and stretches at least 900 m further southwest to the Skar zone and recent sampling, according to a working hypothesis developed by Goldcliff’s geological team.
An examination of Goldcliff’s earlier geophysical surveys on the land lends credence to this theory. High-priority follow-up exploration will be given to this area.
Fall 2007 saw the excavation of the Bonanza trench. It yielded 5 m of gold weighing 140.21 g/ton, with a 1 m chunk of 525.0 g/ton. No nugget effect was verified by a further metallic screening test and electron microprobe investigation; however, both revealed some free gold and the presence of the two bismuth tellurides: Hedleyite and Joseite.
The highest-grade stopes at the neighboring Nickel Plate mine included these minerals. The other anomalous gold and silver samples, in addition to the two 2022 Skar samples, all had increased levels of bismuth and tellurium. In the Hedley district, tellurium and bismuth are important pathfinder elements for gold mineralization.
The southeast base of Panorama Ridge’s Tower region, which was sampled, revealed a zone with anomalous gold values along with increased levels of bismuth and tellurium. A float sample of 0.585 g/t gold was used to highlight this region. This sample backs up samples from 2013 that yielded gold concentrations of 0.645 g/t and 0.551 g/t (one-meter chip).
The combined length of these three samples is 240 m. A 2022 sample that was taken 980 m northeast of the previously drilled Nordic zone and its downslope of it yielded 0.346 g/t gold. The Cemetery, South Ridge, and North Ridge all produced values that ranged from background to just barely aberrant.
Goldcliff is anticipating processing and analysis of the soil sample obtained in September in addition to the geochemical sample taken from the lithic drainage sediment (LDS). An extensive follow-up exploration program will be developed for implementation during this field season after all results have been collected and collated.