Vancouver, British Columbia, June 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- St. James Gold Corp. (the “Company” or “St. James”) (TSXV: LORD) (OTCQB: LRDJF) (FSE: BVU3) is pleased to announce the results of its 2021 season, soil sampling program from areas adjacent to the 2.47 million ounce inferred gold resource1 (the “Florin Inferred Resource”) located within the Florin Project area, 60 km northwest of Mayo County, Yukon Territory, Canada (Fig 1).
Figure 1: Location of Florin Gold Project
Highlights
- Compilation of soil sampling results from the 2021 campaign along with historic soil and rock sampling and drilling results show that the East Zone is a highly prospective target that merits further drilling.
- Location of higher-grade soil sampling results in the West Zone imply that a zone of interpreted clay alteration may be underlain by a gold bearing system that merits further exploration including drilling.
The program was designed to augment existing soil geochemistry surveys to extend the surface trace of gold in soil anomalies along the strike of the Jethro fault, which is the principal structural control for gold mineralization on the project. There are two grids (East and West) covering two areas of the project underlain by different lithologies and levels of erosion (Fig 2).
Figure 2: Location of 2021 soil sampling grids
East Zone: Results of the 2021 soil sampling program in the context of a compilation of historic data
The East Zone straddles the Jethro Fault approximately 1 km east of the Florin Inferred Resource and encompasses the Treadwell area which contains two historic mining adits known as the Treadwell Adits. The 2021 soil sampling results comprise 90 samples that were assayed for gold and 35 other elements. The gold grades for the top ten samples range from 91– 503ppb Au; the top three soil samples range from 324 – 503ppb Au, all of which sit within 600m of the Treadwell Adits located in the East Zone. While the samples from the Treadwell adits yielded one sample of 11.15 g/t (11,115 ppb) Au and another of 15 g/t (15,000 ppb) Au.2
The 2021 results have been superposed on a digital elevation model base layer which outlines the following: the surface trace of the Florin Inferred Resource, the surface trace of historic gold in soil geochemistry, assay results from historic drilling and assay results from three high-grade rock samples from the Treadwell Adits area (St James news release dated April 29, 2022). The historic soil sample results describe a gold in soil polygon which extends 1.8km NNW-SSE by 1km E-W starting 250 metres from the east end of the trace of Florin Inferred Resource. Some of the historic drilling beneath the soil polygon returned assay results that fall within the 0.3g/t Au cut-off grade for the Florin Inferred Resource itself. These results will be a useful vector in guiding future exploration drilling (Fig 3).
Fig 3: East Zone 2021 Florin Project soil and rock sampling and historic diamond drill hole results
Compiling these 2021 geochem results along with the results from historic soil sampling and drilling programs confirms the East Zone, and within it the Treadwell area, as a high priority target for further exploration. The results also extend the gold in soil anomaly by 600 metres adjacent to the SE/SW of the southeast end of the Florin Inferred Resource. The next stage of exploration during the 2022 field season will be mapping, sampling and capture of XRF measurements that track gold pathfinder elements. As appropriate, those results can be followed by drill testing of key targets to see whether a high-grade zone can be modelled as a potential starter-pit for when the project moves towards a preliminary economic assessment.
West Zone: Results of the 2021 soil sampling program
The second section refers to an area to the west of the Florin Inferred Resource on the projected strike of the Jethro Fault. The 2021 soil sampling results comprise 281 samples that were assayed for gold and 35 other elements that cover an oblong polygon 1 km by 1.2 km northwest of the Florin Inferred Resource as well as a single line of sampling 500 metres due north of the Florin Inferred Resource. The gold grades for the top five Geochem samples range from 50 – 78 ppb Au.
The 2021 results have been superposed on a digital elevation model base layer to show: historic soil geochemistry results; the surface trace of the Florin Inferred Resource; the surface trace of a kilometric scale, oval, iron oxide anomaly that wraps around the Florin Inferred Resource as interpreted from Sentinel satellite data; and areas of interpreted clay alteration also derived from the Sentinel data. Three of the 2021 soil sampling results are adjacent to a 700 m x 450 m clay anomaly interpreted from the Sentinel data that sits north and upslope of the projected strike of the Jethro Fault (Fig 4).
Figure 4: West Zone 2021 Florin Project soil sampling results
These results indicate that the interpretation of a clay altered area may be the surface expression of an extensive underlying gold bearing system, the Eastern edge of which has been picked up by the 2021 soil sampling program contained within the red oblong as shown in Figure 4. This encouraging target is on trend with the Jethro Fault which is a major structural control for gold mineralization. This supports prior exploration efforts wherein the company traced the Jethro Fault for more than five kilometres of which only 1.2 kilometres has been partially drill tested showing that the current inferred resource sits on a 875 metre section of the Fault. The next stage of exploration in this westerly zone will be extension of the soil grid to cover the clay anomaly, mapping, sampling and capture of XRF measurements to track pathfinders. If results show that the clay anomaly is gold bearing, the company will incorporate the most promising areas for potential drill testing.
George Drazenovic, CEO of St. James Gold comments, “These soil sampling results along with drill results from 2021 and other historic data have confirmed the importance of the East Zone target which lies just 200m east of the proposed Florin Inferred Resource pit shell on the Jethro Fault. In addition, the location of some higher-grade soil sampling results at the west end of the Jethro Fault, less than 200 metres from a 700 metres long clay anomaly that straddles the fault, has yielded another high priority target for follow-up exploration. The scope and scale to expand gold mineralization at the Florin Gold project continues to evolve and outlines a strong structural control on the emplacement of gold at the Project. As such, the entire length of the 5 km Jethro Fault will be tested in this and subsequent field seasons. Currently, approximately 1.2 km has been drill tested of which 875 metres is within the Florin Inferred Resource”.
Dr. Stewart Jackson, P.Geo., senior technical advisor geologist, and a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects), has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific information presented herein as accurate and has approved this news release.
About St James Gold Corp.
St. James Gold Corp. is a publicly traded company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol “LORD”, in the U.S. Market listed on OTCQB under "LRDJF" and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under “BVU3”. The Company is focused on creating shareholder value through the discovery and development of economic mineral deposits by acquiring prospective exploration projects with well-delineated geological theories; integrating all available geological, geochemical, and geophysical datasets; and financing efficient exploration programs. The Company currently holds: (i) 100-per-cent stake in 29 claims, covering 1,791 acres, in the Gander gold district in north-central Newfoundland located adjacent to New Found Gold Corp.'s Queensway North project; and (ii) a 100-per-cent stake in 9 claims and an option to acquire a further 100-per-cent interest in 19 claims, covering a total 1,730 acres, in central Newfoundland located adjacent to Marathon Gold's Valentine Lake property; and (iii) an option to acquire up to an 85-per-cent interest in the Florin Gold Project, covering nearly 22,000 contiguous acres in the historical Tintina gold belt in Yukon Territory, Canada.
For more corporate information please visit: http://stjamesgold.com/
St. James Gold Corp.
For further information, please contact:
George Drazenovic, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: 1 (800) 278-2152
Email: info@stjamesgold.com
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). All other statements that are not historical facts, particularly statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance of the Company. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified through the use of words or phrases such as “will likely result”, “are expected to”, “expects”, “will continue”, “is anticipated”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimated”, “intends”, “plans”, “forecast”, “projection”, “strategy”, “objective” and “outlook”. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made based on reasonable estimates and assumptions made by management of the Company at the relevant time in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that are believed to be appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will not update any such forward-looking statements as a result of new information or if management’s beliefs, estimates, assumptions or opinions change, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, which could cause actual results, performance, achievements and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the impact and progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors outlined in the Company’s Annual Information Form dated July 26, 2021 (the “AIF”) filed under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company cautions that the list of risk factors and uncertainties described in its AIF on SEDAR are not exhaustive and other factors could materially affect its results.
New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to consider all of them, or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
1 The Florin Gold Project contains an inferred resource of 2,474,000 oz gold contained in 170,993,000 tonnes grading 0.45 g/t with a cut-off of 0.30g/t, at a $1,650 gold price. For additional information, see the Technical Report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 entitled Florin Gold Project NI 43-101 Technical Report, Mayo and Dawson Mining Districts, Yukon Territory, by Ronald G Simpson, P.Geo. of GeoSim Services Inc., dated April 6, 2021, a copy of with is available under the Company’s SEDAR profile.
2 Grab samples are selective by nature and may not be representative of actual grades of styles of mineralization across the Florin Gold Project.
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