Sitka Commences 2023 Diamond Drill Program at its RC Gold Project, Yukon
NEWS RELEASE
March 17, 2023
NR 23-09
www.sitkagoldcorp.com
Sitka Commences 2023 Diamond Drill Program
at its RC Gold Project, Yukon
VANCOUVER, CANADA – March 17, 2023: Sitka Gold Corp. (“Sitka” or the
“Company”) (CSE:SIG) (FSE:1RF) (OTCQB:SITKF) is pleased to announce it has
commenced its 2023 diamond drill program of up to 10,000 metres of drilling at its RC Gold
Project (“RC Gold” or the “Project”) in Yukon. This drill program will be primarily focused on
step out drilling from the recently announced Blackjack and Eiger intrusion related gold
deposits which remain open in all directions and have an initial inferred resource estimate of
1.34 million ounces of gold (see news release dated January 19, 2023). The road accessible,
contiguous 376 square kilometre RC Gold Project is located in the Yukon’s prolific Tombstone
Gold Belt (TGB), approximately 100 kilometres east of Dawson City.
We are excited to get an early start on the 2023 diamond drilling program at the RC Gold
Project,” stated Cor Coe, P.Geo, Director and CEO of Sitka Gold. “The recently announced
1.34 million ounce initial gold resource at RC Gold remains ripe for considerable expansion
and we expect the drilling planned for this year will add significant ounces to this mineral
resource. The fact that Sitka has defined two gold deposits that come to surface, totalling
1,340,000 ounces gold and open in all directions, with just 13,000 metres of drilling completed
since exploration efforts began, really demonstrates the district-scale potential of RC Gold.
With a largely undrilled, 1.5 km mineralized corridor potentially linking these deposits together
(see Figure 1) and several additional high priority, intrusion related gold targets yet to be tested
across this 376 square kilometre contiguous land package, we believe we have only scratched
the surface of the world class potential this Project has to host several multi-million ounce gold
deposits.”
While expansion of the Blackjack and Eiger deposits will be the main focus of drilling efforts
this year, the potential for additional discoveries across the district-scale land package
remains robust with several high priority, intrusion related gold deposit targets yet to be tested.
A 1.5 kilometre long mineralized corridor also remains open between the Blackjack and Eiger
deposits with the potential for gold mineralization to link the Blackjack and Eiger zones
together, as well as outwardly to the east and west and to depth (see Figure 1). With the 2023
winter diamond drilling program underway, the Company expects to see meaningful
advancement at RC Gold over the coming months.
Figure 1: Blackjack, Saddle and Eiger zones at the RC Gold Project
The Blackjack and Eiger zones are typified by intrusion-hosted mineralization within the 2 km
x 500 metre extensional corridor (see news release dated June 13, 2022) that provides a
structural and genetic link between the Blackjack zone and Eiger zone intrusions (see Figure
2). The Blackjack and Eiger deposits remain open in all directions and have excellent potential
for resource expansion. The Saddle zone, located midway between the Blackjack and Eiger
is characterised by metasedimentary rocks intruded by dykes and sills. This zone remains
relatively untested but contains significant mineralization with the potential to add additional
resources as demonstrated by drill hole DDRCCC20-01 which returned 0.52 g/t gold over 84.8
m from surface and DDRCCC21-19 which intersected 80.0 m grading 0.59 g/t gold from 48.0
m depth that included 16.0 m grading 2.18 g/t gold (see news releases dated November 23,
2020 and January 20, 2022 respectively).
Drilling at the RC Gold project has been planned to provide Sitka geologists with a solid
database of drilling data to understand controls on mineralization observed in both intrusive
and metasedimentary host rocks while also providing the necessary spatial density to
generate the initial resource estimate. Assay results from drilling along with structural
information obtained from oriented core, data from detailed core logging, geological mapping,
reprocessed Lidar data and interpretation of an airborne magnetic geophysical survey have
been instrumental in forming the basis for targeting high priority areas within the RC Gold
Project, including the discovery of the Backjack and Eiger deposits. This methodology will
continue to form the basis for future exploration work on the RC Gold Project. The 2023 drilling
program will be focused on expansion drilling at the Blackjack and Eiger deposits and will
consist of both a winter and summer phase with up to 10,000 metres of drilling planned.
About the RC Gold Project
The RC Gold Project (RC Gold) consists of a 376 square kilometre contiguous district-scale
land package located in the newly road accessible Clear Creek, Big Creek, and Sprague
Creek districts in the heart of Yukon's Tombstone Gold Belt. It is the largest consolidated land
package strategically positioned mid-way between Victoria Gold's Eagle Gold Mine - Yukon’s
newest gold mine which reached commercial production in the summer of 2020 - and Sabre
Gold Mine’s Brewery Creek Gold Mine. The RC Gold Project land package comprises five
underlying properties, namely, the RC, Bee Bop, Mahtin, Clear Creek, and Barney Ridge
properties*.
On January 19, 2023 Sitka Gold announced an Initial Mineral Resource Estimate prepared
in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) guidelines for the RC Gold
Property of 1,340,000 ounces of gold(1). The road accessible, pit constrained Mineral
Resource is classified as inferred and is contained in two near/on-surface zones: The
Blackjack and Eiger deposits. The Mineral Resource estimate is presented in the following
table at a base case cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au:
Table 1: RC Gold Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate
COG g/t
Au
Blackjack Zone Eiger Zone Combined
Tonnes
000's Au g/t 0z Au
000's
Tonnes
000's Au g/t 0z Au
000's
Tonnes
000's Au g/t 0z Au
000's
0.20 35,798 0.80 921 32,523 0.45 471 68,321 0.63 1,391
0.25 33,743 0.83 900 27,362 0.50 440 61,105 0.68 1,340
0.30 31,282 0.88 885 22,253 0.55 393 53,535 0.74 1,279
0.35 29,065 0.92 860 17,817 0.60 344 46,882 0.80 1,203
0.40 26,975 0.96 833 14,506 0.66 308 41,481 0.86 1,140
Notes
1. Mineral resource estimate prepared by Ronald G. Simpson of GeoSim Services Inc. with an effective date of January 19,
2023. Mineral Resources are classified using the 2014 CIM Definition Standards.
2. The cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t Au is believed to provide a reasonable margin over operating and sustaining costs for open-pit
mining and processing
3. Mineral resources are constrained by an optimized pit shell using the following assumptions: US$1800/oz Au price; a 45°
pit slope; assumed metallurgical recovery of 85%; mining costs of US$2.00 per tonne; processing costs of US$8.00 per
tonne; G&A of US$1.50/t.
4. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
5. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
The Initial Mineral Resource Estimate of 1,340,000 ounces of gold at the RC Gold
Project is comprised of two deposits: the Blackjack deposit containing 900,000 ounces of
gold at a grade of 0.83 g/t gold and the Eiger deposit containing 440,000 ounces of gold
at a grade of 0.50 g/t gold (see news release dated January 19, 2023). Both of these
deposits are at/near surface, are potentially open pit minable and amenable to heap
leaching, with initial bottle roll tests indicating that the gold is not refractory and has high
gold recoveries of up to 94% with minimal NaCN consumption (see News Release July
13, 2022).
The Blackjack and Eiger deposits are in close proximity to highway and power
infrastructure, are road accessible year-round, remain open in all directions and are
respectively located at the western and eastern end of a large, 500 metre by 2 kilometre
intrusion related gold system that was recently discovered on the Property. To date, just
38 diamond drill holes have been drilled into this system for a total of approximately 13,000
metres with results of up to 201.0 m of 1.26 g/t gold from surface, including 82.0 m of
2.04 g/t gold and 19.5 m of 4.87 g/t gold at Blackjack (drill hole DDRCCC-22-040; see
news release dated January 11, 2023) and 354 m of 0.41 g/t gold including 72 m of
0.72 g/t gold at Eiger (drill hole DDRCCC-21-09; see news release date August 19, 2021).
Several high priority intrusion related gold targets exist at RC Gold with nine outcropped
intrusions identified to date over the 376 sq km property, however Sitka’s main focus at the
RC Gold Project has been on the underlying Clear Creek Property where a large 500 metre
by 2000 metre intrusion related gold system covering the area over the Blackjack, Saddle and
Eiger zones was identified. To date the Company has drilled 38 diamond drill holes into this
system for a total of approximately 13,000 metres. This drilling culminated in the discovery of
the Blackjack and Eiger deposits with an initial inferred mineral resource estimate of 1,340,000
gold ounces(1).
Sitka Gold inherited a wealth of historical and current data from these properties from work
spanning the last 40 years. Recent exploration work and the compilation of historical data
have defined several mineralized zones with both bulk tonnage, intrusion-related gold deposit
targets and high-grade, vein- and breccia-hosted gold targets. The RC Gold Project also has
a common border with Victoria Gold’s Clear Creek property at its western boundary and Florin
Resources ’Florin Gold property at its northern boundary.
(1) Simpson, R. January 19, 2023. Clear Creek Property, RC Gold Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Dawson
Mining District, Yukon Territory.
*For more detailed information on the underlying properties please visit our website at
www.sitkagoldcorp.com.
Deposit Model
Exploration on the Property has mainly focused on identifying an intrusion-related gold system
(“IRGS”). The property is part of the Tombstone Gold Belt which is the prominent host to IRGS
deposits within the Tintina Gold Province in Yukon and Alaska. Notable deposits from the belt
include: Fort Knox Mine in Alaska with current Proven and Probable Reserves of 230 million
tonnes at 0.3 g/t Au (2.471 million ounces; Sims 2018)(1); Eagle Gold Mine with current Proven
and Probable Reserves of 155 million tonnes at a diluted grade of 0.65 g/t Au at the Eagle
and Olive deposits (3.261 million ounces; Goodwin et al. 2019)(2); the Brewery Creek deposit
with current Indicated Mineral Resource of 22.2 million tonnes at a gold grade of 1.11 g/t
(0.789 million ounces; Hulse et al. 2020)(3); the Florin Gold deposit, located adjacent to Sitka’s
RC Gold project, with a current Inferred Mineral Resource of 170.99 million tonnes grading
0.45 g/t (2.47 million ounces; Simpson 2021)(4) and the AurMac Project with an Inferred
Mineral Resource of 207.0 million tonnes grading 0.60 gram per tonne gold (3.99 million
ounces; Jutras 2022)(5).
(1) Sims J. Fort Knox Mine Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, USA National Instrument 43-101 Technical
Report. June 11, 2018. https://s2.q4cdn.com/496390694/files/doc_downloads/2018/Fort-Knox-June-2018-
Technical-Report.pdf
(2) Goodwin R, Gray P, Jutras M, Tang S, Wilbur S. Technical Report for the Eagle Gold Mine, Yukon Territory,
Canada. JDS Energy & Mining Inc. December 6, 2019.
https://vitgoldcorp.com/site/assets/files/6480/jds-vit-eagle-gold-ni-43-101-fs-report-20191206.pdf
(3) Hulse D, Emanuel C, Cook C. NI43-101 Technical Report on Mineral Resources. Gustavson Associates. May
31, 2020.
https://www.goldenpredator.com/_resources/Brewery-Creek_NI-43-101-05OCT2020-File.pdf
(4) Simpson R. Florin Gold Project NI43-101 Technical Report. Geosim Services Inc. April 21, 2021.
https://sedar.com/GetFile.do?lang=EN&docClass=24&issuerNo=00005795&issuerType=03&projectNo=03236138&docI
d=4984158
(5) Banyan Gold News Release Dated May 17, 2022 (Technical Report to be filed within 45 days of news release)
https://www.banyangold.com/news-releases/2022/banyan-announces-4-million-ounce-gold-mineral-resource-estimate-
for-the-aurmac-property-yukon-canada/
About Sitka Gold Corp.
Sitka Gold Corp. is a well-funded mineral exploration company headquartered in Canada.
The Company is managed by a team of experienced industry professionals and is focused
on exploring for economically viable mineral deposits with its primary emphasis on gold,
silver and copper mineral properties of merit. Sitka currently has an option to acquire a
100% interest in the RC, Barney Ridge, Clear Creek and OGI properties in the Yukon and
the Burro Creek Gold property in Arizona. Sitka owns a 100% interest in its Alpha Gold
property in Nevada, its Mahtin Gold property in the Yukon and its Coppermine River
project in Nunavut.
Sitka has received all assay results from its 2022 diamond drill program at its RC Gold
Project in the Yukon and announced a 43-101 compliant Initial Mineral Resource
Estimate of 1,340,000 ounces of gold(1) beginning at surface and grading 0.68 g/t (see
news release dated January 19, 2023). A resource expansion diamond drilling program
has now begun (March 2023).
Results from 2022 drilling at the Company’s Alpha Gold Property in Nevada where a new
Carlin-type gold system was recently discovered have all been received. The Company is
focused on vectoring towards the high-grade core of this newly discovered system, which
is located in the Cortez Trend just 40 km southeast of the Cortez Mine Complex of
Barrick/Newmont, and plans for a 2023 drilling program at Alpha are currently underway.
(1) Simpson, R. January 19, 2023. Clear Creek Property, RC Gold Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Dawson
Mining District, Yukon Territory.
Upcoming Events
Sitka Gold will be attending and/or presenting at the following events:
● Swiss Mining Institute Conference, Zurich: March 21 - 22, 2023
○ Cor Coe (CEO & Director) and Mike Burke (VP Corporate Development)
will be in attendance
● Dawson Gold Show, Dawson City, Yukon: May 19 - 20, 2023
● TakeStock Calgary Capital Event, Calgary, AB: July 5, 2023
● YMA Property Tours, Dawson City, Yukon: July 16-22, 2023
● Precious Metals Summit, Beaver Creek, Colorado: September 12 - 15, 2023
All events are subject to change.
The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved
by Cor Coe, P.Geo., Director and CEO of the Company, and a Qualified Person (QP) as
defined by National Instrument 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
SITKA GOLD CORP.
“Donald Penner”
President and Director
For more information contact:
Donald Penner
President & Director
778-212-1950
or
Cor Coe
CEO & Director
604-817-4753
Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward looking information within
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Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing
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looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature
they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those
currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited
to, the expected timing and terms of the private placement, use of proceeds, anticipated work
program, required approvals in connection with the work program and the ability to obtain such
approvals. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking
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