TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - September 19, 2017) - Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: VIT) ("Victoria" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from the first assays received from the 2017 Bluto target surface trench exploration program. TR17-16, was the first major trench constructed at the Bluto target this season and was concentrated on a trail built with heavy equipment to access a water source that would be utilized in the planned 2017 Bluto diamond drilling exploration program. During the course of constructing this access trail a large, six (6) metre long low-lying scorodite-bering heavily fractured quartz vein was uncovered near the headwaters of Indicator Creek. This trench was sampled and sent to the assay lab for priority analyses -- the entirety of trench TR17-16 returned:
| | 146m @ 0.67 g/t Au from 0 to 146 metres, including 30m @ 2.44 g/t Au from 80 to 110 metres which included an interval of 14m @ 4.87 g/t Au from 86 to 100 metres (along the scorodite vein). Analytical samples from this trench returned from trace to 12.55 g/t Au and averaged 0.67 g/t Au. |
Mr. John McConnell, President and CEO of Victoria commented; "Bluto has been a high-priority target on the Potato Hills Trend for many years, and with the exploration trail construction to the Nugget Zone in eastern Dublin Gulch underway this season, we were able to branch off from this corridor and bring the first modern, systematic mineral exploration to the Bluto target. The fact that a high-grade gold vein was discovered early in this campaign demonstrates that our Potato Hills Trend mineralization model is working and we look forward to the first ever drill results from this highly prospective area."
About Bluto Target
Six kilometres east of Eagle and on strike with the Potato Hills Trend lie a series of presumed Cretaceous granodiorite intrusives that have seen only limited exploration work to date. A suite of historic stream sediment samples has identified the creek draining this area as highly anomalous in arsenic and gold, and a summer 2013 exploration program designed to test this area as a possible extension returned grab samples from trace up to 8.2 g/t Au in the quartzite host rock. A detailed, grid-based soils geochemical program was subsequently conducted and a strong arsenic + gold in soils anomaly associated with the intrusive stocks was identified. This drill ready target is readily accessible and is a focus of the 2017 Dublin Gulch exploration program.
Bluto has a strong two kilometre long by one kilometre wide, coincident gold + arsenic-in-soils geochemical anomaly that strikes at ~060° (the Potato Hills Trend) centred on a series of Dublin Gulch stock related intrusions. Historic Dublin Gulch Property wide stream sediment sampling defined the creek draining this area (Indicator Creek) as a first-order anomalous watershed and helped develop Victoria's interest in the area. Chip sampling of exposures in the area of the soils anomaly in 2013 by Victoria returned from trace up to 8.16 g/t Au. A follow-up soils sampling survey in 2014 over the area defined the arsenic + gold in soils anomaly currently being tested.
Bluto had seen limited previous exploration work conducted during the tungsten exploration campaigns on Dublin Gulch in the 1960's - 1980, mostly in the form of Cat trail access and commiserate bulldozer trenches. These trenches were only analyzed for tungsten as precious metals was not a consideration at the time. To date, Victoria has re-opened over 5.5 km of previously existing trails in the Bluto area and constructed approximately 1.1 km of new access trails during the course of this season's program.
2017 Bluto Zone Exploration Review
To date, a total of 22 trenches consisting of approximately 2,800 metres have been tested by 1,319 assay samples during the 2017 Bluto surface sampling campaign. Trench construction, mapping and sampling continues and thus far, over 2,000 metres of diamond drilling in 10 holes has been completed; drilling activities remain underway at Bluto and are slated to continue until the end of this field season.
The Bluto Zone trenches represent a combination of targeted trenches constructed across the Bluto gold + arsenic in soils geochemical anomaly, trenches designed to expose the intrusive-metasedimentary contacts as well as trenches built in conjunction with access construction trails where bedrock exposure was evident.
Diamond drilling has targeted the mapped intrusive-metasedimentary contacts within the two km by one km arsenic + gold in soils anomaly and has been further refined to test mineralized veins identified from trench activities.
About the Dublin Gulch Property
Victoria Gold's 100%-owned Dublin Gulch gold property is situated in the central Yukon Territory, Canada, approximately 375 kilometres north of the capital city of Whitehorse, and approximately 85 kilometres from the town of Mayo. The Property is accessible by road year-round, and is located within Yukon Energy's electrical grid. The Company has constructed and maintains a 210 person all-season camp at the project site.
The Property covers an area of approximately 555 square kilometres, and is the site of the Company's Eagle Gold Deposit. The Eagle Gold Mine is expected to be Yukon's next operating gold mine and, between the Eagle and Olive deposits, include Proven and Probable Reserves of 2.7 million ounces of gold from 123 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.67 grams of gold per tonne, as outlined in a National Instrument 43-101 feasibility study. The NI 43-101 Mineral Resource for the Eagle and Olive deposits has been estimated to host 191 million tonnes averaging 0.65 grams of gold per tonne, containing 4.0 million ounces of gold in the "Measured and Indicated" category, inclusive of Proven and Probable Reserves, and a further 24 million tonnes averaging 0.61 grams of gold per tonne, containing 0.5 million ounces of gold in the "Inferred" category.
Analytical Method
All exploration trench samples from the 2017 program were collected in-situ from constructed trenches and prepared for shipment on-site and Victoria's Eagle Camp where they were subsequently delivered to the Whitehorse, Yukon, sample preparation facility of ALS Minerals. There, samples were crushed, with prepared coarse c samples rush sent to ALS Minerals' analytical laboratory facilities in Vancouver where they were analyzed by 33 element ICP-AES package ME-1CP61 with a 50 gram Fire Assay Au finish (AU-AA24). A comprehensive system of standards, blanks and field duplicates was implemented for the 2017 Dublin Gulch trench programs and is monitored as chemical assay data became available.
Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., as the Qualified Person. For additional information relating to the Property, refer to the technical report entitled "NI 43-101 Feasibility Study Technical Report for the Eagle Gold Project, Yukon Territory, Canada", with an effective date of September 12, 2016, which is available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.
Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking Statements
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this discussion, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities, anticipated metal production, internal rate of return, estimated ore grades, commencement of production estimates and projected exploration and capital expenditures (including costs and other estimates upon which such projections are based) and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include metal prices, exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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