The HW zone returned a 25.3-metre interval of 11.56 g/t gold and 173 g/t silver (13.86 g/t silver-equivalent), 25 vertical metres below surface. This intercept includes higher-grade subintervals, such as 0.5 meters of 123.5 g/t gold and 1,920 g/t silver (149.1 g/t gold-equivalent) and is higher-grade and wider when compared against historical drill results from this area that formed the current resource estimate for this zone.
Notable intercepts from the 21C zone include 22.5 metres of 4.41 g/t gold and 5 g/t silver (4.48 g/t gold-equivalent) and 19 metres of 3.2 g/t gold and 242 g/t silver (6.42 g/t gold-equivalent). The latter intercept also includes 1 metre of 41.6 g/t gold and 4,390 g/t silver (100.13 g/t gold-equivalent).
Highlights from the 21B zone include 14 metres of 15.3 g/t gold and 80 g/t silver (16.37 g/t gold-equivalent).
Skeena has also completed a 5,000-metre near-mine exploration program at Eskay Creek – results are pending.
A resource update is expected this spring.
Current open-pit resources at Eskay Creek include 12.7 million indicated tonnes at 4.3 g/t gold and 110 g/t silver for a total of 1.7 million oz. of gold and 44.7 million oz. of silver. Additional inferred pit resources total 14.4 million tonnes at 2.3 g/t gold and 47 g/t silver for 1.1 million gold oz. and 21.7 million silver oz.
A 2019 preliminary economic assessment on Eskay Creek outlined an open pit mine producing an average of 306,000 gold-equivalent oz. annually at all-in sustaining costs of US$757 per oz.
Between 1994 and 2008, Eskay Creek produced 3.3 million gold oz. and 160 million oz. of silver from head grades of 45 g/t gold and 2,224 g/t silver.
For more information, visit www.SkeenaResources.com.
