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D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 www.resourceworld.com 63 MINING production from Meadowbank which is scheduled for closure next year following nine years of production. Gold mineralization at White Gold's project is associated with quartz veins emplaced along brittle structures and closely resembles a form of low sulphi- dation epithermal gold mineralization. Several gold occurrences have been dis- covered to date and the Golden Saddle and Arc occurrences remain the most explored so far. Known resources show significant vertical continuity and are largely open at depth, suggesting the structural model for the deposit is similar to gold camps in the Superior Province of Ontario and Québec. Only a minor amount of hard rock exploration had been conducted within the White Gold area prior to the involve- ment of Underworld Resources in 2007. Nonetheless, the area has a rich history of placer production which is generally assumed to have originated from regional hard rock sources. Underworld (which was acquired for $140 million by Kinross in March of 2010) had optioned the White Gold claims from prospector, Shawn Ryan, three years ear- lier. Trenching by Underworld in 2007 across the Golden Saddle Zone exposed mineralization assaying 1 g/t gold over 40 metres which was found to represent the surface trace of that zone which was drilled in 2008. Following the takeover, Kinross carried out drilling programs in 2010 and 2011 along with regional geologi- cal and geochemical surveys. In September 2016, White Gold purchased all 21 properties covering approximately 249,000 hectares from Shawn Ryan and Wildwood Exploration for $3.5 million and 7 million common shares. In May 2017, White Gold acquired a 100% interest in 4,280 quartz claims cov- ering approximately 86,000 hectares for $10 million cash, the issuance of 17.5 mil- lion shares to Kinross and up to $15 million in deferred payments specifically related to the advancement of the White Gold properties. The company carried out an exten- sive exploration program on the White Gold Project during the 2017 field sea- son, collecting 2,914 soil samples, 535 GT (GroundTruth) Probe samples, completing 17 line-km of induced polarization-resis- tivity surveys over five target areas, 1,224 line-km of airborne DIGIM surveys to cover the White 1, White 2, Cathy and Black Fox claim areas as well as geological mapping and prospecting. In the case of the Golden Saddle deposit, gold mineralization is associated with veined and disseminated pyrite within lode and stockwork quartz veins, quartz vein breccias, zones of pervasive silicifica- tion and locally as limonite within strongly oxidized zones. Minor molybdenite, galena, and chalcopyrite are also observed and are generally associated with lode style veins and breccia zones. Sulphide minerals typically comprise less than 10% of the mineralized zones. Gold typically occurs as 5 to 15 micron blebs in veined and disseminated pyrite at all stages of mineralization. Coarse visible gold (smaller than 5 mm) has been found occasionally as free grains in quartz. Gold grades within the mineralized zone typi- cally average between 2.5 to 3.0 g/t. Gold mineralization at the Arc deposit is hosted in a meta-sedimentary package and alteration is associated with Arc-style mineralization consisting principally of silicification and the addition of hydro- thermal graphite. The alteration is strongly fracture controlled and is focused within the favourable quartzite. Arc-style mineralization principally consists of veinlets of arsenopyrite, pyr- rhotite, and graphite, with minor pyrite and sphalerite within fracture zones to the host rock. The most intense mineraliza- tion typically occurs in fold-hinge focused breccias that have a matrix of graphite, pyrite, and arsenopyrite. Gold typically occurs as micron-scale blebs encapsulated in both disseminated and veined arseno- pyrite and pyrite as well as free-grains in graphite. Gold grades typically average between 1.0 to 2.5 g/t within mineralized intervals. White Gold carried out a preliminary drilling program during summer 2017 mainly to infill and verify the historical drilling on the Golden Saddle and Arc zones. The summer program included 35 holes, four diamond drill holes and 31 reverse circulation holes for 5,746 metres of drilling, mostly in the Golden Saddle and Arc zones. Approximately half of the company's planned activities in 2018 were focused on regional exploration including over 100 RAB drill holes, airborne magnetic & DIGHEM surveys, over 22,000 soil samples and other exploration activities. Exploration was also focused on several of its previously defined high priority and newly discovered regional targets as well as expanding the Golden Saddle and Arc deposits on its flag- ship White Gold property. Exploration work on the White Gold property included diamond and RC drill- ing designed for potential mineral resource expansion and related exploration activi- ties. Additional work will be focused on defining and preparing drilling targets for the 2019 exploration season which could include approximately 10,000 metres of drilling on the Golden Saddle and Arc areas. In mid-November the company reported additional rotary-air-blast and reverse cir- culation drill results on the Vertigo target on the JP Ross property that yielded high- grade mineralization in multiple zones. The RC drilling further validated previous reported RAB results and identified new zones of high-grade gold mineralization along strike and to depth. Highlights included 3.21 g/t gold over 82.3 metres, including 31.4 g/t gold over 6.1 metres, including 103.9 g/t gold and 400 g/t silver over 1.52 metres from sur- face and three deeper mineralized zones including 4.92 g/t gold over 6.1 metres from 36.58 metres. Other holes also returned encouraging values. n LEFT: Diamond drilling at a White Gold prospect in the Yukon where the company has 34 mineral properties. Photo courtesy White Gold Corp.