Resource World Magazine

16 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 0 length intercepts from all the previous drilling showed me that the metal pool was getting stronger and deeper to the north- eastern aspect of the mineralized envelope." He noted that it was obvious the system was also open to the southeast and at depth as well. "This was the new interpretation," said Konkin. "I had initially proposed over 20 drill holes for 2019, of which we were only able to complete 14 holes with the two drills – the reason being was that the system was much thicker, much broader and much larger than we anticipated. Subsequently, most of the drill holes ran much longer than I had planned. So, in addition to drilling along the northeast axis, we also turned the rigs 180 degrees from the original azimuth from the his- torical drilling and drilled in the opposite direction towards the southeast." Konkin said that the 2019 exploration year was one of the most successful drill programs he has ever been part of. "We hit the target on every drill hole and had very long drill intervals with consistent gold grades accompanied with appreciable silver and zones with copper mineraliza- tion. The gold results were much better and over a much larger area than we had hoped for." He went on to explain, "We initially planned for a single 150-metre step-out hole to the northeast which was GS19- 42. That was an excellent drill hole and averaged 0.849 g/t gold equivalent over 780 metres. Based on those results, we immediately planned a second step-out hole which was yet again another 150 metre step-out to the northeast. Again we hit, but this time it was by far our deep- est and longest intercept of the project to date. That was hole GS19-47 that averaged 0.697 g/t gold equivalent over an impres- sive 1,081.5 metres." That is approximately twice the height of Toronto's CN Tower. Konkin said they actually pushed the drill rig to its limits on that hole. "The head bolts snapped off three times and we were forced to shut that hole down at 1,199 metres. We were in the strongest stockwork we'd seen on the project with very good gold grades. The lower stock- work zone has a gold equivalent grade of approximately a gram per tonne over 243 metres. So we really don't know how deep the gold system is. It remains open at depth and in all directions." Currently, drilling has outlined a target to be 850 metres in length and approxi- mately 600 metres wide and remains open at depth, as noted above. "Our current conceptual geological model, or the target, is a billion-tonne system, possibly on par with the size of Snowfield, but with much stronger and copper and gold grades, of course," Konkin said. Field work is over until spring. Konkin said drilling will begin again in 2020; how- ever, many things are left to do before the start of the 2020 campaign. "We need to continue to study the grade controls and specifically the various rock types to bet- ter understand the various pulses of gold, silver and copper mineralization. "We're focusing much of our attention on the upper '300 Horizon'. This is basically a 300-metre thick layer of fragmental inter- mediate volcanics averaging approximately one gram per tonne gold." Konkin commented that it's only recently that bedrock has been exposed by the rapid ablation of icefields and glaciers and outcrops in the southeast portion of the Goldstorm mineralized body. "So we're also looking at various aspects of projects in order to streamline our logistics and make the program run longer and more efficiently," he said. With regards to the Golden Triangle in general, Konkin said that the main challenges facing explorers are logistics including the limited field season as well as access issues. "We can continue to drill in freezing temperatures if suitable water sources for drilling are nearby," Konkin said. "However, if the program is specifi- cally a helicopter supported drill program where drillers rely on air support for daily crew changes then the shortening of the KEN KONKIN

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