Less than a year after closing an option agreement with mining major Barrick Gold to acquire a 100% interest in the brownfields project, Skeena on Monday revealed an openpit constrained indicated resource containing 207,000 ounces of gold-equivalent at an average grade of 5.9g/t.
The deposit also hosts an inferred resource of 589,000oz at 4.3g/t gold equivalent, using a 1g/t gold equivalent cut-off.
Gold equivalent is based on a gold-to-silver ratio of 1:75.
Skeena also revealed an 814,000oz underground indicated resource grading on average 10.1g/t gold equivalent, as well as 261,000oz in the inferred category grading 10g/t gold equivalent.
CEO Walter Coles said the resource estimate validated the company's thesis that substantial amounts of potentially economic mineralisation remained at Eskay Creek below the cut-off grades used by historical operators.
"As this resource estimate has been optimised for gold and silver, future resource estimates will also include base metal credits. In addition, we believe the property has exciting exploration upside for both precious and base metals at depth."
The company also noted "excellent grade continuity and precious metal tenor".
"Underground resources occur immediately adjacent to or within 100m of existing underground infrastructure and although all historical drift and fill stopes have been backfilled, we elected to exclude any potential resources that occur within 3m of any historical development," VP of exploration and resource development Paul Geddes said.
The project was first discovered in 1988. According to government data, the former Eskay Creek mine in the province's prospective ‘Golden Triangle' produced about 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160Moz of silver at average grades of 45g/t gold and 2,224g/t silver, ranking it as the world's highest-grade historic gold mine and fifth-largest silver mine by volume.
At the closing bell Monday, Skeena's equity added 7.55% in value at C57c (US43.8c) a share, giving it a market valuation of about C$57.22 million. The stock has traded in a narrow band over the past 12 months, between C29c to C80c a share.
