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The Vancouver-based company said Tuesday work continued on the study that was now scheduled for publication sometime by mid-April.

CEO Derek White said while management was "pleased" with the progress to date, the understandable minor delays, in-part due to consequences of COVID-19, had postponed the study announcement for a couple of weeks while the team and its consultants had made the necessary adjustments to ensure they were all strictly adhering to COVID-19 recommendations by the federal and provincial governments.

The company was also working with authorities to ensure essential staff could continue to cross the US-Canada border in Hyder, Alaska, to ensure essential access to the project site and the safe and continued operations of the Premier water treatment facility.

Ascot has also donated its existing supply of Hazmat suits and safety equipment to the hospital in Stewart.

"We were fortunate enough to have recently raised C$10.3 million, which will adequately allow for us to fund our activities in 2020. Premier is a unique project: one of the few high-grade resource development stage gold assets in Canada," White said. "We continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and its impact on our activities."

Ascot announced in January an updated Premier resource statement, with the project now hosting measured and indicated resources totalling 1.9Moz gold and 6.8Moz silver amenable for processing through the centrally sited Premier mill. The 2019 drill programme increased the gold ounces in the indicated category at Premier by 60%.

Ascot shares (AOT:TSX) closed down 7%, or C4c, at 52c on Tuesday, capitalising the company at $128 million (US$91 million).