It said results from the first four holes drilled at the Albino Waste Facility included 22.8m at 4.16g/t gold and 204g/t silver, or 6.89g/t gold-equivalent.

It said the AWF was used by former operators as a "subaqueous repository" for mine waste management and included both mine waste rock and mill tailings.

Initial AWF drilling in the March quarter was cut short for safety reasons after ice conditions deteriorated, Skeena said.

The company was planning to extend the programme in the second half of this year, having only tested about 4%, or 5,200sq.m of the AWF's 128,900sq.m.

Skeena had raised C$57.5 million earlier this month at $3.10 per share to advance its two former Barrick Gold projects in BC, Eskay Creek and Snip. 

It's said Eskay Creek was the highest-grade gold mine in the world when in production, between 1994-2008, producing 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160Moz of silver at average grades of 45g/t and 2,224g/t respectively.

Skeena had entered an option agreement with Barrick in 2017 and moved to full ownership of Eskay Creek last year after Barrick waived its back-in right. 

The junior updated Eskay Creek's resource in April to a measured and indicated 5.1Moz at 4.2 g/t gold-equivalent and is aiming to complete a pre-feasibility study within months.

Skeena shares (TSX: SKE) were up 2.99% yesterday to $3.45, towards the top of a one-year range, valuing it at $829.2 million (US$687.4 million).