TNM Drill Down: Torex leads week’s top assays with El Limón project in Mexico 

Our TNM Drill Down features highlights of the top gold assays of the past week. Drill holes are ranked by g‹old grade x width, as identified by our sister company Mining Intelligence.

Projects in North America’s three countries led drilling results for the period of Dec. 2-9. 

Drilling at Torex Gold Resources’ (TSX: TXG) El Limón mine in southwest Mexico topped the chart, followed by Ascot Resources’ (TSX: AOT) Premier project in western Canada and Freegold Ventures’ (TSX: FVL) Golden Summit project in Alaska.  

Torex’s drill hole LS-109 cut 16 metres grading 87.6 grams gold per tonne from 154 metres downhole for a grade x width of 1,401.6 at El Limón Sur. The step-out and infill drilling is targeting underground mineralization below the existing open pit as well as incremental open pit mill feed, the Toronto-based company said in a news release on Dec. 5. The results support a plan to extend production and cash flow from the El Limón Guajes (ELG) mine complex in the central part of the Guerrero gold belt, the company said.  

Hole LS-109 included 163.5 grams gold per tonne over 4.5 metres and 166.9 grams over 3.8 metres. Hole LS-112 cut 107.6 grams gold over 3 metres within a broader intersect of 25.3 grams gold over 22.8 metres, including 122 grams silver per tonne and 3.45% copper. 

“We expect to announce expanded resources from both El Limón Sur Deep and Sub-Sill South when year-end 2022 mineral reserves and resources are published in March,” Torex president and chief executive officer Jody Kuzenko said in the release. “Both El Limón Sur Deep and Sub-Sill South are expected to extend the mine life of ELG underground and support our objective of increasing underground mining rates to 2,000 tonnes per day in 2024.” 

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets and Canaccord Genuity lauded the drilling results for showing incremental value in the site’s open pits and how El Limón Sur Deep is targeted as an additional mining front.  

Second this week, Ascot’s Premier project in the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia found its best intercept in five years at the Big Missouri deposit. Drill hole P22-2445 returned 7.9 metres grading 62.76 grams gold per tonne from 90 metres down hole for a grade x width of 496.  

The intercept included 488 grams gold per tonne and 181 grams silver over 1 metre.  

The same hole also returned 30.98 grams gold per tonne and 9.35 grams silver over 3 metres from a depth of 112 metres, including 90.7 grams gold and 19.75 grams silver over 1 metre. 

Hole P22-2444 intercepted 6.75 grams gold per tonne and 12.44 grams silver over 14.5 metres from a depth of 26 metres. The core included 26 grams gold and 28.30 grams silver over 1.43 metres and 28.8 grams gold and 30.2 grams silver over 1 metre.  

“Many of the high-grade intercepts were encountered within or around existing stope shapes,” Ascot president and chief executive officer Derek White said in a news release on Dec. 8. “Some high grades were encountered in gaps between stope shapes – further strengthening our confidence that there is more gold to be discovered outside the existing resource model at Big Missouri.” 

A report from May, 2020 shows the Big Missouri deposit, which is 6 km north of the past-producing Premier mill, hosts a probable reserve of 809,000 tonnes grading 7.15 grams gold per tonne and 12.2 grams silver for contained metal of 186,000 oz. gold and 317,000 oz. silver. 

Rounding out the top three this week, Freegold Ventures’ drilling in hole GS2225 in the Dolphin zone at the Golden Summit project in east-central Alaska cut 317.8 metres grading 1.43 grams gold per tonne from 259 metres down hole for a grade x width of 454.  

The same hole included 45 metres grading 3.69 grams gold per tonne from 428 metres down hole, and 24.7 metres grading 4.17 grams gold from 552.1 metres down hole.  

Also at the site about 32 km northeast of Fairbanks, AK, drill hole GS2217 returned 344.4 metres grading 1.03 grams gold per tonne 477.6 metres down hole, including 57.2 metres grading 2.63 grams gold from 712.3 metres down hole.  

“Results continue to successfully delineate broader zones of higher-grade mineralization below the depths of the proposed pit outlined in the 2016 pit-constrained resource,” Freegold said in a news release on Dec. 7. “A significant number of results from the expanded 2022 program are expected to be included in an updated mineral resource estimate in early 2023.”