New exploration results provide strong evidence that mineralization at Mt Hinton is related to a previously unidentified, Reduced Intrusion Related Gold System ("RIRGS").
Geophysical surveys delineated a 2,000 x 500 metre magnetic low that coincides with an area of high resistivity in an overburden covered area that has seen no trenching or drilling.
Prospecting discovered granitic rocks near the geophysical anomalies, further validating the RIRGS model.
Mineralogical studies are underway at Simon Fraser University to better characterize the known vein system and determine its relationship to other mineralization in the Tombstone Gold Belt.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2024 / Trifecta Gold Ltd. (TSXV:TG)(OTCQB:TRRFF) ("Trifecta" or the "Company") announces results from its multifaceted 2024 exploration campaign at Mt. Hinton. The Mount Hinton Project (the "Project") is ideally located less than 4 km from Hecla Mining Company's Keno Hill mine and mill complex, within a belt of Reduced Intrusion Related Gold Systems ("RIRGS") that includes current and former producers and major new discoveries such as Banyan Gold's AurMac deposit, 20 km to the west, Sitka Gold's RC deposit, 80 km to the west, and Snowline Gold's Valley deposit, 180 km to the east (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Tombstone Belt Project Locations
Geophysical target delineated
A 440-line kilometre, ZTEM ("Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic") and magnetic surveys, flown over the southeastern portion of the Project, have delineated a 1.9 by 1.2 km magnetic high and flanking 2.0 by 0.5 km magnetic low that corresponds with an outstanding, strong resistivity anomaly (the "GC target") (figures 2 and 4). These features are commonly associated with the RIRGS model, which typically exhibits a magnetic low directly over a reduced intrusion, flanked by magnetic highs within a surrounding hornfelsed aureole. High resistivity readings are often observed over the hornfelsed rocks but can also be found over strongly silicified zones within the intrusion. The geophysical features at the GC Target are indicative of a hornfelsed aureole overlying a buried intrusion, which may come to surface in the valley floor, within the central magnetic low.
The target is located on a glacial till and talus covered valley floor, directly east of the mouth of the Granite Creek Basin (Figure 3). Placer miners operating at the mouth of the Granite Creek Basin often encounter upwards of 10 m of glacial till above productive placer channels, precluding the use of soil geochemistry to evaluate the target. First-pass prospecting in 2024, within the GC target, successfully identified abundant coarse-grained granitic rocks in float (Figures 5 and 6), providing direct evidence that an intrusive body located on the southeastern portion of the Project could be the driver to mineralization found elsewhere on the Project.
Figure 2 Mt. Hinton Total Magnetic Intensity with gold-in-soil
Figure 3 Mt. Hinton Magnetic Low Outline on Satellite Imagery
Figure 4 Mt. Hinton 30 Hz. In-Phase Tipper Total Phase Rotated
Figure 5 - megacrystic plagioclase-hornblende granite from the GC Target
Figure 6 - equigranular plagioclase-hornblende granite from the GC Target, cut by quartz veinlets with rusty weathering, unidentified sulphide minerals
Prospecting
Prospecting within a previously identified soil anomaly to the southwest of the GC target returned 2.07 g/t gold. The mineralization in this area is hosted in narrow veinlets cutting quartzites (Figure 7). This is the first mineralization reported from that part of the Project.
Figure 7 - Sample B865437, distal to the GC target, comprising sheeted, vuggy, oxidized quartz veinlets cutting an altered quartzite, yielded 2.07 g/t gold.
Drilling
As announced September 5, 2024, Trifecta's drill program was limited to one hole due to a series of equipment issues. Hole MH-24-038 targeted the down dip projection of the 85 vein where prospecting had discovered vein material grading 273 g/t gold with 284 g/t silver and 138.5 g/t gold with 57.5 g/t silver. MH-24-038 encountered two unmapped faults and did not return any significant results for gold. Drill roads and pads were constructed at the SW Zone and No. 5 Vein in order to facilitate future drilling of the western extensions of these prominent structures. Highlights from previous drilling include:
6.44 g/t gold and 2.51 g/t silver over 12.14 m in hole MH-20-22 (SW Zone);
3.86 g/t gold and 182 g/t silver over 9.75 m in hole MH-20-18 (SW Zone);
128.91 g/t silver over 3.05 m in hole H-4, no assays for gold (No. 5 Vein); and,
78.88 g/t silver over 7.62 m in hole H-13, no assays for gold (No. 5 Vein).
Mapping
Geological mapping at Mt. Hinton was performed as part of a multi-year research program in the Keno Hill District, undertaken by the Yukon Geological Survey ("YGS"), Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta and partner companies. This work is intended to better characterize the styles of mineralization at Mt Hinton and other projects within the Keno Hill District and to determine its context within the broader Tombstone Gold Belt. During a site visit relating to this program a rock specimen with blades of visible gold was collected by Patrick Sack of the YGS from the Granite North Zone (Figure 8). Many high-grade rock samples have been collected from the Granite North Zone with assays up to 2,340 g/t gold, while drilling in 2020 returned several highlight intercepts:
6.74 g/t gold and 186 g/t silver over 7.25 m, including 1.77 m grading 22.7 g/t gold and 514 g/t silver, in hole MH-20-019 (Granite North Zone);
17.00 g/t gold over 1.56 m, in hole MH-20-032 (Granite North Zone); and,
9.57 g/t gold over 1.47 m, including 0.52 m grading 25.8 g/t gold, in hole MH-20-023 (Granite North Zone).
Figure 8 High grade gold sample from Granite North Zone
Mineralogical Studies
In 2024, numerous rock and historical core samples were collected from the property as part of the previously mentioned research program. Analytical work is currently underway and includes: radiometric dating of several gold-bearing veins, anticipated to be correlative with ages elsewhere in the Tombstone Gold Belt; hyperspectral imaging of drill core from several of the showings, to better define the alteration mineralogy; and Scanning Electron Microprobe (SEM) studies of the mineralized veins, to determine the gold distribution within the mineral occurrences.
About Mt. Hinton
Mt. Hinton is a road accessible, camp-scale property with over 60 precious metals veins identified to date. The project is underlain by direct extensions of the stratigraphy that hosts Hecla's Keno Hill Mines and, because of this, much of the historical exploration at Mt. Hinton focused on its silver potential. Surprisingly, historical workers largely overlooked gold potential, despite visible gold that has been found in many of the known veins. There are active placer mines on the creeks draining in all directions from the property. Based on metal zonation within the district, the newly identified GC target may represent a reduced intrusion, theorized to be the driver for much of the mineralization in the district.
Tombstone Gold Belt
Extending more than 1000 km from the Fairbanks district in Alaska eastward across the entire width of Yukon, the Tombstone Gold Belt hosts many large Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System (RIRGS) mines such as Fort Knox in Alaska (>10 million oz), Eagle and Olive in Yukon (>4 million oz) and the past-producing Brewery Creek Mine, also in Yukon. Since May 2020 over 17 million additional ounces of gold have been discovered in the Yukon portion of the belt, including Snowline Gold's Tier 1 Valley discovery, Sitka Gold's RC deposit, Banyan Gold's AurMac deposits and Victoria Gold's Raven deposit.
Tombstone Gold Belt systems are characterized by sheeted, auriferous quartz veins forming in the carapace zones of Cretaceous-age plutons. They have a characteristic geochemical signature with a gold-bismuth-tellurium±tungsten core within a broader gold-arsenic halo. The deposits are found within and surrounding the reduced intrusions, and typically exhibit a geophysical signature comprising a magnetic low (ie. reduced) coinciding with at conductivity low. Veining in RIRGS systems is typically zoned with a core of sheeted veins surrounded by more discrete gold-arsenic veins and more distal silver-lead-zinc veins.
Technical information in this news release has been approved by Trifecta's Vice President, Jackson Morton, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101.
About Trifecta Gold Ltd.
Trifecta is a Canadian-based precious metals exploration company dedicated to increasing shareholder value through the discovery and development of 100% held gold projects in Yukon and Nevada. Trifecta has secured an option to acquire a 100% interest in Mt. Hinton and 10 other highly prospective, intrusion-related gold projects located in Yukon's Tombstone Gold Belt where over 17 million ounces of gold have been discovered since May 2020. Initial drilling at the Company's Yuge Gold Project, located in northern Nevada, has identified multiple broad zones of gold mineralization near historical high-grade mines. The Company's Eureka Project hosts an 8 x 2.5 kilometre belt of surface showings and anomalous gold-in-soil that straddle the headwaters of two of the most productive placer creeks in Yukon's southern Klondike Goldfields. Trifecta's Treble Project covers a large hydrothermal system, located midway between Western Copper and Gold Corporation's Casino Deposit, the largest copper and gold deposit in the Yukon, and Rockhaven Resources Ltd.'s Klaza Deposit, a high-grade gold-silver deposit.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Richard Drechsler"
President and CEO
For further information concerning Trifecta or its various exploration projects please visit www.trifectagold.com or contact:
Corporate Information
Trifecta Gold Ltd.
Richard Drechsler
President, CEO & Director
Tel: (604) 687-2522
This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of exploration and other risk factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
SOURCE: Trifecta Gold Ltd.