Gold in oxidized mineralization is usually easy and cheaper to extract than from sulfide mineral grains. Since the costs are low, the grades can be much lower for these types of deposits to be economic. This is why Pilot is excited to report the large 81 m interval of 0.60 g/t gold.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]Disclaimer: This is an editorial review of a public press release and may include opinions or points of view that may not be shared by the owners of geologyforinvestors.com or the companies mentioned in the release. The editorial comments are highlighted so as to be easily separated from the release text. Please view the full release here.[/box]
VANCOUVER, B.C. – Pilot Gold Inc. (PLG – TSX) (“Pilot Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to report that the Company’s first drill test at Kayali, TV Tower intersected high-grade gold, and also demonstrated strong continuity of oxide gold mineralization over a strike length of 450 metres.
[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]According to Pilot Gold’s website they have a copyright on their proprietary “Science of Discovery©” which for some reason makes me immediately want to dislike them. Regardless, it seems as though they have a relatively interesting early-stage project in a location that seems to be talked about more and more lately. Turkey has been getting attention as a mining-friendly jurisdiction with good infrastructure and low operational costs. There’s also some good geology blurbs in this press release which is why this one was chosen for review. We’ve included a map of the project location below taken from Pilot Gold’s website.
[/box]
Drill highlights include:
- 15.9 g/t gold (Au) over 3 metres, within an interval grading 1.35 g/t Au over 45 metres, in KYD-46
- 0.60 g/t Au over 81.0 metres, within an interval grading 0.41 g/t Au over 147.7 metres, in KYD-39
- 0.85 g/t Au over 40.6 metres in KYD-43, including
o 2.30 g/t Au over 8.8 metres
- 0.56 g/t Au over 52.5 metres in KYD-44, including
o 1.78 g/t Au over 7.5 metres
- 0.62 g/t Au over 42.0 metres and 0.42 g/t Au over 16.9 metres and 0.33 g/t Au over 37.6 metres in KYD-42
“We are excited about the drill results we are seeing to date as they verify that the geological model for this oxidized, high-sulphidation gold system is similar to those at the nearby Agi Dagi and Kirazli projects, which our team helped explore, drill and advance to the cusp of development,” stated Dr. Moira Smith, Chief Geologist, Pilot Gold. “Other prominent systems of this type include the Yanacocha, Pierina, and Alto Chicama oxide systems in Peru, and are distinguished by low operating costs, low capital intensity and straightforward processing1.”
Pilot Gold has drilled 3,585 metres in 17 holes in Kayali in 2013, with assays for four holes pending.
The Company is also conducting its initial drill program at Karaayi, a target adjacent to Kayali. Karaayi has previously been tested by a number of historic drill holes, returning shallow oxide gold intercepts with similar grade and thickness to those at Kayali. A comprehensive geological mapping and surface soil and rock sampling program is currently underway at Karaayi.
[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]Gold in oxidized mineralization is usually easy and cheaper to extract because the weathering of sulfide minerals in to oxides effectively liberates the minute gold particles from sulfide mineral grains. This exposes more particles to the cyanide and/or acid solution during extraction, which in turn allows more gold to be extracted. When trapped in sulfides mineral grains, roasting of the mineralized material is normally required to free the gold. This requires energy, which is an additional cost best avoided. Since the costs are low, the grades can be much lower for these types of deposits to be economic. This is why Pilot is excited to report the large 81 m interval of 0.60 g/t gold.[/box]
K2 geology:
Oxide gold mineralization along the K2 trend, which includes the Kayali and Karaayi targets, is hosted in a thick sheet of massive and vuggy quartz-altered volcaniclastic rocks (or ‘ledges’) cut by west-northwest striking, steeply south-dipping, hematite-cemented breccia zones and fractures (or ‘ribs’) hosting elevated gold grades. Surface mapping and sampling suggests that Kayali gold mineralization extends westward through the Karaayi target for a total length of over four kilometres, making the K2 trend the most extensive Au-in-soil anomaly at TV Tower (see press release dated October 22, 2013).
[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]A “vuggy” rock is one with empty spaces or pores within it. A volcaniclastic rock is a volcanic rock which has been broken-up, reworked or weathered into what is essentially now a sedimentary rock. A breccia is a rock that has been broken up not by weathering processes, but by more violent activity like high temperature fluids. In this case the breccia is cemented by hematite, an iron oxide which is hosting elevated gold grades.
Pilot looks to have a high sulphide epithermal and porphyry copper-gold system which has been hydrothermally altered and heavily weathered (not necessarily in that order), replacing iron sulfides like pyrite with iron oxides like hematite.[/box]
All true widths are 50-100% of reported widths unless otherwise stated. All intervals of no sampling have been assigned zero grade for the purposes of compositing.
[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]We’ve included Pilot’s drill map below. The full drill results are published on their website here. I like that Pilot has included the holes that yielded no gold results and as well as an accompanying assay cut-off. Also note that they have some (very) minor copper grades which is why they talk about a potential copper-gold porphyry target on the property.[/box]
About TV Tower:
TV Tower is a joint venture between Pilot Gold (40%) and Teck Madencilik Sanayi Ticaret A.S. (60%), a Turkish subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”). Pilot Gold is project operator at TV Tower and can increase its interest in the project to 60%, through sole funding of exploration over a three-year period.
Located on the Biga Peninsula of northwest Turkey, the TV Tower project encompasses 91 square kilometres containing more than a dozen targets ranging from high- and low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver to porphyry gold-copper. The project has an extensive road network and targets to date all lie on land administered by Turkey’s Ministry of Forestry. It is located immediately west of the Kirazli gold project (Alamos Gold) and approximately 10 kilometres northwest of the Halilaga copper-gold project (Teck/Pilot Gold).
TV Tower is an early stage exploration project and does not contain any mineral resource estimates as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). The potential quantities and grades disclosed herein are conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource for the targets disclosed herein. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in these targets yielding a mineral resource.
[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]More on resources and reserves here.[/box]
Moira Smith, Ph.D., P.Geo., Chief Geologist, Pilot Gold, is the Company’s designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has reviewed and validated that the information contained in the release is accurate. Drill composites were calculated using cut-offs of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 3.0 g/t Au. Drill intersections are reported as drilled thicknesses. True widths of the mineralized intervals are interpreted to be between 50-100% of the reported lengths. Drill samples were assayed by AcmeLabs in Ankara, Turkey and Vancouver, B.C. for gold by Fire Assay of a 30 gram (1 assay ton) charge with ICP-ES or AAS finish, or if over 5.0 g/t were re-assayed and completed with a gravimetric finish. QA/QC included the insertion and continual monitoring of numerous standards and blanks into the sample stream, and the collection of duplicate samples at random intervals within each batch.
[box type=”note” align=”aligncenter” ]The above statement briefly outlines their QA/QC program as well as a generic statement about the true thickness of intervals.[/box]
1There are no assurances that the geological similarities to Alamos Gold’s Agi Dagi or Kirazli projects or the Yanacocha, Pierina, and Alto Chicama projects in Peru will result in the establishment of any resource estimates at TV Tower, or that the TV Tower project can be advanced in a similar timeframe or with similar results.
About Pilot Gold:
Pilot Gold is a well-funded gold exploration company led by a proven technical team that continues to discover and define high-quality projects featuring strong grades, meaningful size and mining-friendly addresses. Our three key assets include interests in the TV Tower and Halilaga projects in Turkey, and the Kinsley Mountain project in Nevada, each of which has the ability to become a foundational asset. We also have a pipeline of projects characterized by large land positions and district-wide potential that can meet our growth needs for years to come.
For more information, visit www.pilotgold.com or contact:
Further information is available in the technical report entitled “Updated Technical Report on the TV Tower Exploration Property, Çanakkale, Western Turkey”, effective July 15, 2012 and dated August 3, 2012, prepared by Paul Gribble, B.Sc., C.Eng., FIMMM, UK Manager, Geology of Tetra Tech WEI Inc., under Pilot Gold’s Issuer Profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
[toggle title=”We’ve skipped some of the boilerplate. You can read it in here.” state=”close”]
All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are “forward-looking information” with respect to Pilot Gold within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements that address timing of exploration and development plans at the Company’s mineral projects. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “seek”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “continue”, “planned”, “expect”, “project”, “predict”, “potential”, “targeting”, “intends”, “believe”, “potential”, and similar expressions, or describes a “goal”, or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “should”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made including, among others, assumptions about future prices of gold, copper, silver and other metal prices, currency exchange rates and interest rates, favourable operating conditions, political stability, obtaining governmental approvals and financing on time, obtaining renewals for existing licences and permits and obtaining required licences and permits, labour stability, stability in market conditions, availability of equipment, accuracy of any mineral resources and mineral reserves, successful resolution of disputes and anticipated costs and expenditures. Many assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Pilot Gold and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.
Such forward-looking information, including, but not limited to, statements that address reserve or resource potential, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, potential size of a mineralized zone, potential expansion of mineralization, the timing and results of future resource estimates, proposed timing of exploration and development plans at the Company’s mineral projects, and the estimation of mineral reserves and resources involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Pilot Gold to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.
Such factors include, among others, risks related to the interpretation of results at certain of our exploration properties, reliance on technical information provided by our joint venture partners or other third parties as related to any of our exploration properties; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; successfully completing the earn-in on the TV Tower project, including the ability to incur the minimum annual Expenditure Requirements to complete the earn-in agreement; current economic conditions; future prices of commodities; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; current and proposed exploration and development; the costs and timing of the development of new deposits; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; uses of funds in general including future capital expenditures, exploration expenditures and other expenses for specific operations; the timing and success of exploration activities generally; achievement of identified tangible project milestones at TV Tower; delays in permitting; satisfaction of Turkish requirements relating to the periodic submissions of Environmental Impact Assessments; possible claims against the Company or its joint venture partners; labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals, financing or in the completion of exploration as well as those factors discussed in the Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2012, dated March 27, 2013 (the “AIF”) in the section entitled “Risk Factors”, under Pilot Gold’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
Although Pilot Gold has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Pilot Gold disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Further details relating to Pilot Gold are also available in our AIF, available under Pilot Gold’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
[/toggle]
[box type=”success” align=”aligncenter” ]Have a company or release you’d like us to look at? Let us know though our contact page, through Google+, Twitter or Facebook.[/box]
