Grande Portage Resources Ltd. has provided an interim update on its summer drill program at the Herbert Gold project in southeast Alaska. The company has drilled approximately 10,000 feet in 8 holes from 3 platforms so far, with drilling currently underway in hole 9. The rest of the program will continue until November, and while the company has received results on a small percentage of its sample submissions, the majority is still pending at the lab.
The first hole of the program was a continuation from 2022, where the company re-entered DDH 22AB-5 drilling and intersected a hydrothermally altered structure beyond the Goat Vein, which is interpreted to be the Sleeping Giant Vein. This structure contained an intercept of 1.2 meters at a grade of 7.83gpt Au, which is expected to extend the established resource by approximately 60 meters at depth. Another hole, DDH 23AB-5, intersected a footwall vein of the Main Vein, showing 0.52 meters at a grade of 19.7gpt Au.
After completing drilling on Pad AB, the company moved the rig to Pad M, where it drilled 4 holes to test the western Goat Vein and the Goat Hanging Wall targets. All drill holes intersected mineralization in the targeted Goat Vein, with hole 23M-1 returning 2.95 meters at a grade of 17.4gpt Au, including 0.92 meters at a grade of 55.7gpt Au.
The drill rig was later moved to Pad P, where 4 holes will be drilled. DDH 23P-3 extended southward past the Goat Vein and intersected the Sleeping Giant Vein. While quartz mineralization has been encountered in the holes drilled from this pad, sample analyses are still pending.
Once drilling is completed at Pad P, the rig will be moved to Pad BB, the easternmost drill pad on the property. At least four holes will be drilled here to test the eastern portions of the Goat Vein and the Sleeping Giant Vein, exploring the eastward projection of a higher-grade section of the Goat Vein.
Ian Klassen, President and CEO of Grande Portage, stated that the company’s plan in 2023 was to fill in gaps in the established resource and have incremental step outs in areas that have shown mineralization in the past. The company aims to increase confidence in any new resource estimate and potentially expand the resource.
Grande Portage Resources is a mineral exploration company focused on the Herbert Gold discovery, located north of Juneau, Alaska. The Herbert Gold property is host to several main composite vein-fault structures containing ribbon structure quartz-sulfide veins. The project is part of the Juneau Gold Belt, which has produced over seven million ounces of gold. Grande Portage’s updated NI#43-101 Mineral Resource estimate includes an indicated resource of 1,196,800 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 325,900 ounces of gold, along with indicated and inferred resources of silver.
