Vancouver, B.C., September 1, 2023: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTC: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce that it has filed on SEDAR+ an independent technical report (the “Technical Report”) entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Rogue Gold Project, Yukon Canada, Mayo Mining District” and dated June 13, 2023, with an effective date of May 15, 2023. The Technical Report was prepared by Jean Pautler, P.Geo., a consulting geologist.
The purpose of the Technical Report is to support scientific and technical information that relates to the Company’s Rogue Project. There are no material differences in the Technical Report from the information disclosed in the Company’s May 2, 2023 news release. The Technical Report is available under the Company’s profile at www.sedarplus.ca and on its website at www.snowlinegold.com.
ABOUT ROGUE
The Valley target on Snowline’s flagship Rogue Project is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres over a wide area. Gold is associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted quartz vein arrays within and along the margins of a one-kilometer-scale, mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-suite intrusion. Valley is an early-stage exploration target without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >333,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >94,000 ha Rogue gold project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Thomas K. Branson, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration for Snowline Gold as Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
TSX-V DISCLAIMER
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the discovery potential within the Valley intrusion, the potential for investors to participate in multiple future discoveries, the Rogue project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Vancouver, B.C. – August 15, 2023 – Snowline Gold Corp. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTCQB: SNWGF) (“Snowline”or the“Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement pursuant to which Cormark Securities Inc., as lead underwriter, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters (collectively, the “Underwriters”), has agreed to purchase, on a “bought deal” private placement basis, 2,000,000 “flow-through” shares of the Company (the “Charity FT Share”) at a price of $7.50 per Charity FT Share (“Offering Price”) for gross proceeds of $15,000,000 (the “Offering”). Each Charity FT Share will qualify as a “flow-through share” (within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada)).
“We are pleased to see the increased interest in our Rogue Project following our initial results from the ongoing 2023 exploration season,” said Scott Berdahl, CEO & Director of Snowline. “This raise, which brings in funds at a significant premium to market, enhances our team’s ability to systematically explore our Valley discovery, the broader Rogue Project, and additional targets on our extensive Yukon-focused exploration portfolio. Combined with our current treasury, we are well positioned to focus on building value through discovery for multiple drill seasons.”
The Underwriters will have the option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time up to 48 hours prior to the closing of the Offering, to arrange for the purchase of up to that number of Charity FT Shares at the Offering Price as is equal to 15% of the number of securities issued in connection with the Offering.
The Company will use an amount equal to the gross proceeds received by the Company from the sale of the Charity FT Shares, pursuant to the provisions in the Income Tax Act (Canada), to incur eligible “Canadian exploration expenses” that qualify as “flow-through mining expenditures” as both terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Qualifying Expenditures”) related to the Company’s projects in the Yukon Territory, on or before December 31, 2024, and to renounce all the Qualifying Expenditures in favour of the subscribers of the Charity FT Shares effective December 31, 2023.
The Offering is expected to close on or about September 6, 2023, or such other date as the Company and the Underwriters may agree and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory and other approvals including the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.
The securities offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities law, and may not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly, within the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, absent registration or an exemption from such registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >333,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >94,000 ha Rogue gold project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
Neither 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 release.
Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Any statement that implies predictions, expectations, interpretations, opinions, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often using words such as “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “interpreted”, “in management’s opinion”, “anticipates”, or “plans”, “budget”, “schedule”, “forecasts” including negative and grammatical variations thereof, statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “should”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved) is not a statement of historical fact and may constitute forward-looking information and is intended to identify forward-looking information. This news release may contain forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the terms of the Offering; the use of proceeds of the Offering; the timing and ability of the Company to close the Offering; the timing and ability of the Company to receive necessary regulatory and other approvals, including the acceptance of the Offering by the TSX Venture Exchange; the ability of the Company to incur in full or at all “Canadian exploration expenses” that qualify as “flow-through mining expenditures” and the renunciation thereof to the purchasers of the Charity FT Shares and timing thereof; the tax treatment of the Charity FT Shares. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the ability of exploration activities (including drilling results) to accurately predict mineralization; the Company’s ability to obtain required approvals; the results of exploration activities; risks associated with mining operations; global economic conditions; metal prices; dilution; environmental risks; and community and non-governmental actions and general economic conditions. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time of release, Snowline Gold Corp. cannot provide any assurance that actual results will be consistent with the forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither Snowline Gold Corp. nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of forward-looking information. All statements made, other than statements of historical fact, that address the Company’s intentions and the events and developments that the Company anticipates, are considered forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ from those in the forward-looking statements.
Hole V-23-039 returned 2.48 g/t Au over 553.8 m from surface including 4.98 g/t Au over 132.0 m from 6.0 m downhole demonstrating strong mineralization at surface and at depth near the western boundary of the Valley intrusion
Hole V-23-037 returned 2.47 g/t Au over 383.8 m from surface including 4.06 g/t Au over 120.0 m from a collar location roughly 115 m across strike from V-23-039
Results confirm and improve upon strong grade and continuity of well mineralized, near-surface corridor on the Rogue Project’s Valley target, while identifying a new zone of >2 g/t Au mineralization at depth along the western margin of the intrusion.
Vancouver, B.C., August 3, 2023: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTC: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce additional analytical results from its ongoing drill program at the Valley target on its Rogue Project in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Holes V-23-039 and V-23-037 returned the two strongest gold intersections from the project to date, demonstrating the presence of a high-grade, near-surface core to the gold system at Valley. Hole V-23-039 averages 2.47 g/t Au over 553.8 m from bedrock surface, including two distinct zones with multiple-gram-per-tonne gold mineralization, with a strong run of continuous mineralization at depth averaging 2.02 g/t Au over 233.0 m from 287.0 m downhole. Analytical results for an additional 19 holes (7,116 m) at Valley are pending, with drilling at Valley and other Rogue Project targets ongoing.
Table 1 – Highlight summary of Snowline’s latest assay results. *Interval widths reported; true widths of the system are not yet known.
“Drill hole V-23-039 is the best drill hole reported at the Rogue Project’s Valley target to date, and it ranks among the best drill holes ever drilled for gold in the Yukon. Along with V-23-037—which would have otherwise been the target’s best hole—it confirms and builds upon the strong continuity and grade of the Valley gold discovery across significant distances beginning at surface. The grades are exceptional for a reduced intrusion-related gold system, where resource grades for most known deposits are well below 1 g/t Au. With high gold recoveries from non-refractory metallurgy, a conducive geometry for a low strip ratio, and its location in a favourable mining jurisdiction, the Valley target is emerging as one of the recent gold discoveries on a global scale. Drilling is ongoing at Valley and on other potentially similar gold targets elsewhere on our 100%-owned, 94,000 ha Rogue Project.”
Figure 1 – Cross-section A, highlighting remarkable continuity of strong, near-surface gold grades encountered at Valley. Top: Analytical results received to date and still pending (thin black lines). Bottom: Vein densities alongside instances of visible gold observed during logging. Note that V-22-034 and 035 actually sit in the foreground of the section—V-23-037 and 039 are herein plotted without interruption to highlight the recent results. Two phases of the Valley intrusion are shown, along with fault traces.
Figure 2 – Plan view of the Rogue Project’s Valley target showing analytical results from previous and current drilling, along with approximate traces of current holes. The high level of consistency of mineralization can be seen in the distribution of assay values down holes. Hole V-23-039 returned a similar length mineralized intersection from surface to that of V-22-029—a downhole length roughly equivalent to the height of Toronto’s CN Tower—but at double the grade. Results from the Valley target consistently carry unusually high grades for a reduced intrusion-related gold system.
HOLE V-23-039
Hole V-23-039 is collared within the Valley intrusion and tests a large gap within previous drilling on the near-surface, >2 g/t Au corridor discovered at Valley in 2022. The hole is roughly 64 m east of the nearest hole, V-22-010 (318.8 m @ 2.55 g/t Au including 108.0 m @ 4.14 g/t Au from surface, see Snowline news release dated October 12, 2022), and 117 m west of V-22-007 (410.0 m @ 1.89 g/t Au from surface including 146.0 m @ 3.24 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated November 15, 2022). It is 115 m across strike and to the southwest of V-23-037 (428.0 m @ 2.47 g/t Au from surface including 120.0 m @ 4.06 g/t Au, this release).
As with previous drill holes in this zone, V-23-039 intersects abundant sheeted quartz veins in granodiorite, with multiple generations of gold-bearing quartz veins. Mineralization is continuous throughout the top 553.8 m downhole from surface, averaging 2.47 g/t Au across this length. Two zones of higher-grade mineralization are present within this interval: 4.34 g/t Au over 183.3 m from bedrock surface at 2.6 m downhole, and 2.03 g/t Au over 233.0 m from 287.0 m downhole, separated by a zone of lower grades averaging 0.83 g/t over 101.0 m from 186.0 m downhole.
The upper zone of mineralization confirms continuity of strong, near-surface mineralization encountered in earlier holes, albeit with higher overall gold grades than previously encountered at Valley. Within the top 180.0 m downhole from bedrock surface at 2.7 m, 148 out of 177 samples assayed higher than 2.0 g/t Au—representing 148.3 m (non-contiguous) or 84% of the downhole interval. Only six samples, representing 6.0 m (non-contiguous) assayed below 1 g/t Au.
The lower zone of mineralization (2.03 g/t Au over 233.0 m from 287.0 m downhole) represents a newly discovered zone of >2 g/t gold mineralization along the western margin of the Valley intrusion at depth. Quartz veins in this zone are intersected at lower angled to drill core, as has previously been seen in drilling along the western boundary of the intrusion. The hole exits the intrusion into lightly mineralized hornfels at 535.4 m downhole, but the zone itself remains open in multiple directions along the edge of the intrusion.
Table 2 – Summary of mineralization observed in current holes. The consistency of strong mineralization is reinforced by the capped values in the rightmost column, wherein any assay result >10 g/t Au is replaced by 10.0 g/t Au to calculate the average interval grades. The high results demonstrate uniform gold mineralization that is not “smeared” across a given interval by isolated high-grade samples. *Interval widths reported; true widths of the system are not yet known, with different vein generations, orientations, and grade distributions present within various intervals through the bulk tonnage gold target at Valley.
HOLE V-23-037
Hole V-23-037 is collared within the Valley intrusion, 115 m northeast of V-23-039 (553.8 m @ 2.48 g/t Au, this release). As with nearby hole V-23-034, (418.3 m @ 1.88 g/t Au from surface including 216.0 m @ 3.08 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated July 5, 2023) collared 34 m to the east to provide information on small-scale variance within the system, the hole intersected abundant sheeted quartz veins within the intrusion, in places carrying trace amounts of visible gold. Gold grades and distribution in the two holes is quite similar, except that in V-23-037 higher grades begin at surface, and they continue to greater downhole and vertical depths than in V-23-034. The hole ends in patchy lower grade mineralization within a fine-grained, porphyritic phase of the granodiorite (Figure 1).
Mineralization within V-23-037 is robust and consistent, averaging 2.47 g/t Au over 383.8 m from bedrock surface at 6.2 m downhole, with a higher-grade zone averaging 4.06 g/t Au over 120.0 m from 135.0 m downhole. If not for V-23-039, this hole would have been the best drilled to date within the Valley intrusion. Capping grades at 10.0 g/t Au reduces the average grade of mineralization within the broader interval only 3.1% to 2.39 g/t Au.
EXPLORATION UPDATES
Valley Target Drilling, Rogue Project
The 10,000+ m drill program at the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery is ongoing, with two drill rigs active on site. To date, >9,500 m has been drilled on the Valley target in 2023, with 22 holes completed and an additional 2 holes in progress. Analytical results for all but 5 holes drilled at Valley in 2023 are pending. The Company intends to continue drilling at Valley until the end of the exploration season in early October.
Satellite Target Drilling, Rogue Project
Phase II drilling at the Rogue Project’s Gracie target was temporarily deferred due to unstable terrain, with G-23-006 shut down at 276 m downhole depth within hornfels.
Drilling has instead commenced at the Rogue Project’s Reid target, where LM-23-001 has intersected a poly-phase intrusive system, with a coarse-grained granodiorite phase and a fine-grained porphyritic phase, and moderate to low vein densities. Five instances of trace visible gold have been observed in the hole. The Company notes that its re-analysis of historical drill core material from Reid did not replicate the highest gold values reported from historical hole AS-96-03.
Preparations are also underway for a Phase I drill program at the Rogue Project’s Cujo target.
Southwest Yukon Drilling
A phase I program of five drill holes totalling 1,283 m is complete at Snowline’s 100% owned Cliff Project, and the drill rig has been mobilized off site. Analytical results for all holes at Cliff are pending.
The same drill rig has been mobilized to the Tosh Property, where drilling has commenced on a 4+ hole, 1,200+ m Phase I program focused on the “Yarrow” gold-silver target. This is the first ever drill testing of the Tosh Property.
QA/QC
On receipt from the drill site, Valley’s NQ2-sized drill core was systematically logged for geological attributes, photographed and sampled at Snowline’s 2023 field camp. Sample lengths as small as 0.5 m were used to isolate features of interest, but most samples within moderate to strong mineralization were 1.0 m in length; otherwise, a default 1.5 m downhole sample length was used. Core was cut in half lengthwise along a pre-determined line, with one half (same half, consistently) collected for analysis and one half stored as a record. Field duplicates were collected at regular intervals as ¼ core samples by splitting the ½ core sent for sampling, leaving a consistent record of half core material from duplicate and non-duplicate samples alike. Standard reference materials and blanks were inserted by Snowline personnel at regular intervals into the sample stream. Bagged samples were sealed with security tags to ensure integrity during transport. They were delivered by expeditor to Bureau Veritas’ preparatory facility in Whitehorse, Yukon. Sample preparation was completed in Whitehorse, with analyses completed in Vancouver.
Bureau Veritas is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO9001 for quality management. Samples were crushed by BV to >85% passing below 2 mm and split using a riffle splitter. 250 g splits were pulverized to >85% passing below 75 microns. A four-acid digest with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) finish was used for 59-element analysis on 0.25 g sample pulps (BV code: MA250). All samples were analysed for gold content by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish on 30 g samples (BV code: FA430). Any sample returning >10 g/t Au was reanalysed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 30 g sample (BV code: FA530).
All standard reference materials and blanks inserted into the sample streams for the two holes returned values within acceptable limits.
ABOUT ROGUE
The Valley target on Snowline’s flagship Rogue Project is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres. Gold is associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted quartz vein arrays within and along the margins of a one-kilometer-scale, mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-suite intrusion. Valley is an early-stage exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >333,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >94,000 ha Rogue gold project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
Figure 3 – Project location map for Snowline Gold’s eastern Selwyn Basin properties: Rogue, Einarson, Ursa, Cynthia and Olympus. The current work program at Rogue is based from the Company’s Forks Camp.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Thomas K. Branson, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration for Snowline Gold as Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the significance of analytical results, the discovery potential within the Valley intrusion, the potential for investors to participate in multiple future discoveries, the Rogue project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Hole V-23-036 returned 2.92 g/t Au over 143.5 m within broader mineralized interval averaging 1.53 g/t Au over 414.5 m from surface, extending near-surface, multiple-gram-per-tonne corridor on the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery by 75 m to the southeast
Hole V-23-035 returned 1.01 g/t Au over 396.5 m from surface, demonstrating robust near-surface mineralization to western margin of Valley intrusion
Phase II drilling underway at the Rogue Project’s Gracie target, a potential intact Valley-style gold system located in between the gold-bearing Valley and Reid targets
Multiple generations of sheeted quartz veins along with bismuthinite identified within an exposed intrusion on recently consolidated Cujo target within the Rogue Plutonic Complex.
Vancouver, B.C., July 18, 2023: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTC: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce analytical results from the second and third holes of its 2023 drilling program at the Valley target on its Rogue Project in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Hole V-23-036, drilled to test the southeast edge of Valley’s near-surface corridor of multiple-gram-per-tonne gold mineralization, succeeded in expanding its known extent roughly 75 m farther to the southeast. The hole averaged 2.92 g/t Au over 143.5 m from 23.5 m downhole, within a broader interval of 1.53 g/t Au over 414.5 m from bedrock surface. In addition, hole V-23-035 expanded known mineralization to the western edge of the Valley intrusion, returning 1.01 g/t Au over 396.5 m from bedrock surface. Analytical results for all 17 holes (6,650 m) beyond V-23-036 at Valley are pending, with drilling at Valley ongoing.
Table 1 – Highlight summary of Snowline’s latest assay results. *Interval widths reported; true widths of the system are not yet known.
“Today’s results highlight the significant exploration upside present within the broader footprint of last season’s widely spaced, first-pass drilling of the Rogue Project’s Valley target,” said Scott Berdahl, CEO & Director of Snowline. “This is particularly true when it comes to Valley’s extensive zone of near-surface, multiple-gram-per-tonne gold mineralization. The gold grades and continuity in V-23-036 add a large tonnage of potentially high-value rock to this zone, which remains open further to the southeast. In addition, the breadth of the mineralized interval in V-23-035, drilled from the western margin of the intrusion, highlights the breadth of strong mineralization present outside of the highest-grade core at Valley, both laterally and to depth. This has strong favorable implications for a favourable strip ratio, low internal dilution, and of course overall gold content in any potential future operation at Valley. With our exploration season still ramping up, we are encouraged by these early results, and we look forward to additional results from Valley as well as from additional targets.”
Figure 1 – Plan view of the Rogue Project’s Valley target showing analytical results from previous and current drilling, along with approximate traces of current holes. The higher grades encountered at the top of V-23-036 extend the broad, NW-SE corridor of near-surface, multiple-gram-per-tonne gold mineralization by roughly 75 m to the southeast of the section containing V-22-014 and V-22-007. Hole V-23-035 extends the known limit of mineralization to the southwest, and demonstrates strong, continuous gold mineralization along the margin of the higher-grade zone. Given the overhead perspective, the bottom of V-23-035 appears to interrupt higher-grade mineralization seen in V-23-007 and V-23-034, but these results are several hundred metres below the mineralization in these holes. Better context is given by Figure 3, showing section A-A’.
Figure 2 – Cross-section B, showing results received (top) and vein densities alongside instances of visible gold observed during logging (bottom). Note that V-22-027 is in the foreground of the section, while V-22-028 is in the background.
HOLE V-23-036
Hole V-23-036 is collared within the Valley intrusion, along strike with and now recognized as part of the extensive, near-surface, >2 g/t Au corridor discovered at Valley in 2022. The hole is a 75 m step-out along strike from the mineralization encountered in V-22-007 (410.0 m @ 1.89 g/t Au from surface including 146.0 m @ 3.24 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated November 15, 2022) and V-22-014 (285.2 m @ 1.45 g/t Au including 128.2 m @ 2.48 g/t Au from surface, same news release). Previous drilling in the vicinity of the collar site only tested the system at depth, where holes V-22-027 and V-22-028 returned long intervals of relatively consistent gold mineralization (Figure 1).
The hole intersected abundant sheeted quartz veins in granodiorite, with multiple generations of gold-bearing quartz veins observed. The entire hole is mineralized, returning 1.53 g/t Au over 414.5 m from bedrock surface at approximately 4.0 m downhole depth, including a higher-grade interval of 2.92 g/t Au over 143.5 m from 23.5 m downhole. The hole exits the intrusion at 407.6 m downhole. It ends in low to moderate gold mineralization, with the final 20.0 m averaging 0.43 g/t Au.
Within the 143.5 m interval at 2.92 g/t Au, 131 of 148 samples assayed higher than 1.0 g/t Au—representing 127.5 m (non-contiguous) or 89% of the downhole interval. Only a single assay within this interval—1 m downhole distance—returned a value <0.5 g/t Au at 0.49 g/t Au. While high grades of up to 20.70 g/t Au are present, they are not primary drivers of the broader mineralized intervals. Applying a cap at 10 g/t Au reduces the average grade of the 414.5 m hole by just 1.9% from 1.53 g/t Au to 1.50 g/t Au, with a similarly subtle effect on sub-intervals (Table 2). Results from V-23-036 expand the known extent of near surface, >2 g/t Au mineralization at Valley and further demonstrate strong continuity of mineralization at Valley.
Table 2 – Summary of mineralization observed in current holes. The consistency of strong mineralization is reinforced by the capped values in the rightmost column, wherein any assay result >10 g/t Au is replaced by 10.0 g/t Au to calculate the average interval grades. The high results demonstrate uniform gold mineralization that is not “smeared” across a given interval by isolated high-grade samples. *Interval widths reported; true widths of the system are not yet known, with different vein generations, orientations and grade distributions present within various intervals through the bulk tonnage gold target at Valley.
Figure 3 – Cross-section A, showing results received (top) and vein densities alongside instances of visible gold observed during logging (bottom).
HOLE V-23-035
Hole V-23-035 is collared near the southwestern boundary of the Valley intrusion, over 130 m from the nearest previous hole (V-22-028; 363.5 m @ 1.40 g/t Au) and collared farther to the southwest than any other hole at Valley to date. Drilled towards the northeast, it tests near-surface mineralization near the southwest edge of the intrusion and mineralization at depth beneath Valley’s well-mineralized near-surface corridor.
The 509.0 m hole is entirely within granodiorite of the Valley intrusion, with dominantly moderate quartz vein densities throughout. It returned a consistent initial intersection of 396.5 m averaging 1.01 g/t Au from bedrock surface at 20.0 m downhole. Below this, from 429.0 m downhole, a separate mineralized interval averaged 0.44 g/t Au over 40.1 m. The hole ended in weak, intermittent mineralization, with the final 3.5 m averaging 0.23 g/t Au.
Such robust, >1 g/t Au, gold grades encountered in V-23-035 along the southwest margin of the known mineralized system provide strong support for the idea of a single, large, recoverable body of gold mineralization at Valley with a very low strip ratio and minimal internal dilution.
EXPLORATION UPDATE
Valley Target Drilling, Rogue Project
The 10,000+ m drill program at the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery is ongoing, with two drill rigs active on site. To date, >8,000 m has been drilled on the Valley target in 2023, with 18 holes completed, an additional 2 holes in progress, and significant additional drilling planned. Analytical results for all but 3 holes drilled at Valley in 2023 are pending.
Gracie Target Drilling, Rogue Project
A 2,000+ m diamond drill program is underway at Gracie, with the commencement of drilling on G-23-006. The Phase II program will begin with 4 drill holes, building on the results of 2022 Phase I drilling. The 2022 program confirmed the presence of a reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS) along with gold-bismuth-tellurium mineralized quartz veins oriented parallel to the dominant mineralized vein set at the Valley target. It also provided a potential vector towards the heat source; the current program will test for the presence of an intrusion to the northwest of the 2022 drill holes.
Gracie is an unexposed RIRGS target. Unlike the RIRGS at the Valley target, which is partially eroded, a mineralized system at Gracie would be completely intact, presenting an attractive exploration target roughly 4 km from the edge of the Valley intrusion to its west, and a similar distance from the gold-bearing Reid intrusion to its east.
Cujo Target, Rogue Project
Surface work at the Rogue Project’s recently consolidated Cujo target (Figure 5) identified multiple generations of sheeted quartz veins within an exposed intrusion of the Rogue Plutonic Complex. Instances of bismuthinite and associated bismuth and tellurium minerals, which are strongly correlated to gold mineralization at the Valley target, are present in the veins.
Figure 4 – Intrusive host and veining style at Valley (left) and Cujo (right). Coarse grained granodiorite with fine-grained biotite rich xenoliths (outlined by white dashed lines). Sericite-chlorite alteration and quartz-calcite-bismuthinite-scheelite veins. A) Core samples from hole V-23-036 at the Valley target, 5 to 8 meters depth. B) Surface sample from the Cujo target.
A recent grab sample of float material from hornfels northwest of the Cujo intrusion returned 63.8 g/t Au, while grab samples of quartz vein material from within the intrusion assay from <50 ppb Au to 12.8 g/t Au. Limited historical drilling of the target conducted in 1996 returned an intersection of 1.02 g/t Au over 13.6 m. These results have not been verified by the company, but historical pad sites have been relocated by field crews.
Cliff Project Drilling
Outside of Rogue, a Phase I drill program using a fourth drill is underway at the Company’s Cliff Project in the southwest Yukon. Cliff covers a series of previously untested orogenic gold targets in the vicinity of a prolific placer district that has seen continuous placer gold production from various creeks for more than a century. No obvious source to this mineralization has been located to date.
QA/QC
On receipt from the drill site, Valley’s NQ2-sized drill core was systematically logged for geological attributes, photographed and sampled at Snowline’s 2023 field camp. Sample lengths as small as 0.5 m were used to isolate features of interest, but most samples within moderate to strong mineralization were 1.0 m in length; otherwise, a default 1.5 m downhole sample length was used. Core was cut in half lengthwise along a pre-determined line, with one half (same half, consistently) collected for analysis and one half stored as a record. Field duplicates were collected at regular intervals as ¼ core samples by splitting the ½ core sent for sampling, leaving a consistent record of half core material from duplicate and non-duplicate samples alike. Standard reference materials and blanks were inserted by Snowline personnel at regular intervals into the sample stream. Bagged samples were sealed with security tags to ensure integrity during transport. They were delivered by expeditor to Bureau Veritas’ preparatory facility in Whitehorse, Yukon. Sample preparation was completed in Whitehorse, with analyses completed in Vancouver.
Bureau Veritas is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO9001 for quality management. Samples were crushed by BV to >85% passing below 2 mm and split using a riffle splitter. 250 g splits were pulverized to >85% passing below 75 microns. A four-acid digest with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) finish was used for 59-element analysis on 0.25 g sample pulps (BV code: MA250). All samples were analysed for gold content by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish on 30 g samples (BV code: FA430). Any sample returning >10 g/t Au was reanalysed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 30 g sample (BV code: FA530).
All standard reference materials and blanks inserted into the sample streams for the two holes returned values within acceptable limits.
ABOUT ROGUE
The Valley target on Snowline’s flagship Rogue Project is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres. Gold is associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted quartz vein arrays within and along the margins of a one-kilometer-scale, mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-suite intrusion. Valley is an early-stage exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >333,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >94,000 ha Rogue gold project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
Figure 5 – Project location map for Snowline Gold’s eastern Selwyn Basin properties: Rogue, Einarson, Ursa, Cynthia and Olympus. The current work program at Rogue is based from the Company’s Forks Camp.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Thomas K. Branson, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration for Snowline Gold as Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the significance of analytical results, the discovery potential within the Valley intrusion, the potential for investors to participate in multiple future discoveries, the Rogue project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Hole V-23-034 returned 3.08 g/t Au over 216.0 m within broader mineralized interval averaging 1.88 g/t Au over 418.3 m from surface along entire hole
Highest sustained gold grades at Rogue Project’s Valley target to date—including 6.38 g/t Au over 15.4 m and 5.23 g/t Au over 24.0 m—redefine and expand the near-surface, multiple-gram-per-tonne gold corridor central to the target
Total drilling at Valley in 2023 (>5,800 m) already exceeds metres drilled by August 7, 2022, with drilling ongoing and assay results for all remaining holes pending.
Vancouver, B.C., July 5, 2023: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTC: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce preliminary assay results from the first hole of its 2023 drilling program at the Valley target on its Rogue Project in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Hole V-23-034, drilled to test the northeast margin of Valley’s near surface, well-mineralized corridor, hit the strongest gold grades sustained over >10 m downhole intervals at Valley to date, expanding the known spatial extent of multiple-gram-per-tonne gold mineralization within the target intrusion. Three drills are currently active at Valley, with >5,800 m of drilling and 13 holes completed on the target to date. Analytical results for all holes beyond V-23-034 are pending, with drilling ongoing.
Table 1 – Preliminary highlight summary of Snowline’s latest assay results. *Interval widths reported; true widths of the system are not yet known.
“Our first drill hole of 2023 was drilled to test what we thought was the edge of a relatively high-grade gold corridor within the Rogue Project’s Valley intrusion,” said Scott Berdahl, CEO & Director of Snowline. “It ended up as Snowline’s second-best drill hole to date.” The entire 418 metre hole is mineralized. The consistency of gold grades over large distances is remarkable. Internal intervals ranging from 15 to 25 metres in length bear higher gold grades than we have previously seen at Valley. These results highlight the discovery potential still present within and around the broad spatial footprint that we tested with sparse drilling last season. We eagerly await the many forthcoming analytical results from our ongoing drill campaign at Valley, in addition to stepping out to drill test additional intrusion-related gold targets on the broader Rogue Project over the coming weeks.”
Figure 1 – Plan view of the Rogue Project’s Valley target showing analytical results from previous and current drilling, along with approximate traces of current holes. The high level of consistency of mineralization can be seen in the distribution of assay values down holes. Within the broader mineralized interval in V-23-034, a continuous 98.0 m run from 165.0 m downhole did not return any assays below 1.00 g/t Au, with an average over that stretch of 4.30 g/t Au. Results from the Valley target consistently carry unusually high grades for a reduced intrusion-related gold system.
HOLE V-23-034
Hole V-23-034 is collared within the Valley intrusion, northeast of the near-surface, >2 g/t Au corridor discovered in 2022. The hole is a 200 m step-back along section to the northeast from the collar site for V-22-010 (318.8 m @ 2.55 g/t Au including 108.0 m @ 4.14 g/t Au from surface, see Snowline news release dated October 12, 2022). It is roughly 100 m to the north of V-22-007 (410.0 m @ 1.89 g/t Au from surface including 146.0 m @ 3.24 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated November 15, 2022) and 80 m southeast of the nearest hole, V-22-029 (558.7 m @ 1.26 g/t Au from surface including 202.0 m @ 2.04 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated February 24, 2023).
The hole intersected abundant sheeted quartz veins in granodiorite, with three distinct vein generations each carrying trace visible gold. The entire hole was mineralized, returning 1.88 g/t Au over 418.3 m from bedrock surface at approximately 5.7 m downhole depth, including a higher-grade interval of 3.08 g/t Au over 216.0 m from 109.0 m downhole, or 4.12 g/t Au over 121.4 m from 158.0 m downhole depending on interval selection parameters. Within the higher-grade zone are three of the highest grade >10 m gold intersections seen at Valley to date, including 5.23 g/t Au over 24.0 m, 4.74 g/t Au over 16.5 m and 6.38 g/t Au over 15.4 m as separate intervals (Table 2). Beginning at 278.6 m downhole, a 0.8 m zone of quartz and fault gouge returned the highest assay of the hole at 27.95 g/t Au. The hole ended in low-level mineralization within the intrusion, with the final 20.0 m averaging 0.29 g/t Au.
Within the 121.4 m interval at 4.12 g/t Au, 114 of 146 samples assayed higher than 2.0 g/t Au—representing 96.8 m (non-contiguous) or 80% of the downhole interval. Only a single assay within this interval—1 m downhole distance—returned a value <0.5 g/t Au. Within the same interval, beginning from 165.0 m downhole, 109 of 109 contiguous samples (98.0 m downhole length) all assayed >1 g/t Au, averaging 4.30 g/t Au.
While high grades of up to 27.95 g/t Au are present, they are not primary drivers of the broader mineralized intervals. Applying a cap at 10 g/t Au reduces the average grade of the 418.3 m hole by just 3.4% from 1.88 g/t Au to 1.82 g/t Au, with a similarly subtle effect on sub-intervals (Table 2). This grade continuity is an important factor in efficient exploration, as it facilitates greater understanding of the gold system with fewer metres drilled. It could also prove beneficial to any future extraction by increasing predictability of gold grades and reducing internal dilution.
Results from V-23-034 expand the known extent of near surface, >2 gram per tonne gold mineralization at Valley and further demonstrate strong continuity of mineralization at Valley.
Table 2 – Summary of mineralization observed in V-23-034. The consistency of strong mineralization is reinforced by the capped values in the rightmost column, wherein any assay result >10 g/t Au is replaced by 10.0 g/t Au to calculate the average interval grades. The high results demonstrate uniform gold mineralization that is not “smeared” across a given interval by isolated high-grade samples. *Interval widths reported; true widths of the system are not yet known, with different vein generations, orientations and grade distributions present within various intervals through the bulk tonnage gold target at Valley.
Figure 2 – Quartz vein mineralization in V-23-034, from 158.7 m to 194.5 m downhole, a subset of a larger run of similar moderate to high quartz vein density beginning at bedrock surface. The core shown averages 4.32 g/t Au. It sits atop a 121.4 m interval averaging 4.12 g/t Au from 158.0 m downhole, with 80% of assays by distance returning >2 g/t Au. True widths have not been determined.
EXPLORATION UPDATE
The 10,000+ m drill program at the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery is ongoing, with three drill rigs active on site. To date, > 5,800 m have been drilled on the Valley target in 2023, with 13 holes completed and an additional 3 holes in progress. Additional field crews are conducting surface programs on multiple targets across the Rogue Project, in preparation for 5,000+ m drilling on multiple Rogue Project targets outside of Valley.
Prior to the commencement of the field season, after assessing various options to improve assay turnaround time and after a program of umpire sample testing, the Company switched to a dedicated service stream for its sampling. The apparent improvement in turnaround times will help with timely decision making and iterative, results-based exploration within a single field season. Analytical results for all holes drilled in 2023 following V-23-034 are still pending.
Outside of Rogue, a team of Snowline personnel has mobilized to the Company’s Tosh and Cliff Projects, which cover orogenic gold targets in the southwestern Yukon. The team will be completing prospecting and mapping work and setting drill collar sites for the drill testing of both projects, the first ever drilling on either of these greenfield gold projects.
QA/QC
On receipt from the drill site, Valley’s NQ2-sized drill core was systematically logged for geological attributes, photographed and sampled at Snowline’s 2023 field camp. Sample lengths as small as 0.5 m were used to isolate features of interest, but most samples within moderate to strong mineralization were 1.0 m in length; otherwise, a default 1.5 m downhole sample length was used. Core was cut in half lengthwise along a pre-determined line, with one half (same half, consistently) collected for analysis and one half stored as a record. Field duplicates were collected at regular intervals as ¼ core samples by splitting the ½ core sent for sampling, leaving a consistent record of half core material from duplicate and non-duplicate samples alike. Standard reference materials and blanks were inserted by Snowline personnel at regular intervals into the sample stream. Bagged samples were sealed with security tags to ensure integrity during transport. They were delivered by expeditor to Bureau Veritas’ preparatory facility in Whitehorse, Yukon. Sample preparation was completed in Whitehorse, with analyses completed in Vancouver.
Bureau Veritas is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO9001 for quality management. Samples were crushed by BV to >85% passing below 2 mm and split using a riffle splitter. 250 g splits were pulverized to >85% passing below 75 microns. A four-acid digest with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) finish was used for 59-element analysis on 0.25 g sample pulps (BV code: MA250). All samples were analysed for gold content by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish on 30 g samples (BV code: FA430). Any sample returning >10 g/t Au was reanalysed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 30 g sample (BV code: FA530).
Results reported herein are considered preliminary following receipt of a low but expected percentage of abnormal assays from standard and blank samples inserted by the Company into the Valley sample stream. (Standard samples are prepared by a third-party laboratory to have known quantities of gold, and blank samples are known to contain very limited concentrations of gold.) Reanalysis of samples run along with these reference materials will provide greater certainty in the final assay numbers. These results will be reported if a material difference is identified between the current assays and the re-run sample batches. Based on the widespread and relatively consistent mineralization throughout mineralized zones, however, the Company does not believe that the re-analysis of this relatively small number of samples will have a significant impact on the preliminary mineralized intervals reported herein.
ABOUT ROGUE
The Valley target on Snowline’s flagship Rogue Project is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres. Gold is associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted quartz vein arrays within and along the margins of a one-kilometer-scale, mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-suite intrusion. Valley is an early-stage exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >333,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >94,000 ha Rogue gold project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
Figure 3 – Project location map for Snowline Gold’s eastern Selwyn Basin properties: Rogue, Einarson, Ursa, Cynthia and Olympus. The current work program at Rogue is based from the Company’s Forks Camp.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Thomas K. Branson, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration for Snowline Gold as Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the significance of analytical results, the discovery potential within the Valley intrusion, the potential for investors to participate in multiple future discoveries, the Rogue project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
High gold recovery realized with conventional processing techniques demonstrates the non-refractory nature of gold mineralization at Valley
Average gold recovery from non-optimized methods ranges from 87.6% (average bottle roll cyanidation) to 95.7% (average carbon-in-leach)
Strong buffering effect and low concentrations of deleterious elements carry positive implications for environmental aspects of processing, reclamation and closure
Results open the door to multiple future processing options for Valley mineralization.
Vancouver, B.C., June 14, 2023: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTCQB: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce results from initial, first-pass metallurgical testing of gold mineralization from the Valley discovery on its Rogue Project, Yukon Territory, Canada. Ten composite drill core samples representing various locations and grades within the Valley gold system were subject to bottle roll cyanidation, carbon-in-leach (CIL) and preliminary flotation amenability testing. Gold recovery from test work was favourable varying from 81% to 99% across a range of head grades, material size and metallurgical approach (Figure 1). The results demonstrate that mineralization at Valley is non-refractory and highlight the applicability of multiple processing techniques as options for further consideration.
Figure 1 – Gold recovery rates by bottle roll cyanidation (red, left axis), carbon-in-leach (blue, left axis) and non-optimized floatation (green, left axis) across 10 composite drill core samples sorted by head grade (black, labelled with grams per tonne gold, right axis). Yellow bars indicate proportion of gold in particles >0.106 mm in size (left axis), an indicator for proportion of gravity recoverable gold.
“These positive initial metallurgical results mark an important milestone in the advancement and de-risking of our Rogue Project’s Valley discovery,” said Scott Berdahl, CEO & Director of Snowline. “The gold system at Valley has already demonstrated considerable scale, consistency in strong gold grades, and a simple near-surface geometry favourable to mining. Now we can attest confidently and quantitatively to its positive metallurgical properties as well. Gold is highly recoverable by various processing methods. The mineralization is naturally buffered and low in deleterious elements. Valley is a discovery that continues to deliver above expectations. With a third drill now turning on site, this is a terrific kick-off to our 2023 field season. We are excited to continue to advance both the Valley discovery and the broader, district-scale Rogue Project with our ongoing drill and surface campaigns.”
Figure 2 – Plan map of metallurgical sample locations from the Rogue Project’s Valley target. Each composite drill core sample represents a continuous stretch of drill core from 21 m to 26 m in length. The samples covered a variety of gold grades, host rock lithology and physical location, with samples taken from across an area of roughly 200 x 300 m, and from bedrock surface to a vertical depth of roughly 260 m. All metallurgical samples represent fresh (non-oxide) mineralization.
METALLURGICAL TESTING
The Company submitted ten composite samples of drill core, approximately 10 kg each, from the Rogue Project’s Valley target to McClelland Laboratories in Sparks, Nevada for analysis. Each composite sample was taken from a contiguous interval of drill core within the Valley intrusion (Table 1), with contribution weighted by individual sample length to create a proportional representation of material along each composite interval. The spatial distribution of samples is shown in Figure 2. Specific gold extraction techniques and other parameters of the testing are outlined in the following sections.
Table 1 – Gold recoveries and acid/base accounting results from initial metallurgical testing on the Rogue Project’s Valley target. Recoveries range from 81.3% to 98.6% across all methods and demonstrate non-refractory mineralization amenable to multiple processing methods. BR = bottle roll testing, CIL = carbon-in-leach. 1.0mm and 75 µm indicate crush sizes, with 80% of material passing through a mesh of the given size. Base/Acid Ratio is the ratio of acid neutralizing potential per unit weight versus acid generating potential per unit weight. The >>1 values in this column demonstrate a strong natural buffering effect. *Drilled lengths are presented, true widths have not been determined.
Composite sample gold grades ranged from 0.98 g/t Au to 4.35 g/t Au with sulphur contents from 0.11% to 0.45%. The average sulphur content associated with >0.5 g/t Au mineralization in 2022 drilling at Valley is 0.39% S. Future metallurgical testing will include additional variability samples from any minor, localized structures within the Valley system associated with higher sulphur content.
Natural buffering of the host rock and low concentrations of deleterious elements greatly simplify process chemistry, reduce environmental risk and support viable reclamation and closure options. Together, these results should provide for a high degree of flexibility in realizing and optimizing the economic value of the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery.
The strong amenability of gold mineralization to extraction applying various conventional metallurgical and operational techniques opens the door to multiple process alternatives.
Bottle Roll Testing
Cyanidation bottle roll testing provides a qualitative indication as to the heap leachability of gold mineralization. For Valley system samples, initial testing on exploration composites considered a material size of 80% passing 1.0 mm, with gold recovery rate kinetics monitored over the course of 336 hours (2 weeks). Average gold recovery was 86.7%, with results for individual composites ranging from 81.3% to 91.8%. Rate kinetics were encouraging, with an average of 65% of recoverable gold values achieved within the first 6 hours of testing, and an average of 82% of recoverable gold within 48 hours. At the end of the two-week test, diffusion-controlled metal recoveries were still increasing, suggesting that further incremental gains in gold recovery are likely when considering prolonged leach cycle times on a leach pad at coarse crush size.
An additional set of cyanidation bottle roll tests was pursued on the same composite samples at a material size of 80% passing 75 microns. Realized gold recoveries averaged 94.1% within 48 hours, with recoveries from individual composite samples varying from 89.7% to 97.6%. Gold extraction rate kinetics were rapid with 90% of recoverable gold values extracted within the first 6 hours supporting the applicability of either Grind-CIP or Grind-CIL process alternatives.
Cyanidation and Carbon Adsorption
Cyanidation and carbon adsorption could potentially play a role on the project with either heap leaching and a Carbon-in-Column circuit for the adsorption of gold from heap solution, or in conjunction with Grinding followed by a conventional cyanidation and Carbon-In-Leach circuit (CIL) or a Carbon-In-Pulp circuit (CIP).
CIL bottle rolls at 80% passing 75 microns averaged 95.7% over a 48-hour period, with individual composite samples varying from 93.8% to 98.6% Au recovery.
The implementation of a grinding circuit could also be followed by gravity concentration with flotation of remaining values to a rougher concentrate, and high intensity cyanidation of the concentrate, followed by a Carbon-In-Pulp circuit (CIP). These processes are all conventional, using well defined technology that is widely applied across the industry.
Flotation
Flotation conditions were selected to define the expected deportment of gold values along with sulfide mineralization. In addition, the recovery of free native gold and gold alloys was pursued applying specific precious metal promoter-collectors.
Test results were very favorable realizing 93.2% to 97.7% Au recovery (average 95.4% Au recovery) to a rougher concentrate at an average 15% mass pull along with 70-90% recovery of sulfides present.
A low weight percentage rougher concentrate enables regrinding and the pursuit of additional flotation cleaner stages to produce a final concentrate for off-site processing, or alternatively, for fine grinding and on-site cyanidation of the concentrate to achieve consistently high gold recoveries.
Gravity
Metallic fire screen assays at 100 microns indicated an average 13.3% content of gravity recoverable gold, with individual composite results ranging from 0.2% to 37.2%. The sample with the highest proportion of gravity recoverable gold, V-22-005 from 281.5 m to 307.0 m downhole, showed strong total recoveries by all other metallurgical methods as well.
Environmental Aspects
Acid/base accounting of the composite samples establishes potential acid generating sulphide content relative to the neutralizing potential of carbonates present in the rock. The composite samples from Valley showed a strong buffering effect, with 38 to 190 times (average 102 times) the amount of neutralizing potential compared to acid generating potential applying the modified Sobek methodology for ABA accounting. Specific values for acid generating potential (in units of tons CaCO3 equivalents per 1000 tons of solids) ranged from <0.3 to 0.9, compared to neutralizing potential (also in units of tons CaCO3 equivalents per 1000 tons of solids) ranging from 17.5 to 57.5. Valley Zone mineralized material has been demonstrated to be naturally and strongly buffered, greatly reducing the potential for acid mine drainage, and expanding the scope of viable possibilities for effective processing, reclamation and closure.
Figure 3 – Reflected light micrograph of abundant gold grains in V-22-007 at 269.8 m downhole. Gold occurs primarily in its native form, as fine grains along grain boundaries near small clusters of sulphides minerals in quartz veins. Scale bar (bottom right) shows 100 microns, or 0.1 mm. Py=Pyrite (FeS2), Cpy=Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), Gn=Galena (PbS), Hed=Hedleyite (Bi7Te3), Lil=Lillianite (Pb3Bi2S6).
Oxidation State
Metallurgical testing on the Rogue Project’s Valley target focused on “fresh,” or non-oxidized, zones. Owing to the geologically recent glaciation of the Rogue Project area, the Valley gold system does not appear to have any significant oxidized zones. Mineralization observed in drill core to date is generally fresh rock below a few metres from bedrock surface. Similar to other RIRGS systems, such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska, the high proportion of native gold at Valley and the nature of its distribution allow for effective recovery of gold from fresh rock by various means (Figure 3). At Fort Knox specifically, this has allowed the operators to mine and profitably extract gold primarily from fresh rock using mineral reserve cut-off grades of 0.1 g/t Au (source: Fort Knox Mine NI 43-101 Technical Report effective June 11, 2018).
Next Steps
Material from 2023 metallurgical testing has been sent for analysis of gold deportment within the mineralized rock. The characterization of gold grain size distribution and mineralogical associations will help to optimize gold recovery processes and to confirm and improve the understanding of metallurgical performance while supporting metal recovery modeling.
Additional metallurgical test work contemplated by the Company would expand the existing knowledge base to include lab-scale heap leach columns at various crush sizes, CN bottle rolls, Grind-CIL testing, as well as flotation-cyanidation testing to thoroughly investigate applicable process alternatives and associated performance.
EXPLORATION UPDATE
A third drill has commenced operation on the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery, and the 15,000+ m drill program at Rogue is ongoing. To date, 1,927 m have been drilled so far on the Valley target in 2023, with 3 holes completed and an additional 3 holes in progress. Initial drill core samples have been submitted for analysis. Analytical results for all holes drilled in 2023 are still pending.
ABOUT ROGUE
The Valley Zone on Snowline’s flagship Rogue Project is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres. Gold is associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted quartz vein arrays within and along the margins of a one-kilometer-scale, mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-series intrusion. Valley is an early-stage exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
Figure 4 – Project location map for Snowline Gold’s eastern Selwyn Basin properties: Rogue, Einarson, Ursa, Cynthia and Olympus. The current work program at Rogue is based from the Company’s Forks Camp.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >333,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >94,000 ha Rogue gold project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by J. Scott Berdahl, M.Sc., P. Geo., CEO and Director for Snowline Gold, and Steve Haggarty, P.Eng, Director and CEO for Haggarty Technical Services, as Qualified Persons for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Scott Berdahl CEO & Director
For further information, please contact: Snowline Gold Corp. +1 778 650 5485 info@snowlinegold.com
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future mineral processing options, closure and reclamation plans, future metallurgical testwork, the potential for investors to participate in multiple future discoveries, the Rogue project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Snowline stakes an additional ~40,000 hectares on its Rogue Project, securing nearly all remaining open mineral tenure over the regional geological feature hosting the Valley discovery and other gold targets
Additional staking on surrounding Cynthia, Einarson and Ursa projects further consolidates Company position in broader Selwyn Basin gold district, increasing overall Yukon Territory land position by 20% to roughly 333,900 hectares
Drilling ongoing at Valley, with second drill active and 106 instances of visible gold observed in top 337 m of V-23-034 accompanied by high quartz vein densities.
Vancouver, B.C., June 9, 2023: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTCQB: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce that it has staked substantially all remaining open ground over the Rogue Plutonic Complex, the broad geological feature responsible for gold mineralization at the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery and other nearby reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS) targets. This staking expands Snowline’s 100% owned Rogue Project by roughly 80% to 94,397 hectares (944 km2) and consolidates the 60×30 km geological feature for systematic, comprehensive exploration. Additional strategic and targeted staking on the Company’s surrounding Cynthia, Einarson and Ursa projects brings its total Yukon Territory mineral tenure holdings to 333,900 hectares (~3,339 km2). The increased land position solidifies Snowline’s competitive advantage in an emerging gold district host to multiple gold discoveries and mineralization styles.
Figure 1 – The Rogue Plutonic Complex (red), showing Snowline Gold’s newly staked claims (yellow squares) against the Company’s pre-existing Rogue Project (medium blue). The new staking consolidates the regional plutonic complex into a contiguous project.
“We know from our 2022 drill results at Valley that the Rogue Plutonic Complex has the necessary geological ingredients to produce a significant gold system,” said Scott Berdahl, CEO and director of Snowline Gold. “The Valley discovery highlights the geological potential of the rest of this regional-scale geological feature, where limited historical work and our own efforts have produced an abundance of intriguing results, anomalies and discoveries. We have actively built, progressively and systematically, not just a first-mover position but effectively an ‘only-mover’ position in a fertile area that we believe has the potential to become a new gold district. We can now comprehensively and responsibly explore this area, focusing not only on advancing our existing targets but on making additional discoveries as well.”
In addition to staking, the Snowline technical team has been compiling and digitizing historical work from various campaigns in the Rogue project area carried out in the late 1960s, early 1980s and mid-1990s, adding it to the Company’s extensive database from the work done in and around the project area in the early 2010s and recently by the Company itself.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Roughly 21% of the 2,530 newly staked claims fall within or partly within the fixed 2 km areas of interest (AOIs) defined in Snowline (formerly Skyledger Tech Corp)’s December 1, 2020 deal with Yukon-based company 18526 Yukon Inc., through which Snowline acquired its extensive Yukon datasets and its initial Yukon mineral properties. Claims staked within the AOIs are subject to a 2% net smelter return (NSR) and are incorporated into existing buy-down provisions which allow Snowline to reduce NSR to 1% on a project-by-project basis. 18526 Yukon Inc. is a privately held project generation company that is owned 40% by Snowline’s CEO and Director Scott Berdahl. The remaining 79% of newly staked claims have no underlying royalties.
EXPLORATION UPDATE
V-23-034
Drill hole V-23-034 encountered moderate to high quartz vein densities in granodiorite throughout the length of the 425 m hole, with 106 observations of trace visible gold distributed within quartz veins in the top 337 m of the hole. It is collared roughly 100 m to the north of V-22-007 (410.0 m @ 1.89 g/t Au from surface including 146.0 m @ 3.24 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated November 15, 2022), 80 m southeast of V-22-029 (558.7 m @ 1.26 g/t Au from surface including 202.0 m @ 2.04 g/t Au, see Snowline news release dated February 24, 2023), and 200 m to the northeast of V-22-010 (318.8 m @ 2.55 g/t Au including 108.0 m @ 4.14 g/t Au from surface, see Snowline news release dated October 12, 2022). At least three distinct vein orientations have been recognized, with gold mineralization present in all three. Quartz vein densities and frequency of observation of visible gold within the top 337 m are comparable to those seen in these earlier highlight holes. The final 40 m of the hole, from roughly 385 to 425 downhole, had high quartz vein densities but no visible gold and a lower abundance of bismuth and tellurium indicator minerals. Assays are pending for this hole.
The first drill rig has moved and commenced drilling on V-23-036.
Figure 2 – Drilling to date at the Rogue Project’s Valley Zone, showing assays received to date (top) and vein densities alongside instances of visible gold observed during logging (bottom). High quartz vein densities and abundant trace visible gold in V-23-034 indicate strong continuity and width to the near-surface mineralized corridor that has carried the highest grades and largest intersections seen in previous holes. Analytical results for this zone consistently carry unusually high grades for a reduced intrusion-related gold system.
Figure 3 – Quartz vein mineralization in V-23-034, from 158.7 to 194.5 m downhole, a subset of a much larger run of similar moderate to high quartz vein density beginning at bedrock surface (Figure 2). At least three generations of sheeted quartz veins are accompanied by abundant trace instances visible gold, denoted by orange flagging tape above the NQ2-sized (5.1 cm diameter) drill core.
Second Rig & V-23-035
A second rig has commenced drilling on the Rogue Project’s Valley target. At the time of writing, 168 m of core from V-23-035, Snowline’s second drill hole of 2023, have been received by the core shack and logging has begun. The hole thus far has seen continuous vein densities of 5-7 veins per metre in granodiorite, with 16 instances of visible gold observed throughout this length.
Figure 4 – Updated project location map for Snowline Gold’s eastern Selwyn Basin properties: Rogue, Einarson, Ursa, Cynthia and Olympus.
ABOUT ROGUE
The Valley Zone on Snowline’s flagship Rogue Project is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres. Gold is associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted quartz vein arrays within and along the margins of a one-kilometer-scale, mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-series intrusion. Valley is an early-stage exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >333,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >94,000 ha Rogue gold project in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared and approved by Thomas Branson, P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration for Snowline and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding mineralization intensity based on visual observations of drill core, the comparison of vein intensity and visible gold mineralization in V-23-034 to previous highlight holes, the potential for investors to participate in multiple future discoveries, the Rogue project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Vancouver, B.C. – June 6, 2023 – Snowline Gold Corp. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTCQB: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce that B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO, NYSE American: BTG, NSX: B2G) (“B2Gold”) has increased their ownership stake in the Company to 9.90% by way of an on-market transaction. B2Gold has also agreed to vote their common shares in accordance with the Snowline Board’s recommendations. Snowline has agreed to grant B2Gold an increase in their right to maintain their pro rata ownership of up to 9.90% (formerly up to 5.00%) in connection with future equity financings.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with a project portfolio covering >280,000 ha. The Company’s flagship, district-scale Rogue Project hosts the Valley discovery, a bulk-tonnage, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres. In addition to Valley, the Company’s first-mover land position, extensive exploration database and active operations provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company having a highly prospective land portfolio boasting district-scale, untapped greenfield potential, the granting of certain rights to B2Gold to maintain their pro rata ownership interest in the Company, the granting of a “vote-with-management” provision to Snowline, the opportunity for investors to participate in the creation of a new gold district, and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof. Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things, risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
Snowline purchases 92 long-held mineral claims (roughly 1,920 ha) constituting 10 targeted claim blocks within and adjacent to its Rogue Project
Claims include historical drill intersection of 2.1 g/t Au over 96.0 m from within poly-phase granodiorite “Reid” intrusion 8 km east of Snowline’s Valley discovery, and on trend with the Gracie target
Additional targets with promising historical drill and surface sampling results throughout acquired portfolio solidify Snowline’s position in the district and highlight broader potential of the Rogue Plutonic Complex.
Vancouver, B.C., June 1, 2023: SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (TSX-V: SGD) (OTCQB: SNWGF) (the “Company” or “Snowline”) is pleased to announce purchase from two arm’s-length entities of a mineral property portfolio comprising 92 claims in the vicinity of its Rogue Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Historical work on these claims suggests the presence of multiple reduced-intrusion related gold systems (RIRGS) within the Rogue Plutonic Complex, the geological system which hosts Snowline’s Valley discovery. A historical diamond drill intersection at the “Reid” target roughly 8 km east of Valley and 4 km east of Gracie reported 2.1 g/t Au over 96.0 m within 234.7 m of 0.94 g/t Au, including high-grade intersections of 76.9 g/t Au and 26.7 g/t Au over 1.5 m each, within a granodiorite stock with similarities to the Valley intrusion. These results have not been verified by the Company, but descriptions of geology and mineralization intersected by this drilling, including visible gold in sheeted quartz veins and the poly-phase nature of the intrusion, are consistent with observations made in drilling at Valley, demonstrating the potential for regional gold fertility.
Table 1 – Historical diamond drill highlights reported in 1996 from the Reid target. These results have not been directly verified by the Company but are believed to be generally indicative of the potential for gold endowment at the target, particularly given anomalous gold in nearby talus fines sampled by the Company and given the demonstrated fertility of the Valley intrusion 8 km to the west of Reid. *Drilled widths reported, true widths not determined.
“This acquisition is a significant step in the transition of Snowline’s Rogue Project from a discovery to a district,” said Scott Berdahl, CEO & Director of Snowline. “We are excited to explore the Reid target as a part of our 2023 drill campaign at Rogue. The historical results from the 1996 drilling provide strong additional evidence of the gold potential of the Reid intrusion and of the many other intrusion-related gold targets on our Rogue Project outside of our Valley discovery. This claim package covers a first-mover land position based on early exploration efforts in the area. Alongside the strongly anomalous gold values from regional stream sediment geochemistry samples draining many parts of the Rogue Plutonic Complex, these historical results were a key draw in attracting our initial attention to Rogue. The Valley discovery has since shown that the necessary components are present at Rogue to produce substantial bulk-tonnage gold systems with unusually high grades for the RIRGS deposit type. We are thrilled to bring this collection of targets into the fold, and to give our shareholders much more exposure to the unique exploration potential of the Yukon’s newest gold district.”
Figure 1 – The Rogue Plutonic Complex (red), showing Snowline Gold’s newly acquired claims (yellow squares) against the Company’s pre-existing Rogue Project (medium blue). Highlight historical samples noted herein have not been verified by the Company, but they provide evidence for the general gold endowment of the broader Rogue Project area. Grab samples are selective in nature and don’t necessarily represent bulk tonnage grades. Not shown are 30 “WEAS” claims, covering an intrusion some 26 km to the south (Figure 3).
On behalf of the vendors of the claims, Anthony Beruschi added: “Congratulations to the Snowline team on their wonderful gold discovery at the Rogue project, where skill and hard work have led to exploration success. In my view the Yukon is the best place in the world for explorers. I consider it a privilege to add our mineral claims, with their excellent historical drill results, to Snowline’s impressive land package. I look forward to the realization of this opportunity with so many benefits for the Yukon and its people.”
REID
The newly acquired Reid claims cover an exposed reduced intrusion adjacent to an open, 1 x 1 km gold-in-soil-and-talus-fine anomaly delineated by Snowline through surface sampling (Figure 2). Consistent with the surface geochemical anomalies at the Rogue Project’s adjacent Valley and Gracie targets, the Reid anomaly is complemented by anomalous bismuth and tellurium values that correlate well with anomalous gold values. Follow up mapping by Snowline personnel confirmed earlier observations of sheeted quartz veins near the margin of the intrusion, oriented parallel to mineralized veins present at Valley and Gracie. Sixteen grab samples of quartz vein material from across an open, 450 x 600 m area within the anomaly ranged in grade from 0.2 g/t Au to 8.0 g/t Au.
Figure 2 – Plan map of the Reid and Gracie targets, with historical drill collar sites from drilling at Reid (sky blue) and Snowline’s 2022 Phase I drilling at Gracie (red). AS-96-03 is collared downslope from AS-96-02, and thus the holes do not significantly overlap one another. While the historical drill results have not been verified by the Company, the scale of the associated soil and talus fine anomaly sampled by Snowline and the extent of mineralization observed during subsequent mapping provide additional evidence for a significant reduced intrusion-relation gold system at Reid.
Immediately south of the 1×1 km anomaly, the Reid intrusion is a 1-kilometer scale granodiorite body responsible for local hornfels alteration on the eastern end of a roughly 9 km trend of similar alteration that extends from the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery in the west and includes the Gracie target in between (Figure 1), suggesting potential for a corridor of related intrusions with demonstrated gold fertility.
Historical surface sampling and drilling demonstrate the presence of gold mineralization associated with the Reid intrusion, particularly along its northern margin. Three diamond drill holes totalling 1,253 m were drilled in 1996. Samples from holes AS-96-01 and AS-96-02 returned anomalous but likely subeconomic gold grades, whereas hole AS-96-03 reported a 234.7 m interval of sheeted veins within the intrusion averaging 0.94 g/t Au, including 96.0 m at 2.09 g/t Au. These intervals are influenced by two 1.5 m intersections averaging 76.9 g/t Au and 26.7 g/t Au respectively (Table 1). They nonetheless demonstrate potential for the presence of fertile reduced intrusion-related gold system at Reid, particularly in the context of the nearby Valley discovery.
Historical descriptions of the Reid drill core parallel observations made in drilling the Rogue Project’s Valley discovery. Notably, multiple phases of intrusion are described – at Valley, multiple phases of the intrusion characterize the strongest zone of mineralization found to date. Also, at Reid, reported observations of visible gold in AS-96-03 are associated with bismuthinite in quartz veins. At Valley and Gracie, bismuth and tellurium minerals (including bismuthinite) in quartz are key indicators for the presence of gold, and this is a fingerprint of the RIRGS deposit model.
The Company is currently planning for a 3-hole, Phase I drill program at Reid, totalling roughly 1,000 m.
CUJO
The Cujo target covers an elongate, 1 x 2 km intrusion at the west end of the Rogue Plutonic Complex (Figure 1). A historical drill program of 6 holes (total metres unknown) is reported to have been conducted in 1996 near the eastern edge of the intrusion, with an interval of 1.0 g/t Au over 13.6 m (true width unknown) referenced in subsequent reports. The Company has not been able to locate the original report describing this drilling, but the interval is reported in the Yukon Geological Survey’s 1996 Yukon Exploration and Geology (YEG) annual report. Fieldwork by Snowline personnel in the vicinity of the claims yielded a grab sample of 63.8 g/t Au from hornfels metasedimentary rocks associated with the intrusion.
WEAS
The 30-claim (627 ha) WEAS property is located south of the Rogue Plutonic Complex, midway between Snowline’s Cynthia and Olympus projects (Figure 3). Historical work on the property reported gold-bearing sheeted quartz veins within an exposed, 3 km by 2 km intrusion. Drilling in 1996 (5 holes, 1,280 m) is reported in the same 1996 YEG report to have intersected 1.0 g/t Au across 21 m (true width unknown) associated with the sheeted veins, along with surface grab samples of up to 20.1 g/t Au. The property is central to a larger claim block owned indirectly by HighGold Mining Inc., which currently in the process of spinning out those claims into a new company, Onyx Gold Corp.
The Company cautions that none of the historical results, including drill results, on the newly acquired claims have been verified. Assay methods and sampling techniques are not disclosed in the historical reports, and in the case of drilling on the Cujo and WEAS targets, the Company has only been able to locate indirect references to the results, but no primary source. Historical results discussed herein are presented more generally as an indication of the regional potential of the Rogue Plutonic Complex to host additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
Figure 3 – The WEAS claims shown in the context of surrounding mineral properties. Highlight historical samples noted herein have not been verified by the Company, but they provide evidence for the general gold endowment of the claims. Grab samples are selective in nature and don’t necessarily represent bulk tonnage grades.
ACQUISITION TERMS
The Company has entered into an agreement with arm’s length parties RST Klondike Discoveries Ltd. and Whistler Minerals Corp. (together, the “Vendors”), whereby the Company has acquired 92 mineral claims in exchange for (i) the payment of $1,000,000 in cash (the “Cash Consideration”) and (ii) the issuance of 200,000 warrants (the “Warrant Consideration”), each for purchase of a single common share of the Company at a price of $3.50 for a period of two years (the “Acquisition”). The Warrants are subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the closing of the Acquisition, in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws, expiring on October 1, 2023. The Vendors will retain a 1.0% NSR on the claims and will be entitled to up to two bonus payments of $1M each if a measured or indicated mineral resource of >1 million ounces of gold is disclosed in compliance with NI 43-101 standards on certain claims.
ABOUT ROGUE
The Valley Zone on Snowline’s flagship Rogue Project is a newly discovered, bulk tonnage style, reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRGS), with geological similarities to multi-million-ounce deposits currently in production such as Kinross’s Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine in the Yukon. Early drill results demonstrate unusually high gold grades for such a system, present near surface across drill intersections of hundreds of metres. Gold is associated with bismuthinite and telluride minerals hosted in sheeted quartz vein arrays within and along the margins of a one-kilometer-scale, mid-Cretaceous aged Mayo-series intrusion. Valley is an early-stage exploration project without a resource estimate, and while initial results are encouraging, the presence or absence of an economically viable orebody cannot be determined until additional work is completed.
The Rogue Project area hosts multiple intrusions similar to Valley along with widespread gold anomalism in stream sediment, soil and rock samples. Elsewhere, RIRGS deposits are known to occur in clusters. The Rogue Project is thus considered by the Company to have district-scale potential for additional reduced intrusion-related gold systems.
ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.
Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with an eight-project portfolio covering >280,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship >111,000 ha Einarson and Rogue gold projects in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline’s project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross’ Fort Knox mine, Newmont’s Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine. The Company’s first-mover land position and extensive database provide a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Information in this release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by J. Scott Berdahl, M.Sc., P. Geo., CEO and Director for Snowline and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the potential to participate in multiple future discoveries, newly acquired areas having elevated potential to host gold deposits, the Rogue project having district-scale prospectivity, the creation of a new gold district and the Company’s future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict” or “potential” or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company’s plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
