ObservationsThis could be the day the game changed along the Sulphurets Thrust Fault. I don't recall seeing any gold grades of this magitude in any of the KSM properties. I also just reviewed Snowfield results from 2006 - 2010 and saw nothing higher than 3.23 g/t (for 50.6m).
I had always guessed there would be higher grades within the Treaty Creek boundaries, but I felt it would occur where the Brucejack fault crosses into T/C. That feeling was reinforced when Pretium (Newcrest) began to move north along the Brucejack fault and found the Golden Marmot area (72.5 g/t over 53.5m and 22.8 g/t over 38m). I don't have great maps to reference but it seems to me that Golden Marmot is at least halfway between VOK and the Treaty Creek border.
So now there are two possibilities for higher grade gold, but the latest results are the first I've seen along the STF. Please post if you know of any others.
The highest grades in this press release begin at 1474.5m. There are a few other holes at T/C that have been drilled that deep, but none in the immediate vicinity of GS-22-134. This hole also is located on the northwest side of the "Porphyry Intrusive" in the attached slides. It appears that there is opportunity to fill in the gaps between holes 134, 137 and 138 to explore these Intrusive areas further.
The mineralization in hole GS-22-137 goes to 1176m. This also shows as the depth of the hole. As with the previous press release last week, there is a hole that appears to end in mineralization without a notation in the PR, perhpas because it ends at the TTF2.
Hole GS-22-136 continues the trend of finding mineralization beyond the TTF2 fault line. There appears to be a great deal of room to the southeast to further explore that trend.
I should also mention that the higher grade gold, although it is deep, might well change the equation with respect to a block caving approach at T/C. It's one thing to talk about extracting 1g/t Au from that depth, but quite another to talk about targeting 10-20g/t areas. This could equate to blood in the water for the great white sharks such as Newmont and Newcrest to sniff and investigate. Suddenly we seem to be closer to a point where one of the big guys could stop thinking and start acting. Closer to the time when someone takes a position in Tudor which will provide the funding for a much larger drilling campaign next year on the order of 100,000+m. They can't get that position for the current market price, but on the other hand it will never be cheaper.
Of all the curvevballs that Treaty has thrown at KK, this could be the one that moves Treaty Creek into the category of a fully-featured deposit with value both close to surface and at depth. Congratulations to the Tudor team. I think the decision to fully concentrate on Goldstorm until further notice is appropriate given the results so far this season.
One final note is that the high grade gold is at the furthest northeast point that's been explored thus far. There is nothing but clear runway further out in that direction. So if hole 134 turns out to be the tip of an iceberg we're in for a fun ride.
Do your own DD. GLTA. Doug