VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 25, 2021 / Element79 Gold Corp. (CSE:ELEM) ("Element79 Gold", the “Company”) announced that it has signed a binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares in Plutus Gold Corp. ("Plutus Gold"), which holds the option to acquire the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project.(1)
The Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project consists of 2,726 hectares across ten mineral claims located in Central British Columbia approximately 20 kilometers west of Fort St. James. The claims sit at low elevation with access via dirt roads that allows them to be drilled year-round (Figure 1.).
President and CEO of Element79 Gold, James Tworek commented, “The entire team has been hard at work developing our M&A pipeline and today we are pleased to announce the first of several potential acquisitions. Over the coming months, we intend to pursue an aggressive development strategy aimed at significant value-creation for our shareholders and the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project is a perfect complement due in large part to its expansive potential.”
Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project: 2,700+ Hectares of Untapped Potential
First discovered in the 1920s, the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project's original owners completed limited underground development in the 1930s and 1940s. A total of 226 shallow drill holes (both percussion and diamond) representing 19,580 meters have been completed on the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project, the bulk of which occurred in the 1980s, with a total of 40 diamond drill holes (6,993 meters) drilled since 2017, including 9 holes for which results are pending.(1)
The Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project includes two significant mineralized veins: the “Main Vein” and the “Peg-leg Vein.” Underground sampling on the Main Vein in the 1940s produced weighted averages of 10.5 g/t (cut to 30 g/t) and 357.7 g/t (uncut) over 0.6 meters with an individual sample up to 5,074 g/t(2) (Table 1.). Historical drilling has returned up to 8,508.34 g/t gold and 2,899.88 g/t silver (Hole X86-06 by X-Cal Resources Ltd.) over 0.15 meters.(3) Historical trench sampling along 66m of the Peg-leg vein yielded gold assay values of 13.03 g/t across an average width of 0.8m.(4)
Geology Parallels Some of the World's Largest Gold Districts
The Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project is a structurally controlled mesothermal deposit with geology that is analogous to the famed Mother Lode District of California, and the Bralorne Mine Complex of British Columbia which produced 4.2 million oz of gold before closing in 1971.(6) It also holds similarities to deposits in several other significant multi-million oz producing mining camps, including the Timmins Camp in the Abitibi Subprovince of Ontario which has produced over 70 million oz of gold to date.(7)
Kilometers of Depth Potential
Unlike shallow epithermal deposits, mesothermal deposits can have significant depth extent measured in kilometers. The gold system at the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project has only been tested to a maximum depth of 400 meters (one hole) with the vast majority of the drilling being shallower than 200 meters. Gold mineralization is hosted by stockwork quartz-carbonate veins (Figure 2) associated with fuchsite, pyrite, stibnite and arsenopyrite along the sheared contact between altered ultramafics and metasediments. The alteration associated with the sheared contact forms a magnetic low, which allows for delineation of the favourable contact using detailed magnetic surveys (Figure 3).
Table 1. 1940s underground sampling. Individual samples were collected along the ribs of the Main Vein.(2)
| Hole | Gold g/t | Width* |
| X86-06 | 8,508.34 | 0.15 |
| P87-29 | 13.29 | 1.52 |
| 88-13 | 10.94 | 6.12 |
| Inc. | 29.00 | 2.00 |
| SB17-04a | 9.10 | 2.02 |
| Inc. | 16.20 | 1.00 |
| SB18-06 | 11.32 | 1.32 |
| Inc. | 22.00 | 0.82 |
| SB19-06 | 18.30 | 0.50 |
| And | 19.30 | 0.56 |
Table 2. Select Historic drill hole Intersection from the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project(1,2,3,4,5)
*Widths are drilled widths
Figure 1. Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project property map.
Figure 2.A. Example of Quartz-carbonate vein stockwork near the Peg-leg Vein located southeast of the Main Vein exposed by trenching.(2,5)B. Close up of the same quartz-carbonate vein stockwork. C. Hole SB19-06, high grade intersections from 37.70 to 38.20 returning 18.30 g/t over 0.50m and 41.44 to 42.00 returning 19.25 g/t over 0.56m highlighted in red. D. Hole SB17-03 closeup of quartz-carbonate stockwork veining hosted in listwanite (carbonate altered ultramafic) showing clusters of massive stibnite (antimony) which returned 1.44 g/t over 0.94 meters from 42.56-43.50 meters.
Figure 3. Total field magnetic map of the of the core area of the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project showing pre 2017 historic drill holes and structural trends.(2)
The LOI carries exclusivity until October 31, 2021 and requires the parties to use best efforts to negotiate and execute a definitive agreement. Element79 Gold intends to acquire 100% interest in Plutus Gold for a $200,000 cash payment, and 8,000,000 common shares of Element79 Gold. As the final obligation remaining under the Option Agreement between Plutus Gold and Gitennes Exploration Ltd., Plutus Gold is committed to completing further work on the Snowbird High-Grade Gold Project with expenditures totaling $1,000,000 on or before June 30, 2022 in order to exercise its option to acquire the claims.
Investor Relations
The Company is also pleased to announce an update on its engagement of CorpComm Services Limited ("CorpComm") for ongoing investor relations and public awareness campaigns for a 12-month period. CorpComm is actively working on campaigns to increase the general market awareness of Element79 Gold and its developing business. Further details may be found in the original disclosure on SEDAR, in the final prospectus filed on July 19, 2021.
Qualified Person
The technical information in this release has been reviewed and verified by Neil Pettigrew, M.Sc., P. Geo., Director of Element79 Gold and a “qualified person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Element79 Gold
Element79 Gold is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mining properties for gold and associated metals. The Company has an option to acquire 100% interest in the Dale Property which consists of 90 unpatented mining claims located approximately 100 km southwest of Timmins, Ontario, Canada in the Timmins Mining Division, Dale Township.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact:
James C. Tworek- Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: jt@element79gold.com
Investor Relations: +1 (604) 200-3608, investors@element79gold.com
Sources
(1) Gitennes Exploration Ltd., May 4, 2021, News Release https://www.gitennes.com/site/assets/files/5689/snowbird_high_grade_gold_project_drilling_update.pdf
(2) Booth K. and Mallalieu D. March 2, 2018. Report for Omineca Gold Ltd. on the Geological, Geochemical and Geophysical aspects of the 2018 Work Programme by Gitennes Exploration Inc. on the Snowbird Property, Ft. St. James, B.C. Omineca Mining Division. Omineca Mining Division NTS 093 K/07, K/08, K/10 UTM Zone 10, NAD 98, 400 000 E, 6 035 000N Claims 238304, 239107, 239108, 239109, 243491, 243492, 243518, 511922, 1050040, 1050041, 1050042 Internal Gitenne Exploration Inc. Company Report
(3) British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, MINFILE Record Summary 15853 https://aris.empr.gov.bc.ca/ArisReports/15853.PDF
(4) British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, MINFILE Record Summary 093K 036 https://minfile.gov.bc.ca/Summary.aspx?minfilno=093K%20%20036
(5) Booth K. and Mallalieu D. February 13, 2018. Report for Omineca Gold Ltd. on the Geological, Geochemical and Geophysical aspects of the 2017 Work Programme by Gitennes Exploration Inc. on the Snowbird Property, Ft. St. James, B.C. Omineca Mining Division NTS 093 K/07, K/08, K/10 UTM Zone 10, NAD 98, 400 000 E, 6 035 000N Claims 238304, 239107, 239108, 239109, 243491, 243492, 243518, 511922, 1050040, 1050041, 1050042 Internal Gitenne Exploration Inc. Company Report
(6) https://taliskerresources.com/discover-bralorne-our-flagship/
(7) Timmins Camp Gold Production: DigiGeoData, June 2021 Map https://digigeodata.com/area/timmins/