Harte Gold, the fledgling White River-area gold miner, reports a three-fold increase its mineral resource at the Sugar Zone Project.
After 185,000 metres of diamond drilling, the company posted an updated mineral resource estimate that they say is “triple” the amount of what was in a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) from six years ago.
The new numbers from its Sugar Zone and Middle Zone deposits show an indicated gold resource of 714,200 ounces from 2,607,000 tonnes, grading at 8.52 grams per tonne (g/t). The inferred resource is 760,000 ounces from 3,590,000 tonnes, grading at 6.59 g/t.
Half the indicated resource is found in the upper 500 metres of the Sugar Zone deposit and part of the Middle Zone.
The company expects gold grades will improve as they do more infill drilling and go deeper. They’ve lined up a 30,000-metre drilling program for both deposits this year.
These new resource calculations will be included in an updated PEA, due out by late April.
Last year’s drill program produced the kind of results that Harte president-CEO Stephen Roman wanted to see.
“With the Middle Zone discovery and the extension of the Sugar Zone down-dip, we have now delineated 1.5 million ounces and have demonstrated this deposit has significant size potential. As we have been mining at the Sugar Zone property for the last two years, we have confirmed the grade, continuity and mining method. We will continue to develop this mineral resource at depth and along strike.”
The Toronto-headquartered company has mining, mine construction, and exploration operations going on simultaneously on their property 25 kilometres north of White River.
In 2016, the company pulled a 70,000-tonne bulk sample from Sugar Zone and, so far, has mined 30,000 tonnes under a first-phase production permit.
“With all major capital components either paid or contracted, project economics are well defined,” added Roman. “Process plant construction is on schedule and we expect to start commissioning by the beginning of H2 2018.”
