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Fondaway Canyon
Fondaway Canyon is an advanced exploration stage gold property located in Churchill County, Nevada, approximately 135 kms (85 miles) east of Reno. The land package contains 253 unpatented lode claims covering 4,463 acres (1,806 hectares). Gold was discovered in the mid-1970s with the Project witnessing multiple operators conducting exploration, drilling, development, and small-scale mining through to the current day. Getchell Gold Corp. (Getchell) optioned the Project in January 2020 and fulfilled the terms of the Option in January 2024 to acquire 100% of the Fondaway Canyon project.
Getchell has completed 28 drill holes over three drill campaigns through 2020-2022 for a total of 10,448m (34,278ft) with all the holes (26 holes) drilled in the Central Area reported significant intervals of gold mineralization.
2024 Mineral Resource Estimate
The 2024 Updated Mineral Resource Estimate (“2024 MRE”) for Fondaway Canyon was released on September 11, 2024, and reflects a significant increase from the 2023 MRE published Feb. 1, 2023.
The latest presentation can be viewed here: Corporate Presentation + 2024 Updated Mineral Resource Estimate
The latest video can be viewed here: 2024 Updated Mineral Resource Estimate – Fondaway Canyon
The 2023 MRE Technical Report is available here: Technical Report – Fondaway Canyon 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate
2024 Mineral Resources Estimate* Key Highlights
- 18% increase in Indicated mineral resources and 11% increase in Inferred relative to previous MRE;
- Indicated Mineral Resource of 13.5 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.49 g/t Au for 648,000 ounces of gold;
- Inferred Mineral Resource of 44.8 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.16 g/t Au for an additional 1,670,100 ounces of gold;
- Significant Oxide Cap delineated; and
- Gold mineralization starts at surface and remains open for further expansion.
Table 1: Fondaway Canyon Global Mineral Resource Estimate*
Table 2: Fondaway Canyon Mineral Resource Estimate by Zone
Fondaway Canyon
The gold mineralization at Fondaway Canyon occurs in a broad east-west corridor that has been traced for over 4kms (2.5) miles. Getchell has primarily focused its exploration efforts in the Central Area, a 1 x 1 km area, host to a NE-SW extensional structural zone that forms a major nexus for significant gold emplacement.
The gold mineralization starts at surface and remains open for further expansion along strike and dip.
Oxide Cap
In addition, this iteration of the mineral resource estimate delineated a significant near surface oxide cap to the resource (Table 3). This could be of major significance in the potential development and economics of a future operation at Fondaway Canyon.
Table 3: Fondaway Canyon Mineral Resource Estimate* by Type
Preliminary Economic Assessment
The Company has engaged Forte Dynamics, Inc., of Fort Collins, Colorado (“Forte Dynamics”) to complete modern metallurgical studies and prepare a preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”) on the Fondaway Canyon gold project (Company news release dated June 25, 2024). With the 2024 MRE complete, Forte Analytical is in the process of completing a series of modern metallurgical studies that will be incorporated into the Fondaway Canyon PEA with completion scheduled for the Fall.
The full documentation for the 2024 Mineral Resource Estimate will be reported within the forthcoming PEA.
Michael Dufresne, P.Geol., P.Geo., is independent and the Qualified Person (as defined in NI 43-101) who reviewed and approved the content and scientific and technical information in the news release.
Notes on the 2024 Mineral Resource Estimate
- The independent and qualified person for the mineral resource estimate, as defined by NI 43-101, is Michael Dufresne, P.Geol., P.Geo., from APEX Geoscience Ltd.
- Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. There has been insufficient exploration to define the Inferred Resources tabulated above as an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource, however, it is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration. There is no guarantee that any part of the Mineral Resources discussed herein will be converted into a Mineral Reserve in the future. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, marketing, or other relevant issues. The Mineral Resources herein were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum standards on mineral resources and reserves, definitions, and guidelines prepared by the CIM standing committee on reserve definitions and adopted by the CIM council (CIM 2014 and 2019).
- The Mineral Resources Estimate is underpinned by data from 527 reverse circulation and diamond drillholes totalling 55,870m of drilling that intersected the mineralized domains.
- The mineral resource is reported at a lower cut-off of 0.3 g/t Au for the conceptual open pit and 1.75 g/t Au for the conceptual underground extraction scenario. The lower cut-off grades and potential mining scenarios were calculated using the following parameters: mining cost = US$2.70/t (open pit); G&A = US$2.00/t; processing cost = US$15.00/t; recoveries = 92%, gold price = US$1,950.00/oz; royalties = 1%; and minimum mining widths = 1.5 metres (underground) in order to meet the requirement that the reported Mineral Resources show “reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction”.
- Original Au assays were composited to 1.5 m with 12,553 composites generated overall in the mineralized domains including 10,632 composites generated for the Central Zone, 1,267 for the Mid-Realm / South Mouth Zone, and 654 for the Silica Ridge / Hamburger Hill Zone.
- Grade interpolation was performed by ordinary kriging (OK) using 1.5 metre composites (block size of 3m x 3m x 3m).
- A density of 2.74 g/cm3 was used for the mineralized zones.
- The mineral resources estimate is categorized as indicated or inferred and classified based on data density, data quality, confidence in the geological interpretation and confidence in the robustness of the grade interpolation. The indicated category was defined by a search ellipse extending 55m along the major axis, 40m along the minor axis, and 10m vertical. In addition, a minimum of 3 drill holes were required, reporting 9 samples with a maximum of 3 samples per drill hole. The inferred category was defined using a search of up to 120 m and requiring at least 1 sample per drillhole from a minimum of 2 drillholes.
- High-grade capping supported by statistical analysis was completed on composite data for each zone and was established at 32 g/t Au for the Central Zone, no Au cap for the Mid Realm – South Mouth Zone, and 10.0 g/t Au for the Silica Ridge – Hamburger Hill Zone.
- The MRE blocks that make up the oxide component of the In Pit resource are within the overall conceptual pit shape defined by the parameters for the unoxidized material.
- The number of metric tonnes was rounded to the nearest thousand and gold ounces was rounded to the nearest hundred, and any discrepancies in the totals are due to rounding effects. Metal content is presented in troy ounces (tonnes x grade (g/t) / 31.10348).
- The author is not aware of any known environmental, permitting, legal, title-related, taxation, socio-political or marketing issues or any other relevant issue not reported in the technical report that could materially affect the mineral resource estimate.
- The effective date of the Mineral Resources Estimate is September 1, 2024, and the effective date for the drill-hole database used to produce this Mineral Resource Estimate is February 7, 2024.
- The full documentation for the 2024 MRE will be reported within the forthcoming PEA.