Trailbreaker Resources Receives Permit to Drill Eakin Creek Property, South-Central BC
VANCOUVER, March 27, 2023 - Trailbreaker Resources Ltd. (TBK.V) ("Trailbreaker" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has received a permit to drill at their 100%-owned Eakin Creek gold property in south-central British Columbia (BC).
Phase 1 of the program will consist of diamond drilling up to 10 holes to test coincident induced polarization (IP) and geochemical anomalies outlined during the 2022 exploration program (see September 14, 2022 news release), as well as the numerous surficial gold showings found within these anomalies.
Daithi Mac Gearailt, CEO of Trailbreaker, commented: "It's not every day that you get to be the first company to drill a gold project on the highway that has mineralized outcrops right at surface. We are thrilled to finally take it to the next level of exploration and properly test this target. We've consolidated the claims, done the work, de-risked the project, and have demonstrated that there is real potential for a sizable gold deposit at Eakin Creek."
Located 100 km north of Kamloops, BC, the target was initially acquired due to: the historic 'G Occurrence' found on the highway in one of the few exposed outcroppings on the property, a field of gold-bearing boulder samples (inferred to be local), and a grouping of some of the highest gold-in-till values from regional till sampling in BC.
During 2022, Trailbreaker performed a 10.75 line-kilometre IP survey, a 302-sample Mobile Metal Ion (MMI) soil survey, and prospecting. A 1,000 x 600-metre area was defined as having an Au-Ag-Cu-Sb (gold-silver-copper-antimony) soil anomaly coincident with an IP geophysical anomaly. Also, widespread gold mineralization in bedrock and float samples was identified (see Figure 1).
Prospecting identified gold-bearing mineralization hosted by two main lithologies, with the majority of mineralized samples occurring within the geochemical and geophysical anomalies:
- An altered diorite unit that is found outcropping along the highway. Grab samples from this unit returned assay values up to 8.2 g/t Au and 130 g/t Ag from separate outcrops more than 1 km apart. The historic 'G Occurrence' is a chip sample in one of these outcrops with an assayed interval of 14 metres grading 0.90 g/t Au, including 3 metres grading 3.15 g/t Au.
- A limonitic felsic intrusive unit with disseminated and massive pyrite. This unit is constrained to a 400 x 300 metre boulder field with assay values up to 5.6 g/t Au and 30.7 g/t Ag. This boulder field is located 'down-ice' (along the direction of documented glacial ice flow) of the zone of highest resistivity identified from the IP survey.
Figure 1: Eakin Creek property IP and geochemical results. Resistivity and chargeability at 50m (left) and gold in soil (right) with overlaid rock grab sample. Link to full size.
Despite the historic mineral occurrences and its proximity to infrastructure, the Eakin Creek property has never been drilled. The maiden drill program will focus on three areas of heightened interest:
- The historic 'G Occurrence' and associated mineralized outcrops
- The zone of strongest chargeability and resistivity (north of Highway #24)
- The felsic intrusive boulder field and strongest soil geochemical gold anomaly
More about the Eakin Creek property
The Eakin Creek property is located 100 kilometres north of Kamloops, BC and can be accessed via Highway #24 and by well-maintained forest service roads (see Location map). The property covers 1,610 hectares of prospective ground that drains into placer gold-bearing Eakin Creek. The property lies in an underexplored portion of the Quesnel tectonic terrane which hosts many of BC's producing copper and gold mines, such as the New Afton, Ajax, Mt Polley, Highland Valley, and Copper Mountain mines. The claim package is 100%-owned by Trailbreaker Resources with no underlying royalties or payments.
A regional-scale till sampling survey conducted by the Geological Survey of Canada has shown that this underexplored portion of the Quesnel terrane has an anomalous Cu-Au-As-Mo geochemical signature that is indicative of copper porphyry environments elsewhere in BC. Furthermore, some of BC's highest gold grain-count values are recorded from till samples from the Eakin Creek property (see Regional Till Survey map).
Placer gold was first discovered in Eakin Creek in the late 1800s, with small scale placer mining occurring through to the 1940s. The hard rock source of the placer gold remained a mystery for over 100 years. Gold in bedrock was first discovered on the property in 1983 during the construction of Highway #24, with subsequent hard rock discoveries continuing through to the early 1990s.
Prospecting and trenching have proved difficult in the area due to widespread glacial till cover; however, the limited historical exploration completed to date has been successful in determining the sources of gold-in-soil anomalies. Numerous high-grade float rock grab samples have been obtained from surficial pits, assaying up to 2.60 oz/ton (89.13 g/t) Au and locally containing visible gold. Historic outcrop sampling returned a 3.0 m chip sample interval grading 3.15 g/t Au, within a 14.0 m interval grading 0.9 g/t Au (see Historic Rock Geochemistry map).
For more details and maps on Eakin Creek see the dedicated section on Trailbreaker's website.
Message from the President
"This is going to be a landmark program for the company and the project. The team is excited to mobilize to the area and get the program started. On top of this, Trailbreaker has a lot of exciting developments in the works, so stay tuned for further updates."
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Daithi Mac Gearailt
President and Chief Executive Officer
OTHER
For new information about the Company's projects, please visit Trailbreaker's website at TrailbreakerResources.com and sign up to receive news. For further information, follow Trailbreaker's tweets at Twitter.com/TrailbreakerLtd, use the 'Contact' section of our website, or contact us at (604) 681-1820 or at info@trailbreakerresources.com.
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Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or financial performance that is based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action; expectations regarding future exploration and drilling programs and receipt of related permitting. In certain cases, Forward-Looking Information can be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "anticipates", "expects", "understanding", "has agreed to" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "would", "occur" or "be achieved". Although Trailbreaker has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Trailbreaker and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, if any, Trailbreaker has applied several material assumptions, including the assumption that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Trailbreaker does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/467f0c90-55df-4c69-8563-2875acebadde