- Initial 3,000 meter diamond drilling program designed to target strike and depth projections of known high-grade gold mineralization in mine workings abandoned in 1905.
- Recorded historic production for the Leviathan Mine of 181,000 tonnes for 67,511 ounces of gold at a grade of 11.4 g/t Au.
- Repeated parallel to sub-parallel targets extend over an area of approximately 130 meters laterally and in excess of 750 meters of strike.
Vancouver, BC – October 7, 2021 – Leviathan Gold Ltd. (“Leviathan”, the “Company”) (LVX – TSXV, 0GP – Germany) is pleased to announce that it has commenced drilling at the historic Leviathan Mine within the Company’s Timor property. This initial phase of work, which is expected to comprise at least 3,000 meters of diamond drilling, has been designed to target strike and depth projections of known high-grade gold mineralization in underground mine workings understood to have been abandoned in 1905. Recorded historic production for the Leviathan Mine – itself an amalgam of closely adjacent shafts and underground workings – is 181,000 tonnes for 67,511 ounces of gold at a grade of 11.4 g/t Au.
Compilation and review of historic mining records and plans together with modern field work by Leviathan’s geological team suggests that gold mineralization at the historic Leviathan Mine is open along strike and at depth – presenting clear drill targets immediately beneath abandoned mine workings, including areas underground development drives that were never fully exploited. These targets occur from depths as shallow as ~70 meters.
Mineralization at the Leviathan Mine is known to occur as quartz veins, stockworks and spurs within a broad north-south trending fault system, itself comprising numerous individual faults. Where mineralized, these are locally termed “reefs”. By 1862 approximately 90 such reefs were reportedly known in the area of Leviathan Mine, with production records suggesting that such occurrences produced “more than an ounce of gold per tonne”.
Writing in 1913 – subsequent to the closure of the Leviathan Mine – the Geological Survey of Victoria observed:
“From the surface to 240 feet the Old Leviathan averaged for a long time 1 oz. per ton and the ore was 10 feet to 20 feet wide. At no point lower than 300 feet has this line been worked” and “The 960-ft level, the next level at which the Old Leviathan Reef formation was cut, shows a splendid quartz reef with encouraging prospects, and going strongly underfoot south”, and
“The New Reef in in the 960-ft level warrants further exploiting and this should be done if ever the mine is again worked”.
Within the area contemplated by current drilling, repeated parallel to sub-parallel reef targets extend over an area of at least 130 meters laterally and in excess of 750 meters of strike. Preliminary indications are that this fault system persists for several kilometers to the north of the current target, and that parallel systems appear to exist to both its east and its west. These occurrences will be reported on in due course.
Hard rock gold mineralization in the area of Leviathan Mine furthermore appears to have been a significant source for the rich alluvial gold deposits that extend for kilometers downstream of the Leviathan Mine in an area known as the Chinaman’s Flat Lead (“the Lead”) – the scene of a major gold rush in the 1850’s. At this time some 30,000 diggers were reportedly engaged in mining on the Lead, with reports suggesting an average yield for the Lead of “four ounces gold to the load” (or approximately 163 grams of gold per cubic metre) and that grades in many shafts (in the alluvial material) ranged from 2 kilograms to 5 kilograms gold per cubic metre.
Leviathan’s current drill targets and provisional drill locations are shown in Figures 1 and 2, oblique underground target projections in Figures 3 and 4, and site photographs illustrating the surface expression of the Leviathan reefs in Figures 5 and 6. It is understood that historic operation of the Leviathan Mine ceased due to the inability of the mining, metallurgical and pumping techniques of the day to perform economically at the required depths.
Leviathan Gold Chief Executive Officer, Luke Norman, remarked: “We are very excited to be commencing drilling works at the old Leviathan Mine, our namesake target. Since completing the spin-out our technical and permitting team has been working diligently to gain the necessary permits and access to drill these exciting targets. Compilation and review of historic records by Leviathan’s geological team, in conjunction with new fieldwork suggest that historic mining ceased at relatively shallow levels, leaving multiple, stacked high grade ore-shoots open to depth and along strike. Our plan is to systematically test these features via modern drilling and assaying techniques, confirming their grades and widths, while at the same time continuing to assemble targeting information on what appear to be further reef occurrences parallel to and along strike from the Leviathan Mine”.
About Avoca and Timor
The Victorian goldfields are one of the world’s major gold provinces, with recorded historic production in excess of 2,500 tonnes – or over 80 million ounces – of gold since their discovery in 1851. The Avoca and Timor projects comprise 223 square kilometers of exploration tenements within these goldfields, approximately 180 kilometers north west of the state capital of Melbourne. The Projects are well-served by modern infrastructure, are easily accessible via paved roads, and fall less than 100 kilometers from the regional cities of Bendigo and Ballarat, both long-established centers of mining services and expertise.
The Projects are located within an area of the Victorian goldfields, the golden triangle, that is home to large scale gold deposits with long and very prominent histories of production such as those at Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine. More recently, major discoveries have also been made at the Fosterville Gold Mine near Bendigo (operated by Kirkland Lake Gold, recently merged with Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.), which boasts reserves of 1.70 million ounces at an average grade of 23.1 g/t Au, including 1.16 million ounces at an average grade of 61.2 g/t Au. Within the area being explored by Leviathan Gold hundreds of small historical gold mines are known to have existed within a 50 km radius of Avoca and Timor.
The Avoca and Timor projects were the subject of historical mining between the 1850’s and the early 1900’s, during which era operations targeted so-called alluvial and “deep lead” gold occurrences – buried secondary auriferous river-bed deposits – as well as primary vein-hosted mineralization developed via shaft and underground stoping methods. Such operations reportedly produced some 1.3 million ounces of gold in the Avoca and Timor project areas alone, the majority of this arising from alluvial and “deep lead” mining – a function of the richness of the alluvial mineralization around Maryborough, so great that it eclipsed the importance of reef mining. As such little capital was available for deep hard rock development3. The mining, water removal and ore processing methods of the day were rudimentary, such that only isolated extraction of shallow, near-surface, visible, high-grade mineralization was possible, resulting in only very selective and discontinuous mining. Over fifty such gold occurrences are known within the Projects, and despite this prodigious endowment, no systematic exploration of the Projects has occurred. With only limited exploration work having been recorded since WW1, numerous targets to test, and mineralization potentially open to depth at most of these, a rare opportunity exists for Leviathan to pursue a consolidated approach in the exploration of near-surface mineralization using modern drilling, geochemical and geophysical techniques.
Historical records are not historical resource estimates, but instead are official Government records of gold production from individual mines. Historical production records do not carry a comparable confidence level to a current Mineral Resource estimate reported in accordance with CIM standards for resource estimation and should not be treated as such. Leviathan does not treat historical production records as indicators of a current mineral resource or mineral reserve. The information relating to historical gold mines has not been independently verified by the Qualified Person and such information is not necessarily indicative of mineralisation on the properties that it the subject of this Press Release.
Comparable Projects
Leviathan considers the Currighanalt project, in Northern Ireland, to be potentially similar in terms of its geology to the Avoca and Timor projects. In 2018 Dalradian Resources Inc. defined Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of 6.34 million tonnes at a grade of 15.01 g/t Au for 3.06 million ounces of gold, and Inferred Mineral Resources of 7.72 million tonnes at a grade of 12.24 g/t Au for 3.04 million ounces of gold. The Currighanalt project, which is described as “a high grade orogenic gold deposit characterized by a series of west-northwest trending, moderately to steeply dipping, stacked quartz-carbonate-sulphide veins and arrays of narrow and short extension veinlets” is hosted by rocks of similar lithology and age to those found at Avoca and Timor.
Future Work Programs
There are over thirty historical gold workings within the Avoca project area, all of which require additional mapping, surface sampling and drill testing to assess their potential and on which the Company intends to report on an ongoing basis. The highest priority targets include:
- Pyrenees Reefs: 16,199 tons mined for 16,602 ounces of gold to a depth of 130 meters at an average recovered grade of 32 g/t Au, worked from 1860 to 1912; mineralized shoots per historic underground mine plans.
- Excelsior Reef: 13,200 tons mined for 9,260 ounces of gold to a depth of 100 meters at an average recovered grade of 22 g/t Au, worked from 1909 to 1915; mineralized shoots per historic underground mine plans.
- Vale’s Reefs: 1,444 tons mined for 1,388 ounces of gold to a depth of 52 meters at an average recovered grade of 29.4 g/t Au, worked from 1865 to 1883.
- Monte Christo Reefs: 2,795 tons mined for 937 ounces of gold to a depth of 30 meters at an average recovered grade of 10.3 g/t Au, worked from 1872 to 1877.
The Timor project lies immediately east of the Avoca project and hosts numerous hardrock and alluvial gold deposits as evidenced by the extent of historic workings, of which approximately twenty hardrock workings can be considered to have been significant producers. The highest priority targets include:
- Shaw’s Reef: 16,881 tons mined for 12,623 ounces of gold to a depth 130 meters at an average recovered grade of 22.9 g/t Au, worked from 1883 to 1891. Along strike of this fault zone, arsenopyrite and stibnite mineralization is recorded in association with the gold mineralization indicating possible epizonal Fosterville-style gold mineralization.
The Leviathan Group of Mines and Shaw’s Reef both lie on separate large regional north-south structures known to occur for tens of kilometers associated with hardrock workings over their length. Neither of these structures have witnessed significant drilling. These two mineralized structures will be a near-term focus for exploration within the Projects. Modern core orientation techniques which help with understanding the structural controls on mineralization, will be systematically applied during this program.
Qualified Person and Data Verification
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Keith Whitehouse, AusIMM (CP), Exploration Manager of Leviathan Gold (Australia) Pty. Ltd., a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101.
On behalf of the Company,
Luke Norman, Chief Executive Officer and Director
For further information please visit the Company website www.leviathangold.com or contact:
Adam Ross, Investor Relations,
Direct: (604) 229-9445
Toll Free: 1(833) 923-3334
Email: info@leviathangold.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No securities regulatory authority has either approval or disapproved of the contents of this press release.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act“) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.
Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release, including with respect to geological prospects of Leviathan’s mineral projects, planned exploration activities, success of exploration activities, the relevance of historical information, the continuation of mineralization,the relevance of comparable projects, the timing of exploration activities, general business and economic conditions; that applicable approvals are obtained; that qualified workers, financing, permits, approvals, and equipment are obtained in a timely manner; that market conditions continue; that contractual counterparties perform their obligations as required; and that Leviathan is able to locate sufficient financing for favourable ongoing operations. These statements reflect management’s current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Leviathan cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by many material factors, many of which are beyond Leviathan’s control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to whether exploration activities will result in commercially viable quantities of mineralized materials; the possibility of changes to project parameters as plans continue to be refined; the ability to execute planned exploration and future drilling programs;COVID-19; the ability to obtain qualified workers, financing, permits, approvals, and equipment in a timely manner or at all and on reasonable terms; changes in the commodity and securities markets; non-performance by contractual counterparties; and general business and economic conditions, Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Although Leviathan has attempted to identify important risks and factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors and risks that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Consequently, undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements. In addition, all forward-looking statements in this press release are given as of the date hereof. Leviathan disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this disclaimer.