ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb. 10, 2025 /CNW/ - U.S. GoldMining Inc. (NASDAQ: USGO) ("U.S. GoldMining" or the "Company") is pleased to announce new assay results from the 2024 confirmatory diamond core drilling program completed at the Whistler Gold-Copper Project (the "Project") in Alaska, U.S.A.

The results reported in this news release highlight WH24-05, which was drilled adjacent to the Raintree West Deposit (the "Raintree Deposit"). The drilling intercepted multiple zones of high-grade gold and silver polymetallic mineralization approximately 500 meters south of any prior drilling at the deposit.

Selected Highlights:

• Main Zone composite intercept of 138.0 meters (m) at 0.99 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEq)^* comprising 0.89 g/t gold (Au) and 0.05 percent (%) copper (Cu), plus 17.57 g/t silver (Ag), 0.44% lead (Pb) and 0.95% zinc (Zn) (elevated Ag, Pb and Zn grades are excluded in the AuEq calculations), from 635.0 m to 773.0 m down hole.
• Including higher-grade individual intercepts:
  • 26 m at 1.48 g/t AuEq (1.36 g/t Au, 0.06% Cu) plus 15.38 g/t Ag, 0.69% Pb and 1.61% Zn
  • 34 m at 1.65 g/t AuEq (1.49 g/t Au, 0.08% Cu) plus 19.95 g/t Ag, 0.81% Pb and 1.35% Zn
  • 18 m at 1.93 g/t AuEq (1.70 g/t Au, 0.13% Cu) plus 66.33 g/t Ag, 0.62% Pb and 1.84% Zn
• The drill intercept represents a relatively new style of mineralization - high-grade gold and silver polymetallic veins - with only one other intercept previously drilled at the Raintree Deposit:
• This new discovery validates the Company's exploration strategy of exploring the Project to maximize its resource potential. Additional follow-up drilling is planned this coming summer.

^{*See Table 1 for further information.}

Tim Smith, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. GoldMining, commented: "This last drill hole in 2024 was designed to build on the successful season the Company had at the Whistler Deposit, which included the expansion of the western high-grade core at that deposit and returned results including 458 m at 0.75 g/t AuEq (see February 3, 2025 press release). For the final core hole drilled in 2024, we returned to the Raintree Prospect with the objective to drill test a very compelling exploration target, comprising a previously undrilled porphyry intrusion coupled with a large high intensity IP chargeability anomaly located 500 meters south of the existing Raintree Deposit. While the porphyry-style alteration and veining observed in the upper part of drill hole WH24-05 is encouraging for an early-stage drill prospect, the high-grade gold and silver in polymetallic veins intersected in the lower part of the drill hole significantly exceeded our expectations.

The mineralization is visually impressive, consisting of multiple quartz-carbonate veins with abundant coarse base metal sulphides over tens of meters down-hole. Drill core assays highlight high-grade gold and silver values, peaking at 7.15 g/t Au and 189 g/t Ag, along with peak base metal values of up to 5.4% Zn and 3.6% Pb, sampled over individual 2 meter core length intervals. The Company's geologists are excited to get back into the field this coming summer to undertake follow-up drilling to further explore, delineate and extend this new zone of mineralization, which could potentially offer additional and alternative metal resources to the existing Project mineral resource estimate.

The Company is now compiling all exploration results and geological datasets collected during the 2024 drill season to update its exploration target prioritization and commence planning for the upcoming 2025 drill season to continue the re-discovery of the Whistler Project."

2024 Drilling Program Summary

The Company completed six diamond core holes for 4,006 meters during the 2024 field season at the Project. In addition to four drill holes for 2,784 meters completed at the Whistler Deposit, two drill holes for 1,224 meters were completed at the Raintree Deposit (see Figure 1), located approximately one kilometer east of the Whistler Deposit. With this news release, all assay results from the 2024 field season are now reported.

The Raintree component of the Project mineral resource estimate comprises both open pit constrained and underground delineated deposits (see news release dated October 7, 2024).

Raintree Open Pit at US$10/t cutoff: 8.9 Mt at 0.63 g/t AuEq (0.46 g/t Au, 0.08% Cu and 4.81 g/t Ag) for 180,000 oz AuEq (131 Koz Au, 16 Mlbs Cu and 1.38 Moz Ag) classified as indicated, and 15.1 Mt at 0.69 g/t AuEq (0.55 g/t Au, 0.06% Cu and 4.36 g/t Ag) for 335,000 oz AuEq (267 Koz Au, 21 Mlbs Cu and 2.11 Moz Ag) classified as inferred.

Raintree Underground at US$25/t cutoff: 3.1 Mt at 1.03 g/t AuEq (0.79 g/t Au, 0.13% Cu and 4.49 g/t Ag) for 101,000 oz AuEq (78 Koz Au, 9 Mlbs Cu and 0.44 Moz Ag) classified as indicated, and 40.4 Mt at 0.98 g/t AuEq (0.76 g/t Au, 0.12% Cu and 3.31 g/t Ag) for 1,275,000 oz AuEq (994 Koz Au, 103 Mlbs Cu and 4.3 Moz Ag) classified as inferred.

The Raintree Deposit lies within the broader 'Raintree Prospect' area, which in addition to the Raintree Deposit itself contains several drill prospects and exploration targets over a 2 km diameter, including 'Raintree North', 'Raintree East' and 'Raintree South'. Compared to the Whistler Deposit, which has over 22,000 meters of drilling, the entire Raintree Prospect comprises just 5,190 meters of historic drilling. The Company's strategy to date has been to focus on confirmatory drilling and studies to delineate and, where possible, expand the open pit portion of the Whistler and Raintree Deposits. With drill hole WH24-05, the Company has ventured into new terrane, with exploration into a never before drilled section of the Raintree Prospect to test newly identified conceptual targets south of the Raintree open pit portion.

Raintree Prospect - Geology

The Raintree Prospect area is characterized by a swarm of small intrusive diorite porphyry bodies - dykes, sills and stocks - of the Whistler Intrusive Suite (WIS), hosted within a sequence of andesite lavas and related volcaniclastic rocks. This geological setting contrasts to the Whistler Deposit, a large (600 m x 800 m) ovoid shaped WIS diorite porphyry intrusion, hosted within basement sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic Kahiltna Formation. The Raintree Prospects are interpreted to have formed at a higher stratigraphic level relative to the Whistler Deposit. Additionally, the Raintree porphyry dykes and stocks intersected to date are distinguished by their lower magnetite content compared to the highly magnetic diorite porphyry of the Whistler Deposit.

The Raintree Deposit comprises both porphyry style Au-Cu-Ag mineralization and overprinting polymetallic vein style Au-Ag-Pb-Zn±Cu mineralization. This contrasts with mineralization at the Whistler Deposit which is almost entirely made up of porphyry style Au-Cu-Ag mineralization. At Raintree Deposit, porphyry-style mineralization is confined to the porphyry diorite intrusives (dykes and stocks), comprising B type veins and disseminated sulphide mineralization like the Whistler Deposit. Whereas late-stage polymetallic vein style mineralization occurs in both the porphyry intrusive rocks and andesite extrusive rocks and is characterized by disseminated and semi-massive pyrite, galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, and chalcopyrite in quartz-carbonate veins. Vein contacts are generally sharp and distinct with associated narrow sericite and chlorite alteration halos.

An initial 2024 confirmatory infill drill hole at Raintree West - WH24-01 - aimed to validate the current geological model and to also test potential to expand the existing resource. WH24-01 was drilled into the area of the constraining pit shell for the Raintree West Open Pit deposit, with the objective of collecting additional information about the style, geometry, continuity and controls on mineralization hosted therein. As previously reported (see news release dated September 30, 2024), WH24-01 intersected 61.4 m at 0.53 g/t AuEq (0.36 g/t Au, 0.09% Cu, 4.4 g/t Ag) comprising A & B type vein and disseminated sulphide mineralization hosted within diorite porphyry. In addition, WH24-01 intersected multiple occurrences of porphyry-distal D-style polymetallic veins, including a broad zone of veining which returned 17.0 m at 0.33 g/t Au, 0.07% Cu, 42.0 g/t Ag, 0.33% Pb and 0.75% Zn from 249 m downhole, and which included a higher grade interval of 4.0 m at 0.78 g/t Au, 0.22% Cu, 171.6 g/t Ag, 1.19% Pb and 2.53% Zn.

The 2024 Raintree Prospect drilling is the first exploration completed in the area since 2011; therefore, the Company has taken the approach to systematically analyze prior exploration and geological data across the mineral system. It is noted that previous shallow scout drilling immediately south of the currently defined Raintree Deposit identified strong phyllic alteration associated with diorite porphyries and hydrothermal breccias intruding andesitic volcaniclastic rocks. Both the diorite and volcanic rocks are cross-cut by D-style veinlets, which was interpreted as being potentially indicative of a nearby porphyry center. The target is also supported by geophysical evidence including a broad IP chargeability anomaly, which is generally interpreted to be associated with phyllic (quartz-sericite-pyrite) alteration. 

WH24-05 Drilling Results Discussion

WH24-05 subsequently aimed to explore for additional mineralizing dykes associated with the Raintree dyke swarm, immediately adjacent to (south of) the currently defined Raintree Deposit. Drilling intersected multiple porphyry intrusions (dykes) within a thick package of andesite extrusives and associated volcaniclastic rocks, including several zones of low-grade porphyry style mineralization in the upper section of the drill hole. Drilling was extended to depth to test the deeper IP chargeability anomaly, subsequently intersecting several zones of porphyry-distal polymetallic D-veining, including the following drill intercepts: 

• Main Zone intercept of 138.0 m at 0.99 g/t AuEq (0.89 g/t Au, 0.05 % Cu), plus 17.57 g/t Ag, 0.44% Pb and 0.95% Zn, from 635.0 m downhole; which contains three higher-grade vein zones:
  • 26 m at 1.48 g/t AuEq (1.36 g/t Au, 0.06% Cu) plus 15.38 g/t Ag, 0.69% Pb and 1.61% Zn, from 635 m downhole; and
  • 34 m at 1.65 g/t AuEq (1.49 g/t Au, 0.08% Cu) plus 19.95 g/t Ag, 0.81% Pb and 1.35% Zn, from 681 m downhole; and
  • 18 m at 1.93 g/t AuEq (1.70 g/t Au, 0.13% Cu) plus 66.33 g/t Ag, 0.62% Pb and 1.84% Zn, from 755 m downhole.

The gold and silver bearing polymetallic veins intersected in WH24-05 comprise late-stage quartz-carbonate veins with semi-massive pyrite, galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite and chalcopyrite. Some of the polymetallic veins intersected in WH24-05 exhibit sub-epithermal textures. The mineralized veins are oriented moderately to steeply dipping, striking NE-SW and NW-SE orientations forming a conjugate set. The mineralized envelope geometry is interpreted to be likely parallel to the overall NW-SE orientation of the Raintree Deposit mineralization, which will be confirmed by follow-up drilling. 

The Company is currently assessing the significance of this relatively new style of vein-hosted mineralization intersected in WH24-05. Most porphyry mineral systems contain similar late-stage polymetallic veins, which range from distal to more proximal D-style veins. These veins themselves may be of direct exploration interest or may provide vectors to additional nearby porphyry style mineralization. Drill core composites have been collected to undertake petrographic analysis and metallurgical test work to determine the gold and silver deportment and metal recoverability. Additional drilling is planned for this coming summer to further explore and delineate this new discovery and if applicable, incorporate this newly identified mineralization into the Raintree Deposit.

Table 1 –Project drill assay intercepts from the 2024 drilling program, received as of February 10, 2024. Bold intervals correspond with those reported in the 'highlights' section above.

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