Skeena Resources has started underground drilling at its wholly owned Snip gold project in the Golden Triangle of north-west British Columbia, Canada.
The drilling programme will cover 9,000m through 73 holes.
The company retained DMAC Drilling to complete the diamond drill programme.
Skeena Resources CEO Walter Coles Jr. said: “I’m glad to report that underground services and survey controls have been established at Snip and we’ve started drilling.
“We now have the ability to continue drilling through the winter, which is usually not possible for exploration projects in the Golden Triangle. We look forward to releasing a maiden resource estimate for Snip in 2018.”
In order to target mineralisation in the Twin Zone and 150 Vein, the first 26 holes will be drilled from the 300m level.
According to the company, the drilling campaign is intended to confirm and extend gold mineralisation left behind by the previous operator.
Furthermore, the company noted that future holes will target the 130 Vein, the 412 Zone and the newly defined 200 Footwall Zone.
A second drill rig is expected to be moved to site shortly.
The company acquired the Snip project from Barrick Gold, having signed an option agreement in March last year.
The property comprises one mining lease and four mineral tenures with an aggregate of around 1,932ha in the Liard division.
Until 1999, the Snip mine produced around one million ounces of gold at an average gold grade of 27.5g/t.
