Co. Starts Drilling for Source Intrusions at Golden Triangle Project

Seabridge Gold Inc. (SEA:TSX; SA:NYSE.MKT) announced it has started its 15,000-meter core drilling campaign at its 100%-owned Iskut property in northwest British Columbia's Golden Triangle.

Three helicopter-portable drills are being deployed at a cost of CA$12 million to test for source copper-gold porphyries for the intermediate sulfidation epithermal mineral systems recognized by the company in 2023.

"Last year's expansion of the Bronson Slope mineral resource and the new discoveries at Snip North have given us clear direction on where to focus our efforts," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rudi Fronk said. "These intrusive targets appear to be embedded in a district-scale structural trend that is similar in strike and width to our nearby KSM deposits. This year's work is dedicated to realizing the porphyry potential we had in mind when we acquired the Iskut project."

Fronk was referring to Seabridge's massive KSM project, only 30 kilometers by air from Iskut. According to analyst Lucas N. Pipes of B. Riley Securities, who has rated the stock a Buy with a target price of US$60 per share, KSM is the world's largest undeveloped gold project by reserves and resources.

"Regional geophysical surveys and surface geology have confirmed the district-scale structural corridor that connects the Quartz Rise, Bronson Slope and Snip North targets" at Iskut, the company noted in a release on Thursday. "Substantial high-level expressions of a Cu-Au (copper-gold) porphyry system fall along this regional trend. These multiple targets have only recently seen deep drilling, and 2024 is planned to better evaluate their deeper porphyry potential."

The Catalyst: A Deeper, Higher-Grade Porphyry Source

Results from Bronson Slope drilling last year expanded, along strike and down plunge, an intermediate sulfidation epithermal system open in multiple directions, the company said. This mineral zone is adjacent to the quartz-magnetite breccia pipe previously discovered, all of which are indications of an intensive and extensive intrusion-related fluid system at Bronson Slope.

In 2023, drilling at Snip North encountered wide intersections of gold and copper.

"We view these initial results from Snip North positively given the strong indications of a likely deeper, higher-grade porphyry source to the intermediate sulfidation mineralization intersected in this drilling," wrote Red Cloud analysts Taylor Combaluzier and David Talbot.

Highlights included 0.80 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au), 0.07% copper (Cu), and 1.19 g/t silver (Ag) over 277 meters (including 1.8 meters of 15.3 g/t Au, 1.5% Cu, and 430 g/t Ag); 0.61 g/t Au, 0.07% Cu, and 1.36 g/t Ag over 252 meters; and 0.30 g/t Au, 0.09% Cu, 0.59, and g/t Ag over 421.5 meters.

"We view these initial results from Snip North positively given the strong indications of a likely deeper, higher-grade porphyry source to the intermediate sulfidation mineralization intersected in this drilling," wrote Red Cloud analysts Taylor Combaluzier and David Talbot at the time. In a later note, the analysts gave the stock a Buy rating with a CA$46.50 per share target price.

Seabridge also recently announced its top 15 goals for 2024, including filing "a new technical report for Bronson Slope with 2023 drill results and an updated resource estimate and (completing) a drill program of at least 12,500 meters at Iskut."

Finding a joint venture partner for KSM topped the list of goals, and Pipes said Seabridge has "a clear vision for a potential partnership agreement."

Newsletter writer Chris Temple, author and editor of The National Investor, wrote that it's only a matter of time before KSM attracts the attention it deserves.

"When you consider the rest of Seabridge's world-class portfolio, I think you'll feel — as I expressed — that Seabridge deserves to be a core holding in your portfolio," Temple wrote.

Other upcoming catalysts for Seabridge include finding a JV partner, ongoing development updates at KSM and continued drilling at its Snowstorm project in the Getchell Gold Belt of Northern Nevada.

Prolonged Gold Bull Market?

The price of gold hit a new all-time high of US$2,449.89 per ounce on May 20 but has since corrected. It was US$2,334 per ounce on Friday, down 0.18% from the day before and up 0.15% from one month ago, Forbes Advisor reported.

Some are predicting a prolonged and substantial gold bull market. Adam Rozencwajg, managing partner at Goehring & Rozencwajg, predicted that prices could go as high as US$5,000 to US$7,000 an ounce before it's all over. 

According to Investing.com, "Gold prices have been outperforming across various asset classes and on a macroeconomic level. It is implicitly trading on its reputation as a safe asset with no counterparty risk, rather than the opportunity cost associated with holding a zero-yield asset."

The site said Central Bank buying of the yellow metal is also still tracking above reported levels, suggesting "sustained institutional interest in the precious metal."

Ownership and Share Structure

Reuters provided a breakdown of the company's ownership and share structure, where management and insiders own approximately 3% of the company. According to Reuters, CEO and Chairman Rudi P. Fronk owns 1.43% of the company with 1.23 million shares.

Reuters reports that institutions own about 55% of the company. According to Reuters, Friedberg Mercantile Group Ltd. owns 13.56%, National Bank of Canada owns 5.24%, Van Eck Associates Corp. owns 4.06%, Kopernik Global Investors, L.L.C. owns 3.7%, Paulson & Co. Inc. owns 2.4%, and Sprott Asset Management L.P. owns 2.23%.

According to Reuters, there are 86.22 million shares outstanding with 83.74 million free float traded shares, while the company has a market cap of CA$1.91 billion and trades in a 52-week range of CA$12.62 and CA$23.

Important Disclosures:

1. Seabridge Gold Inc. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$4,000 and US$5,000.
2. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
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