Barrick’s Fourmile Journey: From Snake Eyes to a Century-Defining Discovery
When Barrick initially began drilling at Fourmile in 2015, their first 10 holes came up snake eyes where they didn't hit much gold. They were about to give up but decided to drill one last hole, which became known as "hole 427".
Click here to read a November 2018 Barrick article entitled, 'Fourmile: Journey to a High-Grade Discovery'.
According to the article, "In describing the findings from hole 427, he notes that the silicification, brecciation, and high sulfide levels in the core sample were all very encouraging. In layman’s terms, this means there were clues in the sample, or what geologists refer to as alteration, that were strongly indicative of high-grade ore."
When the assays came back from the lab, Barrick's Fourmile hole 427 included an intercept of 5.8 meters grading 49.7 g/t gold, which is almost unheard of in today's modern-day mining industry. This was Barrick's "fish on a hook" hole at Fourmile, which caused them to begin drilling new widely spaced holes located 300m to the north and south of hole 427.
In 2016, Barrick drilled 8 new holes to a depth of 900m at Fourmile and 2 of the 8 intercepted high-grade gold. In 2017, Barrick drilled another 8 new holes at Fourmile and 6 of the 8 intercepted high-grade gold. At the time of Barrick's 2018 Fourmile article, it was considered a new high-grade discovery with a footprint more than 600 meters long by 200 meters wide. Nobody could imagine what it would later become!
Less than eight months ago, Barrick published an article entitled, 'Updated Studies Confirm Barrick’s Fourmile as One of This Century’s Most Significant Gold Finds' . Click here to read!
In this article, Barrick’s CEO predicted that Fourmile will "rank among the top 10 gold producers globally with industry-leading operating cash flows" . He explained, "Very few projects anywhere in the world today can offer this combination of grade, scale and cash flow. Fourmile is one of those rare discoveries that has the potential to reset the industry cost curve."
Westward Gold (CSE: WG) is about to launch drilling at their SSD Zone located adjacent to Barrick's Fourmile, where WG has been discovering the same types of alteration found at Fourmile, including silicification and brecciation!
Take a look at this sample from SSD Zone drill hole T902C:
This drill hole intercepted 7 meters grading 6.92 g/t gold including 1.5 meters grading 17 g/t gold! Mineralization remains open in all directions, particularly to the northeast and northwest, which is where WG will be focusing its 2026 SSD Zone drilling!
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