Riley Gold CEO Todd Hilditch on Delivering High Grade Gold Results in Nevada

Riley Gold (TSX-V: RLYG)(OTC: RLYGF) CEO discusses delivering high grade gold exploration results (news here) from its Tokop project in Nevada. 

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the CEO of Riley Gold — Mr. Todd Hilditch. Todd, how are you this morning?

Todd Hilditch: I'm outstanding, thanks. How are you?

Gerardo Del Real: I'm well. Thanks for coming on. Listen, the last time that you and I spoke, you were very clear about the fact that the team is driven, is focused, and is hell bent on doing what it says it's going to do. 

What it said it was going to do is look for gold-silver deposits that have grade, that have scale, that have continuity. And you had some news today. You announced some initial high-grade gold drill results and a new surface rock sample that I think is important and that I want to talk about. 

The numbers, frankly, look very, very good; up to 17 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 253 g/t silver. I would love for you to provide some context as to the results; where you found it and what it's telling you because I know that's important for the next step, right?

Todd Hilditch: Yeah absolutely, Gerardo, and thanks for having me back on. So when we last spoke, we looked at the generic aspect of when we got the [Tokop] project, the work that was leading up to the drill program — and that was a mapping-sampling program which we were able to identify really high-grade gold, in fact, up to 19 g/t samples at-surface. 

So that's awesome… but what's going on subsurface? 

So the drill program started up and our first three drill holes were announced this morning. During that drill program, though, and going to your point, we continue to sample. We continue to want to learn and understand what's going on at the surface. And our geologists actually took a sample that ran over 70 g/t gold; that's over 2.2 ounce per ton at-surface.

So that's exciting; it's another high-grade. But the reality is the truth serum; we need to find out what's going on subsurface. So the holes today that we announced are also exciting. We're fortunate because it appears as though — and this is only three holes in and we have another 15 to go on this first phase — but we had up to 17 g/t gold. A vein set that we came across in 1.4 meters had 235 g/t silver. And that's part of a hole that also had 2.6 meters of over 9 g/t. So we're talking about over a third, getting closer up to half ounce type material below the surface.

And interestingly enough, in the first two drill holes, we hit the target at much shallower depth than we expected, which happened to be, give or take, about 120 feet or 40 meters. So interesting because we're seeing good grade below surface; we see it above surface. 

But moving forward, if we can identify a closer-to-surface type deposit, that obviously makes the next step, trying to say, will the deposit make money if we take it into an open pit… what's the grade? So far — and this is really early stages — but we're checking the boxes on this property. And so far, so good.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Walk me through the pending assays. I know Nevada has had some issues recently with turnaround times. It seems like you got this out in a pretty timely manner. Do you expect that to continue moving forward?

Todd Hilditch: We do, with the caveat of, if it gets busier than it is now, it could take some time. But right now, we're mapping out every four to five to six weeks, we should have anywhere from a couple of holes to a few holes. 

I don't think that we could, with our hand on heart, say that we're going to get all 15 holes done in the next 8 to 10 weeks. It just is really going to depend on how busy things are. But we should have a steady flow. And most importantly, for folks that are paying attention to what we're doing, we should have a steady flow all the way through the summer.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent! Well, listen, I'm looking forward to the results. I'm looking forward to having you back on. I'm curious to see if you continue to encounter that vein at the shallow depths that you did on these two holes. That's interesting to me, and I'm wondering if that continues moving forward.

Todd Hilditch: Well, it's a bit of a litmus test because on our website, a reader or listener can go take a look at the fact that we've got mapped veins over about a mile from the northwest down to the southeast. 

So what we're doing on the first set of holes is coming across those veins and hitting them, as mentioned, shallower and even down to sort of about 300 feet. But what we'll do is we'll be strategically moving across the known vein set and just testing them. 

So I don't know… I can't guarantee this, obviously, but I suspect that — if these holes have high-grade over vein material type width — that the next 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 holes should look oddly familiar for anybody that's going to be following this because we are targeting veins near-surface.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Todd, thanks again for the great overview and we'll chat soon.

Todd Hilditch: I really appreciate it! Thank you. Have a good day.

Gerardo Del Real: Alright, you as well.