Big Ridge Gold Corp. announced its 2024 work program for the Hope Brook Gold Project located on the southwest coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. The program will follow up on the results of the successful 2023 geophysical program in preparation for future drilling, completion of environmental baseline work initiated by the previous operator and additional ore sorting studies of Hope Brook ore. Highlights: Mobilize team in mid-July; Complete Environmental baseline work; Continue Hope Brook ore sorting study; Reconnaissance work to develop drill program on newly defined extensions to Main & 240 Zones; Advance Hope Brook toward Preliminary Economic Assessment; Prepare Project Registration. Environmental Baseline Work: Environmental survey work was begun by Castillian Resources Inc. and successor Coastal Resources Inc. in 2010 with a view to compiling information to fulfill the requirements for an application for Project Registration of the Hope Brook Gold Project as required under environmental regulation in Newfoundland and Labrador. The study includes evaluation of the natural environment surrounding the former mine and its current condition as a brownfield mine site. Work in 2024 will continue to build on this required information. Newfoundland-based Fracflow Consultants Inc. will undertake the field work and studies. Ore Sorting and Gold Deportment: In the second half of 2024 Big Ridge will conduct ore sorting tests to establish whether 'zero grade' lithologies within the HBGP mineral resource wireframes can be separated from mineralized lithologies. These tests will be conducted by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). Zero grade lithologies are comprised of post-mineralization mafic and intermediate dykes and sills which intrude the mineralized host rocks. In 2013, a preliminary X-Ray Transmission test of HBGP rocks suggested separation of non mineralized rock was possible. Available core from the project's 198 available drill holes has been selected, representing various grade and alteration characteristics of the deposit along with associated intervals of mafic and intermediate intrusive. Zero grade material in core accounts for 20-25% of material in the Hope Brook deposit wire frames. Many intrusive units intersected by drill holes in the wireframes may be too small to be excluded during mining. Preparation for 2025 Drill Program: During 2024 field operations, Big Ridge staff will follow-up on the results and interpretations developed from the 2023 DC Induced Polarization, magnetometer, and reconnaissance sampling surveys, with a focus on a 5 km section of the Cinq Cerfs Deformation Zone, extending from the 240 Zone to the southwest. This stratigraphy contains variably argillic altered metavolcanic rocks and several prominent chargeability anomalies in strike continuation from the Hope Brook deposits. The work will assist with placement of drill holes for a new campaign in 2025. The team will also investigate a suite of anomalous gold-in-rock results, located south of the Cinq Cerfs Deformation Zone also identified in
2023.