First-pass drilling in 2010 resulted in new HSE discoveries at the Küçükdağ (“KCD”) and Kayalı targets.
In 2012, Liberty Gold completed an aggressive exploration program that consisted of 14,440 metres of diamond core drilling at the KCD target, property-wide airborne magnetic/EM geophysical surveys and surface mapping and geochemical sampling. Drilling at the KCD target returned high-grade intercepts (227 g/t gold over 12 metres in KCD-50) as well as long intervals of gold mineralization (5.94 g/t gold over 137.1 metres in KCD-39) in a zone that also contains significant silver and copper. A near-surface zone of silver-only mineralization that partially overlies the high-grade gold-silver-copper zone has also been identified.
In 2013, Liberty undertook core and RC drilling, geologic modeling and surface work. Seventy-two drill holes comprising 16,735 metres were completed at KCD. Drill highlights included:
- KCD-142: 15.3 g/t gold over 45.2 metres, including 386 g/t gold over 1.5 metres
- KCD-134: 327 g/t silver over 14.5 metres, including 547 g/t silver over 8.5 metres
- KCD-108: 93.0 g/t silver over 122.7 metres
- KCD-102: 25.7 g/t gold, 47.2 g/t silver and 2.12% copper over 16.5 metres, including 142 g/t gold, 141 g/t silver and 3.39% copper over 2.0 metres
A new zone of near-surface, oxidized gold mineralization up to 10 metres thick was discovered through four drill sites spaced approximately 130 metres apart, overlying the silver zone and north of the high-grade sulphide gold zone.
The Kayalı target is a high-sulphidation, shallow oxide gold target located approximately eight km south of the KCD target. Discovery hole KYD-01 returned 0.87 g/t gold over 114.5 metres from a depth of 4.5 metres, including 2.85 g/t Au over 15.4 metres. The 2013 drill program comprised approximately 3,500 drilled metres. Highlights include:
- KYD-39: 1.29% copper (Cu) over 34.1 metres including 1.90% Cu over 20.8 metres
- KYD-46: 15.9 g/t gold (Au) over 3 metres, within an interval grading 1.35 g/t Au over 45 metres
- KYD-51: 1.96 g/t Au over 33.1 metres, including 3.42 g/t Au over 17.4 metres
The 20 km2 Karaayı license, acquired in September, 2013, is contiguous with the Kayalı oxide gold target. The Karaayı tenure contains some of the strongest and most extensive gold-in-soil and copper-in-soil anomalies in the district. Drilling at Karaayı by previous operators intersected near-surface, oxidized, high-sulphidation style gold and gold-copper porphyry mineralization, which is on strike to the west of the known oxidized gold mineralized zone at Kayalı.
Surface sampling, IP and magnetic geophysical surveys and prospecting, followed up by drilling in 2014, outlined three deposits at Karaayi. Yumrudag is an oxidized HSE gold oxide system, which partially overlies the Hilltop gold-copper porphyry system. The Valley deposit, located a few km south of Yumrudag, is a relatively high-grade gold-copper porphyry system.
The Columbaz deposit is located approximately two kilometres south of the KCD target. Drilling of a LSE target in this area defined by outcropping quartz veins and float samples returning up to 92 g/t gold and up to 396 g/t silver revealed a shallow gold-copper porphyry system, which was tested by drilling in 2014 and 2020. The deposit extends to a depth of over 700 m and is open to the north and south.