Upside Gold Corp. (CSE: UG) (FSE: 47I) (OTCQB: UGODF) announced the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire seven mineral claims totaling approximately 273 hectares from a local prospector. The claims are located on the northwest side of the company's Kena Gold-Copper Property in southeastern British Columbia, a move intended to consolidate adjacent ground along a prospective trend.
The proposed acquisition aims to strengthen the continuity of the Kena land package and support the company's strategy of building scale across the Kena system. The claims cover historically mineralized areas, including the original six reverted Crown grants that formed the historic Venus-Juno Group. This area recorded past production of approximately 5,411 tonnes grading an average of 19.8 g/t gold and 17.7 g/t silver, with minor copper and lead, during the first half of the 20th century. This history of high-grade production reinforces the exploration potential of this largely under-explored portion of the property.
Geologically, the claims are underlain by altered mafic volcanic rocks of the Elise Formation adjacent to the Nelson granodiorite intrusion—the same regional geological setting that hosts gold and copper mineralization at Kena. Mineralization on the newly acquired claims is characterized by quartz veins and stringers containing pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and copper sulphides, consistent with mineralization styles observed elsewhere across the Kena Property.
Upside Gold plans to conduct a systematic surface evaluation program to assess the extent and continuity of gold-silver mineralization across the newly acquired claims and determine their potential contribution to the broader Kena exploration model. The company's focus is on advancing the Kena Gold-Copper Project through systematic exploration and drilling programs.
The Kena Project hosts a historical gold resource comprising an Indicated Mineral Resource of 32,146,000 tonnes at an average grade of 0.544 g/t Au for 0.561 million ounces of gold, and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 177,507,000 tonnes at an average grade of 0.486 g/t Au for 2.77 million ounces of gold. The historical resource estimate is disclosed in the technical report entitled “NI 43-101 Resource Estimate for the Kena and Daylight Properties” prepared by Sue Bird, P.Eng. of Moose Mountain Technical Services, dated May 3, 2021, and filed on SEDAR on behalf of West Mining Corp. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and Upside Gold is not treating the historical estimate as such.
The information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Trevor Boyd, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration of the Company, a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 standards. This acquisition aligns with Upside Gold's strategy to expand its footprint in a region with known mineralization and could enhance the overall resource base of the Kena project. For leaders in the mining and exploration industry, this move underscores the importance of strategic land consolidation to unlock value in under-explored districts.
Further details are available in the original press release on NewMediaWire.
