Rackla Metals Outlines 2025 Exploration Plans for the Grad Property in Northwest Territories

Feb 25, 2025

(TheNewswire)

Vancouver, British Columbia – February 25, 2025 – TheNewswire – Rackla Metals Inc. (TSX-V: RAK) (the “Company ”) is pleased to provide an update on the exploration plans for the Grad Property in the Northwest Territories (NWT). The Grad Property is located in the eastern portion of the Tombstone Gold Belt and was staked in July of 2024 when the land came open following more than a decade of land use planning. Prior to Rackla staking the claims there was no history of exploration on the intrusion at the core of the Property. The 2024 program was limited to 10 days on the property and consisted of prospecting, rock, stream sediment and talus-fine sampling, an airborne geophysical survey and a photogrammetry survey. Rackla is exceedingly pleased with the results from the 2024 program.

Grad Property 2024 exploration highlights:

New Gold Discovery – BiTe Zone: Talus-fine sampling at the southern margin of the North Nahanni Pluton returned a broad zone of quartz-tourmaline and quartz-sulfide veining, with grades up to 92 g/t Au.
Large Gold Anomaly: A 550m-wide anomaly averaging 1.06 g/t Au, with a core zone of 180m averaging 3.68 g/t Au.
Extensive Mineralization: Channel sampling at the base of the cliff returned 38m grading 1.8 g/t Au, with strong indications that the mineralization extends up the 450m ridge.
Strong Geochemical Indicators: High concentrations of bismuth and tellurium, which are key pathfinders for Reduced Intrusive Related Gold Systems (RIRGS).
Significant Expansion Potential: Early results suggest the mineralized system extends at least 1.3 km north of BiTe, with strong gold, bismuth, tellurium, and tungsten values.
2025 Exploration Program: Initial drilling to test the BiTe Zone at the base of the cliff and additional mapping and channel sampling to delineate the mineralized zone along strike.

CEO Simon Ridgway stated, “The early results from the BiTe Zone at the Grad Property are highly encouraging and point to the potential for a significant gold system. The combination of high-grade gold values, strong geochemical signatures, and widespread alteration suggests we’ve just begun to uncover the full extent of this discovery. We’re eager to build on these early successes with a focused 2025 program that will take our understanding of the system to the next level.”

The Grad Property

The Grad Property is centered on the North Nahanni Pluton , a Cretaceous-aged, Mayo Suite felsic intrusion in the eastern Tombstone Gold Belt in the NWT. The pluton measures 1.9 by 2.2 km with a sizable, intensely altered, contact aureole expressed as hornfelsed and iron-stained gossanous sediments surrounding the intrusion.

While conducting talus sampling at the southern margin of the Pluton, a broad alteration zone was identified with intense quartz-tourmaline and quartz-sulfide veining within the intrusive, the intensity of the veining shattering the intrusive body to almost a schistose appearance. Results of the sampling returned significant gold grades, up to 92 g/t Au, with many samples returning multi-gram gold. The gold mineralization is associated with bismuth, tellurium +/- tungsten confirming that this is a Reduced Intrusive Related Gold System (RIRGS). The discovery was named the BiTe Zone.

Figure 1 – Photograph of the shattered North Nahanni Pluton:

Click Image To View Full Size

The BiTe Zone is defined by a talus-fine sample line that returned 550 m with an average gold concentration in the samples of 1.06 g/t Au. Within that interval is a central core of 180 m that averaged 3.68 g/t Au. The intensity of the core alteration zone appears to extend up the face of the cliff to the ridge top which is 450 m along strike and 350 m vertically above the discovery. While no samples have been taken to date above the base of the cliff, a channel sample of 40 m in length taken at the base of the cliff across the vein orientation returned 38 m grading 1.8 g/t Au. The concentration of bismuth and tellurium from rock samples collected on the Grad Property is in an order of magnitude higher than anything Rackla has observed in the eastern part of the Tombstone Gold Belt during the Company’s 2+ years of exploration in the region, hence the name of the zone (BiTe).

The geochemical signature of the BiTe Zone is indicative of a robust RIRGS system. The Au-Bi-Te-W metal assemblage is an important characteristic of RIRGS deposits ( 1 Hart, 2007). The Bismuth concentration in rock samples is up to 2.17% from high-grade gold samples at BiTe (with 92.4 g/t Au, 1250 ppm Te, and 260 ppm W) and up to 2.98% from a sample collected 1.3 km north of BiTe (with 2.8 g/t Au, 23 ppm Te, and 0.66% W). The results show a strong correlation of gold to tellurium and bismuth with correlation coefficients of 0.878 and 0.578, respectively.

Figure 2 – Photograph of BiTe Zone with talus-fine, rock and channel sample gold results:

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These results are particularly encouraging considering the limited field program in 2024 and the magnitude of the BiTe target has plenty of room for expansion.

Figure 3 – Plan view of the North Nahanni Pluton on the Grad Property with dimensions of the alteration and mineralizing system:

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The cliff above BiTe is a steep face that rises 400 m from the valley floor and exhibits many of the features observed at the BiTe Zone: abundant sheeted quartz-sulphide veining; intense fracture pattern; and strong iron oxide staining from the weathering of sulphide minerals. As mentioned above, the talus-fine anomaly at BiTe is 550 m wide. The photogrammetry image shows that the alteration and mineralizing system strikes for 1.3 km to the north, where prospecting has returned a sample with 2.8 g/t Au, 2.98% Bi, 23 ppm Te and 0.66% W.

Only a small portion of the property has been prospected, yet these results confirm the potential for significant extension to the mineralization identified at the BiTe Zone.

The 2025 exploration program will focus on getting a drill turning at the discovery outcrop at the base of the cliff. The program will also involve sampling the upper reaches of the cliff face on both sides of the ridge using a mountaineering geological team, preparing drill pads along the ridge top and delineating the extent of the mineralized zone on the north side of the ridge with detailed structural mapping and channel sampling.

1 Hart, C.J.R., 2007, Reduced intrusion-related gold systems, in Goodfellow, W.D., ed., Mineral deposits of Canada: A Synthesis of Major Deposit Types, District Metallogeny, the Evolution of Geological Provinces, and Exploration Methods: Geological Association of Canada, Mineral Deposits Division, Special Publication No. 5, p. 95-112.

Qualified Person

Scott Casselman, B.Sc., P.Geo., Vice-President Exploration of the Company, is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia and is the Company’s Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Casselman has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Rackla

Rackla Metals Inc. (TSX-V: RAK) is a Vancouver, Canada based junior gold exploration company. The Company is targeting Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold Systems (RIRGS) mineralization on the southeastern part of the Tombstone Gold Belt in eastern Yukon and western Northwest Territories. Management believes that this area, which is underexplored for RIRGS deposit types, has the potential to be the next frontier for the discovery of these large gold systems.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Simon Ridgway,
CEO and Director

Tel: (604) 8 01-5432; Fax: (604) 662-8829
Email: info@goldgroup.com
Website: www.racklametals.com

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