The Mojave property is underlain by a Paleozoic, carbonate-dominated stratigraphic sequence of siltstone, shale, limestone, and conglomeratic units that have been subjected to multiple deformational events. The units are commonly folded and thrusted and are cut by late, steeply dipping, normal to strike-slip faults. Jurassic intrusive plug, dikes, and sills also locally disrupted the units.

Gold mineralization was first discovered at Soda Ridge on the Northwest corner of the Mojave Property by Mobil in 1984. Prior to K2’s recently completed work at least eight other gold rich areas on the property had been recorded and partially investigated by exploration and mining companies, most notably Newmont and BHP. To date 145 drill holes have been completed by three companies: Newmont in 1985 (22 RC holes), Asamera in 1986 (113 RC and diamond drill holes), and BHP in 1997 (10 RC holes) on three of the nine gold targets. Other companies that have explored on the Mojave property include Great Bear Resources and SSR Mining but the recent work by K2 is the most extensive and comprehensive since 1997. There are now 12 gold and base metal exploration targets on the Mojave property.

The historical drill programs focused on three different target areas on the property, Newmont, Empire Zone and Dragonfly. Highlights of historical drill results include 1.05 g/t over 99.06m, 2.1 g/t Au over 16.8m, and 1.54 g/t Au over 24.4m.

Since acquiring the property, the Company has completed geochemical and geophysical surveys, geologic mapping LiDAR, a World-View 3 alteration survey, and completed a 17 hole – 2540m RC drilling program focused on the Dragonfly and Newmont Zones.

• Mojave was BHP’s last remaining gold property in N. America before exiting gold exploration and mining worldwide
• Historical drilling by Newmont BHP, & Asamera - ore grade economic intersections from surface - ~ 145 holes total (25 holes drilled by Newmont and 10 by BHP, every hole intersected mineralization)
• Internal resource estimates (historic and non 43-101 compliant)) by Newmont and Great Bear Resources on only 2 of 8 currently identified gold targets. BHP internal report very ‘optimistic’
• Project area rescinded from Wilderness Study Area in mid 90’s because of the mineral potential (by Democrat Senator Feinstein). Negotiated withdrawal to facilitate formation of Death Valley National Park
• Local government actively looking to diversify economy beyond tourism, leisure and recreation which accounts for >50% of employment in Inyo County

Wels is underlain by metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the White River Formation that have been intruded by a series of Triassic gabbroic sills, and Cretaceous granitic plugs. This package has been cut by a series of WNW trending structures that host alteration and gold mineralization. Mineralization is noted in all rock types observed on the property to date and is associated with quartz veining, brecciation, and sericite alteration with anomalous As, Sb, and, locally, visible gold. All mineralized trends remain open along strike and approximately 80% of the property is unexplored.

Target Areas:

Saddle Target

At the Saddle target diamond drilling conducted in 2015 and 2017 delineated a WNW-trending, N-dipping corridor of high-grade gold mineralization over 130m of strike with highlights including 3.53 g/t Au over 19.5m (DDH15-01) and 10.38 g/t Au over 6m (DDH17-08). The 2022 Mag-VLF survey identified a prominent untested WNW-trending VLF anomaly just 90m north of the surface expression of the Saddle gold anomalism. The anomaly extends for >850m and is coincident with high-grade soil samples returning values of 479 ppb Au, 325 ppb Au, and 262 ppb Au, all of which are found north (uphill) of the historically drilled and trenched mineralization at Saddle. The anomaly may represent a controlling structure focused along the contact between the Saddle granite, which hosts all known mineralization at Saddle, and Paleozoic quartzite and schist. The contact was not intersected by historic drilling and remains fully untested.

Chai Target

Chai is located 1km south of Saddle and is hosted by quartzite, minor siltstone, and gabbro, with local carbonate alteration and pyrite-arsenopyrite mineralization. Trench 19-T3 returned 0.64 g/t Au over 36m including 1.2 g/t Au over 15m at the southernmost end of the 71.5m long north-south-oriented trench. The 2022 Mag-VLF survey has identified two prominent WNW-trending VLF anomalies, with a 700m long, ~100m wide anomaly directly coincident with the trenched mineralization, and a second, 350m long subparallel anomaly coincident with a 112 ppb Au soil anomaly. The northern anomaly is located just 35m north of the northern limit of the 2019 trench. The Chai Target is undrilled.

Gunpowder Target

Located approximately 1km northwest of Chai and 1.2km southwest of Saddle, Gunpowder is predominately hosted by gabbro and returned grab samples grading up to 28.2 g/t Au in 2017 prospecting. Grab and trench sampling 15m and 215m to the south, respectively, returned values of 13.6 g/t Au and 2 g/t Au. No controls on mineralization were known previously. The Mag-VLF survey has identified a very prominent NW-trending VLF anomaly coincident with what is now considered the main trend of mineralization at Gunpowder, as well as a secondary NW-trend which begins at the site of a 796 ppb Au soil sample and 2.2 g/t Au rock grab sample.

Newly Identified Matcha Target

The Matcha Target was identified through the 2022 Mag-VLF survey as a roughly NW-trending VLF anomaly adjacent to soil samples which historically returned 202 ppb Au and 105 ppb Au. The target is located 1.1km west of Chai and 2km southwest of Saddle. A small splay off the VLF anomaly just southeast of the main anomaly is coincident with a minor gold-in-soil anomaly with values ranging from 20-117 ppb Au. The target has not seen any exploration work subsequent to initial pass soil sampling.

Pekoe Target

At the Pekoe Target, located 1.3km northwest of Saddle, trenching in 2019 identified two distinct zones of mineralization separated by approximately 300m. Trenches 19-T1a and 19-T1b returned 2.15 g/t Au over 8m and 0.8 g/t Au over 7.6m within quartz-carbonate veined and altered gabbro with arsenopyrite +/- pyrite and chalcopyrite. Trench 19-T2 at Pekoe returned 0.12 g/t Au over 33.5m within Saddle-type granite. The Mag-VLF survey has identified multiple NW and WNW-trending VLF anomalies in the region, with a prominent >800m long WNW-trending anomaly observed to correlate directly with granite-hosted mineralization in trench 19-T2 and significant gold-in-soil results on trend, with values to 239 ppb Au. The anomaly appears to be open to the west, beyond the limit of the 2022 survey, and corresponds with a large break in topography. A second parallel anomaly is observed 350m to the north, where soil sampling returned results to 177 ppb Au along a WNW-trending ridge. Gabbro-hosted mineralization observed in trenches 19-T1a and 19-T1b is found adjacent to a prominent magnetic high.

Next Steps

Based on the exceptional results of the 2022 Mag-VLF survey, the Company intends to prepare and submit a Class 3 exploration permit for further advanced exploration at the Wels Project in the 2023 season, including additional surface work and a property-wide drilling program to test drill targets identified by the 2022 Mag-VLF survey and previous exploration work.

Exploration History

The Wels was initially identified by regional geochemical surveys in 2002and initially staked in 2011 and optioned to Gorllia Minerals. This led to the discovery of mineralization within a granitic stock at the Saddle Zone and subsequent sampling and trenching included grabs up to 149 g/t Au and trench samples of 8.8 g/t Au over 45m. Subsequent drilling on the Saddle by Gorilla include results of 3.53 g/t Au over 19.5m. The project was acquired by K2 in 2017 and conducted additional drilling on Saddle returning highlights of 2.37 g/t Au over 28.5m and 10.38 g/t Au over 6m. To date, the Saddle has 1674m of drilling over 15 holes and has been defined over 135m along strike and to 150m depth; and is open in both directions along strike and at depth.

The style of alteration, mineralization, and granitic host rock at Saddle led previous operators to interpret the mineralization as an intrusion-related gold system (IRGD) similar to Victoria Gold’s Victoria mine or Kinross’ Fort Knox mine. However, more recent work by the company has identified mineralization extending into surrounding metavolvanic, metasedimetary, and gabbroic rocks on the property forming a series of WNW trending zones including:

Pekoe Trend: Gabbro host, rock samples up to 4.1 g/t Au, & 2.15 g/t Au over 8m in trenching.

Saddle Trend: Intrusive host, rock samples up to 149 g/t Au, defined by drilling over 135m strike length and to 150m depth. Open along strike and at depth. Potential for subparallel zones of mineralization.

Chai Trends: Gabbro, intrusive, & metasedimentary host, rock samples up to 28.2 g/t Au, and 1.15 g/t Au over 15m in trenching.

All zones are associated with quartz veining, brecciation, quartz-sericite alteration, and anomalous As-Sb along WNW trending structural zones. The geochemistry and controls on mineralization are similar to structurally systems identified further north within the White Gold district including the Coffee and Golden Saddle deposits. Future work by the company will include detailed geologic mapping and geochemical surveys to refine the mineralized trends and define targets for drill testing. Additionally, the Company will initiate reconnaissance work on unexplored portions of the property.

Highlights of drilling on the Saddle Trend at Wels to date

Project Overview

The Si2 Gold Project is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, approximately 60km northwest of Tonopah, Nevada, and 20km northwest of Allegiant Gold’s Eastside deposit (1.4Moz Au, 8.8 Moz Ag). The project is road accessible and consists of 118 BLM lode claims covering 986 Ha. The claims cover an 8 km2 area of steam heated alunite-kaolinite-buddingtonite alteration within a sequence of felsic to intermediate volcanic rocks with brecciation and strongly anomalous mercury. The alteration appears to be focused along an arcuate set of structures within a series strongly altered rhyolitic domes and is interpreted to represent a high-level setting within a low-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver system. In this type of geologic setting there is typically minimal anomalous gold mineralization at surface, however, gold grades may increase at depth along controlling structures at critical locations in the hydrothermal system (i.e. boiling zones).

The Si2 Gold Project was initially identified by the same exploration team that identified AngloGold Ashanti’s Silicon project near Beatty, Nevada, and was staked based on its strong geological similarities to Silicon. 

There is limited historic exploration in the project area, and no modern exploration methods have been applied until now. Previous explorers were not aware of where they were in the system.

Project Geology

K2 Gold’s Si2 project shows strong geological similarities to Anglogold Ashanti’s Silicon project. The project is centred on a large 8km2 steam heated alteration cell that is geologically similar to AngloGold Ashanti’s Silicon project.  Anglo announced a 3.37 Moz Au resource at Silicon in Feb 2022, and are expected to announce an update to that resource number in late Feb 2023.

The Si2 and Silicon projects were generated by the same project generator and were identified using the same methods and techniques. Both projects exhibited extensive steam-heated advanced argillic alteration interpreted as the surface expression of potential buried epithermal gold systems. 

At the time the two projects were located and identified, no one else was looking for steam-heated alteration cells as gold targets, so the project generator had no competition. Si2 and Silicon were arguably the two best targets of this type when they were originally staked.

Strong geological similarities to Silicon

Si2 exhibits many of the same characteristics that were noted at Silicon prior to discovery.

It all started when our team mapped broad areas of high level advanced argillic alteration at surface with our WorldView3 survey. We followed that with a ground magnetic survey that identified two main structures that are interpreted to be faults that connect the best surficial alteration. Then we completed a geological mapping and rock sampling program to validate what we were starting to see.

That’s when it got really interesting. Our highest mercury in rock samples, strongest acid-leached alteration, and best areas of advanced argillic alteration all started to appear to be connected by the interpreted fault structures we identified in the ground mag survey, as well as those mapped at surface. 

These characteristics are strong indicators of the upper level of a preserved epithermal system.

Next Steps

Our team has advanced the Si2 project to a drill-ready stage. Based on the encouraging data we’ve collected over last year, we recently increased our land position by staking additional claims to protect our areas of interest.

K2 Gold is currently fully funded and preparing to commence a diamond drill program on the Si2 property at the beginning of April.