Japan Gold granted prospecting and drilling rights at Ikutahara

Japan Gold (TSXV: JG) has become the first foreign company to be granted prospecting rights and a drilling permit by Japan’s Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry for the Akebono prospect at its 100% owned Ikutahara gold project in Hokkaido in northern Japan. Ikutahara covers 191 km² and 17 historic mines. Japan Gold has started drilling six holes totaling 1,000 metres to confirm and extend historic high grade underground sampling in the Akebono vein system. Sumitomo Metal Mining (TYO: 5713) will operate two of the drill rigs. The program will continue into late December, with results released by February 2018. “Sumitomo’s subsidiary Sumiko had been very proactive and so had organized all the drill pads and equipment and had mobilized it all to site,” Japan Gold CEO John Proust says in an interview with The Northern Miner. “So literally the drill program commenced the day after we announced approval.” Akebono was discovered in 1931 and explored underground between 1938 and 1940. Exploration was then abandoned and didn’t resume until the 1960s. … Continue reading at The Northern Miner.