Drifting results from ongoing exploration in the 7 Zone has returned highlights including 48m grading 32.55g/t gold (uncut) over an average width of 1.6m on the 991m level East; and 53m grading 24.38g/t (uncut) over 2.6m width on the 975m level West.

President and CEO Duncan Middlemiss said the encouraging results were often better than the drill results, with strong grades, longer strike lengths with greater continuity and greater than average ore widths.

He said the extended strike length of the zone meant greater mining flexibility and enhanced productivity for 2018.

"The undiluted sill development grade of greater than 20g/t gold is significantly higher than the initial reserve grade for this zone as a result of intersecting a greater number of higher grade, steeply plunging ore shoots than the initial wider spaced drilling of which the initial reserve was based," he said.

Eagle River head grades have improved from 7.8g/t in 2016 to 10.3g/t gold over the first nine months of this year.

The company produced 15,493oz of gold in the September quarter at a production cash cost of US$780/oz and had a cash position of C$22.6 million (US$17.8 million) on November 8.

Shares in the company rose 1.15% but are trading close to the bottom of their 52-week range of C$1.72-$4.40.