Explorers grab claims near White Gold

At least 11 companies have either staked claims in the vicinity of the recent White Gold discovery by Underworld Resources Ltd. in western Yukon Territory, or been inspired by Underworld's exploration success to become involved in exploration programs in the region this year.

Underworld May 26 reported the discovery of 103 meters averaging 3.4 grams per metric ton gold at the White Gold Property.

Among the companies flocking to the area:

MPH Ventures Corp. June 19 said it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Quartz Claims property, 22 unit blocks covering about 950 hectares, or about 2,290 acres, adjacent to and northeast of Underworld's White Gold property.

The Vancouver-based junior cited Underworld's discovery hole of 103 meters of 3.4 grams per metric ton gold at White Gold, and the land to the east, west, and south of the Quartz Claims Property has now been completely staked and a staking rush appears to be under way.

MPH also said it planned to mobilize a field crew to perform detailed mapping and sampling within a few weeks.

The junior said it agreed to pay the unnamed seller C$75,000 in cash and 800,000 shares of its stock plus a 3 percent net smelter royalty with an option to buy back 1 percent for $1 million.

The company also agreed to spend C$250,000 over the next 12 months as a work commitment and to pay a finder's fee of 75,000 common shares in connection with the property acquisition.

Ashburton Ventures Inc. June 18 said it also acquired lode quartz mineral claims adjacent to the White Gold property.

The Ashburton Claims are tagged directly to the northeast, about 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, from Underworld's discovery hole.

Ashburton said its claims appear to host meta-sedimentary stratigraphy as sililar to White Gold, as outlined in GSC mapping by Gordey and Ryan.

Of note, the Yukon Minfile pinpoints an adit that was driven for 4.6 meters in 1902 on Ashburton's claims.

Ashburton said it will pay the vendor, Blair Naughty, C$75,000 in cash, 650,000 shares of Ashburton stock plus another 350,000 shares on the first-year anniversary of the transaction.

A 3 percent net smelter royalty also will be granted to the vendor, but Ashburton retained an option to buy back 1 percent for C$1 million.

Ashburton also agreed to spend C$250,000 during the next 12 months as a work commitment.

Cloudbreak Resources June 15 said it acquired lode quartz mineral claims adjacent to the White Gold Property directly to the east of the Underworld Resources Inc. Cathy 146 and Cathy 144 quartz mineral claims and about 4 kilometers, or 2.5 miles, from Underworld's recent discovery.

Cloudbreak said its 500 hectares, or 1,205 acres, is attached to claims held by Alix Resources, and both claims packages are completely surrounded by Underworld's stakings.

GSC mapping by Gordey and Ryan indicates that the Cloudbreak claims appear to be underlain by similar meta-sedimentary stratigraphy as the Underworld White Gold property, the junior said.

Cloudbreak also said it will pay the vendor Blair Naughty $75,000 in cash, 1.25 million shares of its stock and a 3 percent NSR with an option to buy back 1 percent of the NSR for C$1 million.

The company also agreed to spend C$250,000 over the next 12 months as a work commitment.

Alix Resources Corp. June 11 said it purchased lode quartz mineral claims adjacent to the White Gold Property directly to the east and 4 kilometers, or 2.5 miles, from Underworld's recent discovery.

Alix's 500-plus hectares, or about 1,205 acres is completely ring-staked by Underworld, and from GSC mapping by Gordey and Ryan, the Alix claims appear to host similar meta-sedimentary stratigraphy as the White Gold property.

Alix also said it will continue to seek additional claims in the area, and is also considering its options with regards to a private placement announced May 26.

Alix said it will pay vendor Blair Naughty $75,000 in cash, 700,000 shares of Alix stock and a 3 percent NSR with an option to buy back 1 percent for C$1 million.

The junior also committed to spend C$250,000 during the next year on exploration of the property.

The transaction is subject to TSX Venture approval.

Alix also said it would mobilize a field crew to the property within a couple of weeks to begin a systematic geological and geochemical survey of the claim block.

This work would include detailed silt sampling of streams draining the property, along with rock sampling and geologic mapping.

Alix Resources geologists are very familiar with working in the Tintina Gold Belt, the company added.

Alder Resources Ltd. June 12 said it signed a letter of intent option agreement with Cariboo Rose Resources Ltd. that gives Alder the option to earn 60 percent interest in Cariboo Rose's Canadian Creek mineral property 160 kilometers, or 99 miles, south of Dawson City.

The property is also 50 kilometers southeast of Underworld Resources' White Gold project.

The Canadian Creek claims cover an area of about 4,800 hectares, or 11,568 acres.

To earn 60 percent interest in the property, Alder must complete certain cash payments (totaling C$250,000), issue a total of 250,000 shares in its capital, and fulfill designated exploration expenditures on the property totaling C$2.5 million, within the times specified, all to be completed by June 18, 2013.

Alder has given a firm commitment to complete the first C$250,000 of the work by June 18, 2010.

The Toronto-based junior also said it has committed to fund and complete an NI 43-101 compliant report on the property by Jan. 31, 2010.

Once Alder earns a 60 percent stake in the Canadian Creek property, the owners will pursue the work as a joint venture.

Cariboo Rose June 8 said it acquired the core claims at Canadian Creek in 1993 and expanded the property with the acquisition of a number of claims from Pacific Sentinel Gold in 2000.

Since 1993 about C$2 mllion has been spent developing 15 kilometers of road access, completing 24 diamond drill holes covering 3,796 meters, conducting extensive magnetometer and induced polarization surveys and collecting and analyzing 1,647 soil samples.

There are three exploration target types on the property: (1) bulk tonnage (intrusion related) gold deposit; (2) an untested gold arsenic soil anomaly which has a similar signature and setting to Underworld's White Gold discovery and; (3) a classic "Arizona-style" copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry deposit related to the adjacent Casino deposit owned by Western Copper Corp. Bulk tonnage style gold mineralization was first identified at Canadian Creek in 1993 when an excavator trench exposed 40 meters of mineralized rock grading 0.57 g/t gold, including 10 meters grading 1.69 g/t.

A diamond drill hole completed in 1993 intersected 150 meters grading 0.49 g/t gold, including 44 meters grading 0.71 g/t.

A large area to the south, east and west of the drilled area remains untested.

An untested open-ended soil gold-arsenic (antimony) anomaly extending over two kilometers by one kilometer occurs northeast of the Koffee porphyry occurrence (now renamed the Coffee Can anomaly) in an area underlain by sediment and volcanic schists.

Cariboo Rose said the recent discovery by Underworld Resources of bulk tonnage gold mineralization hosted by quartz sericite and biotite schist at its White Gold Project (Golden Saddle) suggests a similar setting.

As is the case at the White Gold Project, the Coffee Can anomaly is associated with a strong soil arsenic response with a number of soil samples exceeding 1,000 parts-per-million arsenic.

A float sample of quartz-sulphide veining discovered in 1993, along strike from the geochemical anomaly but off-grid, returned 6.6 g/t gold and 51.0 g/t silver associated with sulphides including arsenopyrite.

Cariboo Rose also said it is planning a summer exploration program on the Canadian Creek property.

ATAC Resources Ltd. June 10 said it entered into an option agreement that will allow Arcus Development Group Inc. to earn a 50 percent interest in the Green Gulch, Touleary, Dan Man and Shamrock gold properties, which collectively comprise the Dawson Gold Project. Properties that make up the Dawson Gold Project either directly adjoin or are in close proximity to claims hosting Underworld Resources' recent White Gold discovery in central Yukon (See Underworld's news release dated May 26, 2009 for additional information).

"ATAC continues to implement its project generating business model of identifying early- to mid-stage precious metal opportunities and finding strong partners to advance them." stated Graham Downs, Chief Executive Officer of ATAC. "The optioning of the Dawson Gold Project to Arcus falls directly in line with our corporate objectives and we look forward to working with them in an emerging gold district."

Under terms of the agreement, Arcus can earn a 50 percent interest in the Dawson Gold Project by making cash payments totaling C$185,000, issuing a total of 1 million of its shares to ATAC and completing a total of C$3.5 million in work expenditures, all over a three-year period. Arcus will be the operator until it earns a 50 percent interest in the project. Following earn-in, a joint venture will be formed to explore the project, ATAC said. Though the Dawson Gold Project agreement is conditional upon Arcus completing a financing of not less than C$1 million, exploration is starting immediately, subject to a clause concerning reimbursement.

Strategic Metals Ltd. June 9 outlined its exploration plans for summer and fall 2009. Work will focus on projects with significant precious metal potential. Initially, surface work will follow-up encouraging results from previous programs to identify the best targets for trenching or drilling later in summer or fall. Key prospects that will be evaluated include Eureka, a road accessible project located in the South Klondike gold district about 50 kilometers north of the White Gold discovery. Strategic said gold at Eureka is hosted in a series of gently t