Miners rock first-ever 'Dawson Rocks'

DAWSON, Yukon Territory - "If we hold it, they will come," reasoned Mike Burke, head of Mineral Services at the Yukon Geological Survey.

True to his expectations, some 70 prospectors, geologists and junior companies flocked to a Front Street meeting hall here Aug. 11 for the first-ever "Dawson Rocks," a one-day rock show/conference in what is fast becoming one of the world's hottest hardrock mining jurisdictions.

A jovial crowd, attendees ranged from prospectors pedaling lucrative quartz claims to juniors touting new mineral discoveries.

Andy Randell, project geologist for Victoria Gold Corp., presided over a colorful display of samples from the Eagle Gold Project in central Yukon. In April Victoria released a NI 43-101 resource estimate of 66 million metric tons grading 0.82 grams per metric ton gold for Eagle. The junior envisions developing the deposit as a 26,000 t/d open pit mine with full production in 2014.

Jason McLaughlin, vice president exploration for newly created Dawson Gold Corp., showed off samples as his table. Dawson Gold aims to spend C$1.5 million to C$2 million to drill targets, beginning in late August, at its Tad-Toro properties, including three soil anomalies identified in the Nit Zone. Dawson Gold's stock began trading on the TSX Venture Exchange Aug. 12. The newly minted junior is seeking potentially significant porphyry and gold deposits.

Another junior, Tarsis Resources showed off rock samples from its new polymetallic White River discovery in western Yukon. Tarsis also owns the Prospector Mountain Project, where it made a high-grade gold discovery in the Bonanza Zone in 2009. Tarsis subsequently optioned that property to Silver Quest Resources.

Northern Tiger Resources, a junior with more than a half-dozen Yukon properties, including its principal project, Sonora Gulch, displayed arguably the most exciting rock sample at the show, a huge specimen with spectacular visible gold coating a fracture in an exposed quartz vein found on its new 3Ace property in southeastern Yukon. Nine grab samples gathered on the site contained minor to abundant coarse visible gold and returned gold values up to 4,820.6 g/t (140.60 ounces per ton) gold.

At Sonora Gulch, Northern Tiger has identified a near-continuous gold-in-soil anomaly over 6 kilometers by 1.5 kilometers, or 4 miles by 1 mile, with average gold values in 1,971 samples of 56 parts per billion.

Besides the exploration project displays, Yukon Geological Survey's project geologist Maurice Colpron gave a technical overview of the Yukon's hardrock geology, complete with slide show.

Other juniors new to the Yukon also attended the conference. Among them: A.M. Gold, which intends to spend C$1.5 million exploring the Red Mountain property near Golden Predator Corp.'s Gold (Scheelite) Dome Project north of Mayo.

"We have 3,000 acres. We've drilled the first of two holes that we have planned for this season, but we have no results yet," said Neil Downey, the company's vice president.