The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
CEM: TSX-V
President and CEO: Garfield MacVeigh
Chairman: Wayne Livingstone
Vice President, Exploration: Darwin Green
While Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. considers Palmer - a volcanogenic massive sulfide project near Haines in Southeast Alaska - its principal asset, the explorer's 2011 focus is on its gold assets in the Yukon Territory and Ontario.
Quick to recognize the significance of ATAC Resources Ltd.'s discovery of Carlin-style gold mineralization in the Yukon, Constantine formed a joint venture with Carlin Gold Corp., with the goal of seeking similar deposits in the region.
Combining Constantine's savvy in the north and Carlin Gold's experience with exploring the Carlin-trend in Nevada, the partners moved quickly to secure ground with potential for similar discoveries.
By June the partners had control of 12 claim blocks covering some 1,000-square-kilometers (385-square-miles) of the Selwyn Basin.
The Constantine-Carlin JV put together a 2011 exploration program designed to rapidly evaluate drill targets.
By September Constantine reported that around 12,000 soil, silt and rock samples had been collected as part of this program.
Based on initial lab results, the company said it has identified several areas prospective to host Carlin-style mineralization, including a gold and arsenic anomaly that stretches for some 6,500 meters across the joint venture's Tut property.
The partners said the field work has also turned up intrusive-related gold targets.
The Constantine-Carlin JV is refining targets for drilling in 2012.
In 2010 Constantine picked up Trapper, an early-stage gold prospect in the Atlin Mining District of northwestern British Columbia.
Later that year the company optioned the property to Ocean Park Resources Ltd., who completed a C$4.9-million exploration at the property in 2011.
Historical work at Trapper, carried out in the 1980s by Chevron Minerals of Canada, outlined a gold anomaly that stretched for more than 1,000 meters.
Out of the some 700 samples taken, 13 yielded values greater than 1 g/t gold and two sites yielded values greater than 8 g/t gold.
A work program carried out in 2008 by Richfield Ventures Corp. validated these findings.
Prior to vending Trapper to Ocean Park, Constantine completed its own mapping and sampling program, which extended Chevron's findings in the area known as the Main zone by 1,000 meters.
Ocean Park has further extended this trend.
Prior to the more than 8,000-meter program completed by Ocean Park in 2011, Trapper had never been drill-tested.
Though assay results were still pending at the time of this report, up to one millimeter flakes of visible gold observed in hole TG-11-011 is a good indicator of the tenor of mineralization being tapped during this inaugural drilling at Trapper.
Munro-Croesus - a 1,028-acre property that covers the legendary Croesus high-grade gold mine about 75 kilometers (46 miles) east of Timmins, Ontario - was another target of Constantine's gold-focused exploration in 2011. A 7,280-meter drill program carried out at the legendary property included a close-spaced pattern of holes testing for high-grade chutes within recently identified vein structures. In addition to seeking exceptionally high-grade gold near the historical mine, the company also tested other targets on the surrounding land package.
Focusing its resources on its gold properties, Constantine's exploration at its Palmer VMS project was limited. An inaugural resource calculated for the property in 2010 estimates the Southeast Alaska property has an inferred resource of 4.12 million metric tons averaging 2.01 percent copper, 4.79 percent zinc, 0.30 grams per metric ton gold and 31 g/t silver.
Constantine also owns 100 percent interest in the Phoenix gold property in Ontario and the Hornet Creek VMS project in Idaho.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$3.45 million (April 30, 2011)
Working capital: C$4.1 million (Sept. 20, 2011)
Market capitalization: C$19.24 million (Sept. 20, 2011)
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Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6C 2V6
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