The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
TSX-V: FMM
President: Michael Williams
CEO and Vice President, Exploration: Rob McLeod
Full Metal Minerals Ltd. - which spun its Fortymile zinc property into a new company - has narrowed its focus to copper and gold exploration in Alaska.
Pyramid, a copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project situated on the Alaska Peninsula of Southwest Alaska, was primary target of the Vancouver, B.C.-based junior's 2011 exploration.
Full Metal and Chile-based project partner Antofagasta Minerals S.A., carried out a 2,575-meter drill program at Pyramid to expand upon the success of a 1,670-meter program completed in 2010.
PY10-01, the first hole of the 2010 program, cut copper mineralization from bedrock at 32 meters to the bottom of the hole at 500 meters.
This 467.6-meter intercept averaged 0.27 percent copper, 0.02 percent molybdenum, and 0.06 percent gold (0.41 percent copper-equivalent).
The best intersection of the 5-hole program was PY 10-05.
Starting at 6.4 meters this hole cut 194.8 meters grading 0.63 percent copper, 0.14 grams per metric ton gold and 0.02 percent molybdenum (0.82 percent copper equivalent).
The 12-hole drill program in 2011 continued to expand on the porphyry mineralization at Pyramid.
PY11-017 - drilled 60 meters northeast of PY10-05 - cut 117.54 meters averaging 0.60 percent copper, 0.081 g/t gold and 0.024 percent molybdenum (0.81 percent copper-equivalent).
The best intercept of 2011 came in PY11-016 which intersected 155.94 meters averaging 0.71 percent copper, 0.179 g/t gold and 0.018 percent molybdenum (0.97 percent copper equivalent).
This hole was shut down in strong mineralization, with the final 7.94 meters averaging 0.78 percent copper, 0.124 g/t gold and 0.03 percent molybdenum.
This hole was drilled in the far southeastern corner of a 1,100-by-900-meter outlined by drilling, suggesting a grade and hydrothermal vector in this direction.
Pyramid is but one prospect on 1.4 million acres of prospective Alaska Native-owned lands being explored by Full Metal on the Alaska Peninsula.
Unga-Popov - an epithermal gold project on an island about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Pyramid - was also the target of partner-funded exploration in 2011.
This property - which hosts two historical resources; Apollo with 280,000 metric tons averaging 27.7 g/t gold and 92.6 g/t silver and Centennial, which has about 6 million metric tons at 1.5 g/t.
Redstar Gold Corp. - which signed an agreement with Full Metal in June giving it the right to earn up to a 75 percent interest in the Unga-Popov - began drilling the project in September.
The 2011 drill program focused on confirming and expanding the historical high-grade gold mineralization.
Full Metal is also busy looking for the lode source of two prolific placer mining districts in the Tintina Gold Belt, Circle and Fortymile.
Unlike similar placer gold camps in the Livengood, Fairbanks, and Dawson mining districts, no significant lode source has been identified in these two districts.
In May the junior announced it staked 23,747 hectares (56,680 acres) of state mining claims within the Circle placer mining district, located about 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Fairbanks.
To locate the source of more than 1 million ounces of placer gold recovered here Full Metal geologists carried out extensive reconnaissance mapping and soil gridding program on the company's four large claim blocks in the district.
The junior is carrying out a similar program during its second year at the Rolling Thunder project in the Fortymile, a district that has produced more 500,000 ounces of placer gold.
Full Metal - which shared its managers and geologists with Underworld Resources Inc. during that junior's exploration of White Gold - is applying this firsthand understanding of the geologic controls, geochemistry and targeting methods that led to discoveries at White Gold to Alaska's Fortymile gold district some 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the northwest and the Circle District another 200 kilometers (125 miles) in that direction.
The Fortymile property - a zinc-rich carbonate replacement-style massive sulfide deposit found in the same region as the Rolling Thunder project - was moved into Full Metal Zinc in 2011.
This new zinc-focused junior carried out a 4,000-meter drill program at Fortymile in 2011.
This program continues to expand LWM, a zone of continuous zinc-lead-silver mineralization extending 950 meters along strike and 300 meters down dip has been the primary.
The potential of this mineralized zone is highlighted in holes LWM07-04 - which cut 44.6 meters averaging 15.9 percent zinc, 5.3 percent lead and 76.6 g/t silver and 0.19 percent copper; LWM07-09 - which cut 6.48 meters averaging 31.6 percent zinc, 11.3 percent lead, 464.2 g/t silver and 1.41 percent copper; and LWM10-68 - which cut 4.4 meters averaging 23.71 percent zinc, 23.63 percent lead, 314 g/t silver and 0.07 percent copper.
The deposit is open for expansion to the northwest, an area where difficult drilling conditions due to frozen overburden has hindered drilling in the past.
Full Metal's 85,750-acre Pebble South property is under an option agreement to the Pebble Partnership, co-owned by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American plc. The Pebble owners can earn a 60 percent interest in the junior's adjacent claims by completing US$3 million in exploration expenditures over three years. Full Metal believes Pebble-style mineralization trends to the southwest from the Pebble Partnership's massive deposit onto its property. Geochemical and geophysical surveys have delineated 11 promising prospects at Pebble South. The Partnership conducted its own airborne geophysical survey of the property in 2010.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$5.64 million (May 31, 2011)
Working capital: C$4.83 million (May 31, 2011)
Market capitalization: C$15.25 million (Sept. 22, 2011)
1500-409 Granville St.
Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6C 1T2
Ph: 604-484-7855 Fax: 604-484-7155
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