Attendance dips at 2012 Dawson Rocks

DAWSON, Yukon - The 3rd Annual Dawson Rocks conference, an annual exposition for active mineral exploration projects in Yukon Territory, offered a sobering reminder of the power of the markets in the world of mining.

Absent were the scores of juniors that packed much larger exhibition halls in 2010 and 2011 with enticing displays of samples, maps and drill core. This year a dozen exhibitors, ranging from part-time, grassroots prospectors to representatives of advanced exploration projects like Kaminak Gold Corp.'s Coffee Project and potential service providers such as Yukon Energy Corp., flanked the tables lining a more modest room at the Yukon Order of Pioneers in this picturesque town.

Interestingly, a steady stream of geologists, representatives of juniors and majors working in the Yukon, along with investors, consultants, politicians and others roamed the single aisle between the exhibits eyeing the few displays throughout the daylong event.

Much of the buzz in informal conversations during the event centered on Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski's recent decision to place a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Whitehorse Trough, a move that the miners, mindful of their industry's energy-hungry projects, said they found "very disappointing."

Steve Israel, project geologist for the Yukon Geological Survey, gave a late-morning talk complete with slide presentation on "Overprinting magmatic and tectonic events in southwest Yukon and their influence on mineralizing systems."

Exhibitors share insights

Yukon prospector and consultant Jean Pautler showed off gold-rich rock samples taken from a visible gold-bearing vein on the QV Property in the White Gold district where junior Comstock Metals Ltd. in July reported a significant gold discovery. The discovery trench, QVTR12-06, returned 3.74 grams per metric ton gold over 75 meters (entire length of the trench), with a maximum grade of 7.31 g/t gold over 5 meters and a minimum grade of 1.41 g/t gold over 5 meters. The gold mineralization is open on all sides of QVTR12-06.

Pautler told Mining News that comparable gold mineralization discovered at Kinross Gold Corp.'s 1.7 million-ounce Golden Saddle deposit, located some 15 kilometers (9 miles) to the south, is deeper, which suggests that the QV property has more potential at depth.

At the White Gold Project, which includes Golden Saddle, Kinross has focused this field season on trenching and re-logging core and trying to generate new targets, according to geologist Dave Emmons, who is the major's manager of advanced projects.

Comstock, along with Victoria Gold Corp., Ryan Gold Corp., Rockhaven Resources Ltd. and Kaminak Gold Corp., were among the few juniors that brought samples and drill core to exhibit at Dawson Rocks this year.

Tim Smith, M.Sc., Kaminak's vice president, exploration said the company, well into its third year of drilling on the Coffee Gold Project in the White Gold district, is working to publish a high-confidence, high-value resource estimate for the Supremo-Latte zone by the first quarter of 2013.

"Our drill program this year is focusing on the oxide resource. We're concentrating on mineralization that is near surface to 100 meters depth," Smith said.

In addition, Kaminak has been working on ways to maximize the resource calculation, including studying the metallurgy and de-risking factors.

"Then we will prepare a preliminary economic assessment, and the next step would be a feasibility study," Smith said.

He observed that every zone of gold mineralization identified, so far, at Coffee remains open in all directions.

Kaminak started 2012 with a C$17 million budget, planning to drill 50,000 meters, but since then has expanded its program to C$19 million with a goal of completing 65,000 meters by the end of the season.

The junior hopes to improve its understanding of the mineralization at Coffee by expanding drilling laterally on multiple structures.

"We see tremendous opportunity to take the resource to depth," Smith said.

Kevin Brewer, a longtime geologist, consultant and prospector in the Yukon, visited various exhibits but brought no display of his own to Dawson Rocks.

Brewer said he is working for juniors Castillian Resources Corp., which has an option to acquire a 60 percent interest in the Canadian Creek property, located 25 kilometers (16 miles) southeast of Coffee, from Cariboo Rose Resources Ltd., and Pitch Black Resources Ltd., formerly Cash Minerals Ltd., which is exploring the Division Mountain coal property in central Yukon.

In addition, Brewer said he is exploring his own properties, the Mag and Jakes claims in southern Yukon.

Brewer wasn't the only prospector who attended Dawson Rocks, though notables such as Shawn Ryan, now president of Ryan Gold Corp., did not put in an appearance.

Charlie Brown, president and owner of Diamond Tooth Resources and a placer miner, displayed a huge collection of rock samples that he said he accumulated over the past two years from his 623 claims near Dawson. A former landscaper in Whitehorse who recently took up prospecting and placer mining, said as a child, he worked for his father, longtime Yukon placer miner John Brown.

"Dad used to say, 'Don't worry about where the gold comes from, just find it,' " Brown told Mining News. "I used to think, 'But I want to know where the gold comes from.' "

Brown hopes to finally appease his curiosity.

Brown's display attracted a lot of interest from others at the gathering, including at least one Kinross representative and the president of a junior who said he would love to get his hands on one of the rocks that the prospector exhibited.

Next to Brown's table, prospector Erini Petroutsas displayed numerous rock samples taken from the 700-plus claims that she works with partner Sylvain Montrouil, a placer miner in the Yukon for 20 years, in the hills southeast of Dawson.

Petroutsas said she and her partner are working to develop a cost-effective operation for producing the gold they have identified from three different systems in a low-cost manner, using water and gravity.

"We're doing it because we find it is fun, and we're doing it in an ecologically friendly way," she said.

Petroutsas said she and Montrouil plan to team up with Brown and a junior mining company, Goldbank, which holds more than 1,000 Yukon claims.

"The three of us have claims that are all touching, so we plan to conglomerate," Petroutsas said. "I know everybody these days is looking at bulk tonnage systems, but we are looking for high-grade systems. The Klondike solution - a hydrothermal solution permeating the bedrock," she said. "The question we are all asking is what is causing the gold to come up here as opposed to other places in the world."

Ceremony marks key relationship

As this year's Dawson Rocks wound to a close, Golden Predator Corp. and the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation held a signing ceremony and reception across the street that celebrated the amended and restated socio-economic accord that the junior signed in July with the First Nation for its flagship Brewery Creek gold project.

Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Chief Ed Taylor reiterated the First Nation's support for Golden Predator's efforts to re-open the Brewery Creek Mine where the junior hopes to begin producing 30,000 to 40,000 ounces of gold annually in 2013.

"We believe this mine can operate in an environmentally responsible way, and provide substantial benefits (training, employment and contractual opportunities) to both the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in and the community of Dawson," Taylor said.