Fireweed eyes more zinc, new targets

Fireweed Zinc Ltd. June 12 announced that crews have begun work in preparation for the 2019 exploration program at Macmillan Pass, a 544-square-kilometer (210 square miles) zinc-lead silver project in eastern Yukon.

Two deposits at Macmillan Pass – Tom and Jason – host 11.21 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 6.59 percent (1.63 billion pounds) zinc, 2.48 percent (610 million lb) lead and 21.33 grams per metric ton (7.7 million ounces) silver; plus 39.47 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 5.84 percent (5.08 billion lb) zinc, 3.14 percent (2.73 billion lb) lead and 38.15 g/t (48.4 million oz) silver.

A preliminary economic assessment completed in May outlined a 4,900-metric-ton-per-day mill at MacMillan Pass that would produce 3.4 billion lb of zinc, 1.9 billion lb of lead and 37.2 million oz of silver over an 18-year mine life.

The PEA pointed to the exploration potential of expanding high-grade mineralization below and adjacent to the known deposits.

This year's program at MacMillan Pass will include 2,000 meters of core drilling testing some of the targets in the immediate Tom and Jason areas; 1,000 meters of reverse circulation (RC) drilling to test greenfield targets across the large land package; geophysical surveys; and an airborne LiDAR topographic survey over the entire property.

"I am very excited about our 2019 exploration program," said Fireweed Zinc CEO Brandon Macdonald. "We have step out holes planned to expand on our current resources, which are already among the largest undeveloped zinc resources in the world, and we have a number of excellent greenfield targets generated last year that we will drill this summer in search of new discoveries to further grow the project."

The first target to be core drilled this summer will be Tom North.

Fireweed said interpretation of historical drilling and trenching results immediately north of the Tom West deposit led to the delineation of Tom North, a step-out drill target with large upside potential.

Mapping and data generated from last year's exploration suggest that Tom North may be an extension of Tom West separated by a fault.

Six shallow holes drilled at Tom North in 1951-52, plus one additional hole in 1978, returned assays up to 5.05 percent zinc and 1.8 percent lead over 19.9 meters. Fireweed said that its own drilling elsewhere at Tom demonstrated that many historical drill results under-reported grades due to poor core recoveries with small-diameter historic core.

Drilling with modern large-diameter core at Tom West in 2017 and 2018 improved core recoveries and improved grades.

Sparse historical drilling and trenching has traced Tom North over a strike length of 600 meters and to a depth of 50 meters.

Fireweed plans to drill the continuation of Tom North at depth to test its potential for mineralization amenable to open-pit mining and to test for thicker mineralization similar to the adjacent Tom West Zone.

Fireweed believes Tom North represents potential for a significant expansion to the Tom mineral resources.

After Tom North, the core drill will test the depth extension of Tom East, one of the highest grade zones identified so far on the property.

The deepest hole drilled at Tom East last year cut a 16.4-meter high-grade interval averaging 21.14 percent zinc, 13.55 percent lead and 243 g/t silver.

This high-grade zone remains open for expansion.

New this year, Fireweed will employ an innovative small reverse circulation (RC) drill with a minimal environmental impact to rapidly carry out initial tests at low cost on as many greenfield targets as possible.

Beginning at Jason North, a new untested drill target located immediately north of the Jason Main deposit, the RC drill will test each target with a series of short holes recovering samples from overburden and short bedrock intervals.

Using a portable X-ray Florescence (XRF) analyzer to test for zinc, lead and silver in the RC drill samples will allow Fireweed to immediately follow up on promising results. The RC drill results will then be used to rank targets for drilling with the larger conventional core drill.

After testing Jason North, the RC rig will move west to test newly defined targets along the "Fertile Corridor," a roughly 30-kilometer (19 miles) strip of zinc prospect that encompass Tom and Jason, as well as several other targets to the northwest.

"In the past two years of exploration at Macmillan Pass, we have consistently added high-grade drilling results every year," said MacDonald. "We anticipate the 2019 campaign will have continued success and look forward to seeing the results."

In addition to drilling, Fireweed Zinc plans to carry out geophysical and geochemical surveys.

Test gravity geophysical surveys carried out last year showed prominent anomalies over the Tom and Jason deposits, and demonstrated that properly controlled and corrected ground gravity surveys are an effective tool to detect zinc mineralization on the property.

This year, Fireweed plans to extend gravity surveying west along the Fertile Corridor, complete coverage of an area south of Jason and additional gravity surveying in the Tom deposits area. An airborne LiDAR topographic survey of the entire property will be completed to improve corrections applied to gravity data for exploration and new target definition as well as aid engineering and environmental studies.

Continued soil geochemical surveys are planned for select areas of the property and extensive geological mapping will be carried out this summer to advance Fireweed's understanding of the geological controls on mineralization and further delineate prospective areas.

–SHANE LASLEY