In search of a Monster cobalt deposit

Go Metals Mining Corp. (formerly Go Cobalt Mining Corp.) July 29 announced the completion of an initial phase of 2019 exploration at its Monster copper-cobalt project about 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Dawson City, Yukon.

The Monster property covers a large iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) occurrence that extends for about 18 kilometers (11 miles). Surface sampling has identified copper, cobalt, gold, and silver showings across the entire property.

The primary alteration minerals in IOCG is hematite and magnetite, which makes magnetic geophysical surveys particularly useful in identifying subsurface alteration.

In 2018, Go Metals flew a magnetic survey that highlights three targets associated with surface mineralization – Bloom, Arena and Beast.

The Bloom target is an area with several surface showings associated with magnetic anomalies. The most exciting magnetic anomaly is about 600 meters long and near the surface. Samples of massive copper sulfides collected from three mineralized outcrops surrounding this magnetic anomaly at Bloom have returned up to 2.8 percent cobalt and 0 .7 grams per metric ton gold.

Beast, located toward the east end of Monster, hosts a 2,000- by 1,000-meter magnetic anomaly that starts about 100 meters below the surface. Sampling of mineralized outcrops in the vicinity of Beast have yielded samples with up to 1.27 percent copper, 0.9 percent cobalt and 0.7 g/t gold.

The initial phase of this year's program, which got underway in late June, included ground-based gravity and induced polarization (IP) geophysical surveys; geology alteration mapping and sampling; and drone photo mapping and digital elevation modeling.

While the data from the IP survey is still being interpreted, early results indicated that mineralization at Bloom is associated with areas of low resistivity, and both high and low chargeability.

Go Metals is also encouraged by early results from the IP data at Beast.

This data shows an encouraging resistivity low and chargeability high that correlates to a magnetic and gravity high. The company said this makes Beast a top priority target for follow-up exploration.

The company said alteration mapping discovered several new copper surface showings across the Monster property. This work also shows increasing alteration toward the center of the Bloom and Beast targets.

Go Metals also significantly increased its gravity data with measurements from 915 new stations, adding to the 539 historical gravity stations.

A drone survey was also completed to aid the alteration mapping and process the gravity survey with a high-resolution digital elevation model.

Interpretation of the data from the first phase of 2019 work at Monster is still being analyzed and interpreted.

Results from this work will assist a planned late summer program at Monster that is expected to include trenching and soil sampling over the Bloom target.

–SHANE LASLEY