The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – August 16, 2019
Geologist Tyler Glubrecht during the 2018 exploration program at Haldane. New prospect areas generated from the mapping and sampling carried out at Haldane last year are the primary targets of drilling now underway at this silver project.
The camp at Haldane can be reached via an access road that extends from the Silver Trail (Highway 11) between the communities of Mayo and Keno City.
Alianza Minerals Ltd. has mobilized a drill for the second phase of its 2019 exploration program at Haldane, a high-grade silver property in Yukon's historic Keno Hill Mining District.
"New targets generated during the 2018 field program remain as priority targets for drilling in our phase II program," said Alianza Minerals President and CEO Jason Weber.
Located about 25 kilometers (16 miles) west of Keno City, Haldane was first recognized for its high-grade silver mineralization more than 100 years ago.
Underground mining that began in 1918 produced roughly 24.7 metric tons of hand-sorted ore averaging 3,102 grams per metric ton (99.7 ounces per metric ton) silver and 59 percent lead south side of Bighorn Creek veins. From 1926 and 1927, a vein on the north side of Bighorn Creek produced 2.1 metric tons of hand-sorted ore averaging 4,602 g/t (148 oz/t) silver and 57.9 percent lead.
Despite this historical production, very little modern exploration has been carried out at Haldane.
During a field program carried out last year, Alianza expanded a soil anomaly known as Ross, which is located about 1,250 meters south of the historic mining. The company said the Ross anomaly may reflect multiple buried veins that are part of the Mount Haldane Vein System, which include the historically mined veins.
The 2018 program also turned up Bighorn, a soil anomaly about 2,800 meters northwest of Mount Haldane Vein System. This could represent a new set of veins in an untested area of the property.
In order to refine targets for drilling, Alianza completed additional soil geochemical sampling, mapping and trenching early during the 2019 season.
The 2019 phase I program included four trenches at the Bighorn and Mount Haldane Vein System areas.
Mineralized faults mapped at the Bighorn target were strongly weathered at surface but returned anomalous lead and silver values.
Continuous chip samples in trench BH02 returned 10.9 meters of 9.6 grams per metric ton silver and 0.25 percent lead, which included fault and heavily fractured and oxidized host rocks at Big Horn.
Similar anomalous results were returned from trench BH01, 60 meters south.
Soil samples collected 300 meters south of BH01 and on strike from the trenches returned 63 g/t silver and greater than 1 percent lead. Alianza said this suggests the potential presence of high-grade silver mineralization.
A series of parallel north-south structures that have been mapped coincident with the Bighorn geochemical anomaly, which has been traced over a roughly 900- by 130-meter area, may be better tested by drilling.
"The phase II program is the first drill test of these new targets and their potential to host high-grade silver veins as seen elsewhere in the Keno District," said Weber.
After testing Ross and Bighorn, the drill will target the modelled plunge of high-grade shoots in historic workings of the Middlecoff zone at the Mount Haldane Vein System.
Roughly 1,300 meters of drilling is planned in as many as eight holes during the program.
–SHANE LASLEY
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