The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2019 – Published Nov. 1, 2019
One hole drilled this year at Stellar indicates that a porphyry system lies below the copper mineralization evident at the surface of the Mars target on PolarX' Alaska Range property.
Australia-based PolarX Ltd. and its copper- and gold-rich Alaska Range property has drawn the interest of Canada-based Lundin Mining Corp.
In a deal finalized in June, Lundin invested roughly US$3 million to acquire a 12.85 percent interest in PolarX. This investment provides the Toronto-based miner an option to earn a 51 percent interest in Stellar, a porphyry copper-gold portion of the larger Alaska Range property, by investing US$24 million in exploration and making US$20 million in payments to PolarX over a three-year span.
To accommodate this arrangement, PolarX subdivided Alaska Range into three projects – Stellar, Zackly and Caribou Dome.
Stellar encompasses Saturn and other copper and gold targets on the large Stellar property that PolarX acquired from Millrock Resources Inc.
Zackly hosts 3.4 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.2 percent (90.4 million pounds) copper, 2 grams per metric ton (213,000 oz) gold and 14 g/t (1.5 million oz) silver, according to an Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) resource calculated in 2017.
Zackly lies in the middle of the larger Stellar project, a block of claims covering this skarn deposit and its potential extensions are excluded from the agreement with Lundin. This separation allows PolarX to continue to expand and upgrade the high-grade gold-copper Zackly skarn as an independent project.
PolarX also retains ownership of Caribou Dome, a roughly 14-mile-long property immediately southwest of Stellar that hosts 1.6 million metric tons of near-surface JORC-compliant resource (measured, indicated and inferred) averaging 3 percent (107.8 million lb) copper; and 1.2 million metric tons of underground mineable resource averaging 3.2 percent (82.3 million lb) copper.
Lundin's first Stellar interest is Saturn, a compelling porphyry target.
While testing southeast extensions of Zackly during 2018, PolarX encountered signs the drills were closing in on porphyry mineralization as it stepped out in the direction of Saturn. This evidence was bolstered by the initial data from a high‐resolution aeromagnetic geophysical survey flown last fall, which showed that Saturn has the donut-shaped magnetic pattern typical of a porphyry deposit.
The Perth-based explorer said a magnetic survey completed late last year adds to the evidence, detailing a roughly cone-shaped magnetic body that is approximately 2,000 by 1,000 meters at the top and extends to a depth of at least 3,000 meters, the lower extent of the modelling.
This evidence was bolstered further by ground-based IP geophysics data completed this year.
PolarX said the highest chargeability shown by the IP survey is associated with the magnetic highs at Saturn in a pattern that is consistent with the classic porphyry copper exploration model.
A 5,000-meter drill program that got underway in July tested this classic porphyry signature at Saturn.
The Stellar property also hosts Mars, another compelling porphyry target located at the west end of a 7.5-mile (12 kilometers) structural corridor that runs through the Zackly skarn and to Saturn at the east end.
Apart from the Lundin-funded exploration at Saturn, PolarX funded its own drilling at Zackly this year. The goal of the 2019 Zackly program is to continue expanding this high-grade skarn deposit to a size that will support an economically viable mining operation.
While the main skarn body that hosts the currently calculated resource was expanded last year and shows potential for further growth, especially at depth, the most compelling expansion area is to the east.
ZX‐18020, drilled about 850 meters east of the resource boundary, cut 54.6 meters averaging 2.8 g/t gold, 9.4 g/t silver and 0.6 percent copper, including a 0.3-meter (one foot) section from 56.7 meters averaging 27.3 percent copper, 2.5 g/t gold and 82.5 g/t silver.
ZX‐18024, drilled about 40 meters north of hole 20, cut 46.7 meters of 3.1 g/t gold, 0.6 percent copper and 3.3 g/t silver from a depth of 37 meters.
The 2018 program also hit the skarn between the eastern boundary of the resource and hole 20, indicating that continued drilling could trace a connection.
Hole ZX-18023, drilled 350 meters east of the Zackly deposit and 500 meters west of ZX-18020, cut 9.3 meters of magnetite skarn containing 3.3 percent copper, 2.3 g/t gold and 19.7 g/t silver.
PolarX said it has consistently observed a close association between copper, gold and magnetite in the drilling. Detailed aeromagnetic survey carried out last fall, which can trace the magnetite, has greatly improved the company's understanding of the continuity of mineralization, which was used to target a roughly 2,000-meter drill program that got underway in August.
EDITOR'S NOTE: See Mars discovery hole gets better with depth an exciting porphyry discovery made at the Mars target after Mining Explorers 2019 went to print.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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