The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – January 24, 2020
A section of core from a hole drilled at Zackly East that cut 54.6 meters of skarn mineralization, including a 0.3-meter section averaging 27.3 percent copper, 2.5 g/t gold and 82.5 g/t silver.
PolarX Ltd. Jan. 20 announced that trenching, mapping and sampling has identified a potential 600-meter extension of the thick and high-grade copper-gold skarn mineralization it discovered at Zackly East on its Alaska Range project.
This 22-mile- (35 kilometers) long Alaska Range property is made up of two adjacent projects – Stellar and Caribou Dome – the Australia-based exploration company brought together in 2017.
Zackly skarn is found in the middle of a 7.5-mile- (12 kilometers) long mineralized corridor that runs across Stellar. This corridor is bookended by two porphyry targets, Mars at the west end and Saturn to the east, which could have the source of the fluids that mineralized the limestone at Zackly, turning it into a metal-rich skarn deposit.
The main Zackly skarn 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.
While drilling has indicated this resource continues to depth, the most exciting resource expansion was encountered at Zackly East.
ZX‐18020, a 2018 hole drilled about 850 meters east of the Zackly main 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. This thick intercept included a 21.7-meter higher grade zone that averaged 5.2 g/t gold, 0.8 percent copper and 4.1 g/t silver from 59 meters.
PolarX said the high gold grades and thick, sub‐horizontal geometry of the mineralization encountered in these holes could be suitable for low cost open‐pit extraction.
Trenching and mapping carried out during the 2019 season indicated this mineralization could extend roughly 600 meters further east.
Trench 1, excavated about 450 meters east of ZX‐18020, cut two mineralized zones – 16 meters averaging 509 parts per million copper and 20 meters averaging 566 ppm copper.
Trench 2, dug about 90 meters further east, cut 14 meters averaging 1,265 ppm copper.
These mineralized intercepts are not part of the Zackly East skarn, rather they are in a volcanic rock unit (andesites) that was encountered above the much higher-grade skarn mineralization encountered in ZX‐18020 and ZX‐18024.
Mapping and sampling of these trenches helped PolarX geologists identify rock types, structures (such as bedding and faults), alteration, veining and mineralization that can be used to plan follow up drill holes at Zackly East.
The company said the rock type, bedding direction, mineralization, veining and fault controls on mineralization are constituent across both trenches.
PolarX plans to continue to independently fund the expansion of the skarn mineralization at Zackly and Zackly East. At the same time, the Aussie explorer is looking for a new partner to fund further exploration of the Mars and Saturn porphyry targets at either end of the mineralized corridor that runs across the Stellar project.
On Jan. 2, PolarX announced that Lundin Mining Corp., which funded the 2019 exploration at Saturn and Mars, had decided to waive its earn-in rights at Stellar.
One hole drilled at Mars late last fall cut 102.1 meters averaging 0.22 percent copper, 0.07 g/t gold and 200 ppm molybdenum.
This mineralized intercept was near the bottom of the hole, which was terminated at 417 meters due to difficult drilling and heavy snows bringing an end to the 2019 exploration season at Alaska Range.
Saturn, which lies at the southeast end of the mineralized corridor, may host another Stellar porphyry deposit. Five holes drilled in 2019, however, did not tap the porphyry mineralization PolarX and Lundin were targeting there.
A gravity geophysical survey carried out toward the end of the 2019 season, coupled with the geology observed in core, suggests that the porphyry system at Saturn lies just south of the 2019 drilling.
PolarX intends to pursue the porphyry targets at Mars and Saturn with funding to be provided via an earn‐in joint venture arrangement.
PolarX said it is in talks with multiple parties interested in potentially funding additional exploration of the Stellar porphyry potential.
–SHANE LASLEY
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