The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Company narrows focus at Lone Star, Stander (Nugget) zones North of 60 Mining News – June 5, 2020
A drill being set up at midnight during the 2017 program on the Klondike property. After five years of exploration drilling, this year's program will focus on detailed testing of potential starter pits at the Lone Star and Stander zones.
Klondike Gold CEO Peter Tallman prospecting for the lode source of the roughly 20 million ounces of placer gold recovered from the streams in Yukon's famed Klondike District.
Klondike Gold Corp. June 1 announced that the 2020 exploration program is underway on its Klondike District property, a 586-square-kilometer (226 square miles) land package that blankets much of the legendary 20-million-ounce placer gold district near Dawson City, Yukon.
This year's program includes three phases of drilling targeting the Lone Star and Stander (formerly known as Nugget) zones, which lie between the Eldorado and Bonanza Creeks of Klondike Gold Rush fame.
The initial phase of drilling, now underway, is slated to include nine infill holes at Lone Star, a 5,000-meter-long zone of gold mineralization that runs alongside a major fault above the famed Bonanza Creek.
Focused on a 200- by 50-meter area where Lone Star outcrops, these holes will test for consistency of gold grades and the boundaries of mineralization in an area being considered for a starter pit for mining.
The second phase of 2020 drilling will include five infill drill holes to test the main area of outcropping gold mineralization identified along the Stander zone. Situated about 1,300 meters to the southwest and running roughly parallel to Lone Star, Stander is the site of some of highest grade gold intercepts on the Klondike property.
One hole drilled at Stander last year, EC19-267, cut 2.5 meters averaging 404 grams per metric ton gold and 415 g/t silver from a depth of 104 meters, including one meter of 1,009 g/t gold with 1,035 g/t silver.
This, however, is deeper than the potential starter pit mineralization being targeted with the five holes being drilled during the second phase of Klondike Gold's 2020 program.
Highlights from Klondike Gold's previous near surface drilling at Stander include 14.3 meters of 5.1 g/t gold; 21.5 meters of 4.3 g/t gold; and 23 meters of 2.2 g/t gold.
The infill drilling at Stander will test for consistency in grade of gold mineralization and confirm the geometry and boundaries of gold mineralization designed to allow consideration of a resource volume in an area being considered to begin mining.
The third phase of drilling will test for possible extensions of Stander.
Last year, Klondike Gold utilized Dawson City-based GroundTruth Exploration's consistent methodology to test high priority trends above Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks. This work included GT Probe sampling that identified potential extension or parallel zones at Stander.
Detailed prospecting to qualify targets in advance of phase-3 drilling discovered outcropping and subcropping quartz veining containing visible gold. Assays from rock samples collected from these areas are pending and Klondike Gold anticipates expanding the third phase of drilling with positive results.
In addition to its resource delineation and expansion drilling of hardrock gold, the company has leased placer gold mining claims on Upper Eldorado Creek to Dulac Mining.
Limited information is available regarding the potential size of remaining placer gold deposit(s) on these claims, which are highly variable by nature. Early recoveries from Dulac's 2020 mining, however, are exceeding expectation. Klondike Gold retains a 10% production royalty on these claims, payable in placer gold.
"We are excited after five years to transition from district-scale geoscience surveys and exploration documenting gold and structural controls towards detailed testing of spatial and economic parameters of segments within both Lone Star and Stander Zones during 2020," said Klondike Gold President and CEO Peter Tallman. "Along with our exploration directed at finding new targets and production from our placer lease holder, there is a lot to look forward to in what is shaping up to be a busy season."
Klondike Gold said it is implementing protocols and measures to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission that protects the residents in and around Dawson City, as well as its contractors and employees.
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.
Reader Comments(0)