The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Some gold, strong alteration in latest West Pogo drill holes North of 60 Mining News – September 11, 2020
Quartz and sulfide veins encountered at a depth of 1,060 meters in hole 20AU004, drilled at the Aurora target at 64North.
Millrock Resources Inc. and Resolution Minerals Ltd. Sept. 10 provided results from two more holes drilled at 64North and an update on other exploration activities being carried out across the expansive gold exploration project in Alaska's Goodpaster Mining District.
Bordering Northern Star Resources Ltd.'s Pogo gold mine property, the roughly 160,000-acre 64North project includes nine claim blocks – West Pogo, Shaw, Eagle, LMS-X, South Pogo, East Pogo, North Pogo, Last Chance and Divide.
Under a deal cut with Millrock, Resolution has the option to earn a 60% interest in this large gold project by investing US$20 million in exploration spending over four years.
This year's drilling is testing three gold targets on Pogo West – Aurora, Echo and Reflection.
The latest round of assay results is from two holes drilled at Aurora, a target about four miles west of the Pogo gold mine.
These holes, 20AU003 and holes 20AU004, encountered minor gold mineralization.
Hole 20AU003 cut 0.86 meters averaging 0.35 grams per metric ton gold from a depth of 19 meters; and 0.86 meters of 0.44 g/t gold from 423 meters.
Hole 3 was drilled just northwest of two holes drilled during a winter drill program that was cut short by COVID-19 – 20AU001 and holes 20AU002. Hole 1 encountered anomalous gold and alteration, and hole 2 was terminated before reaching target depth due to crews heading home ahead of COVID-related travel restrictions in Alaska.
Hole 20AU004, drilled about 3,000 meters northwest of hole 3, cut 0.78 meters of 0.41 g/t gold from 522 meters; and 1.19 meters of 0.76 g/t gold from 762 meters.
The 64North partners report that the alteration observed in the drill core from these holes matched the geophysics anomalies being targeted with the drilling.
Both companies said they are encouraged by the strong alteration, presence of gold, paragneiss host rocks, and presence of sulfides indicating the strong fertility of the system. They, however, interpret that the structural opening that would allow thick high-grade gold mineralization did not occur at these locations but believe the thick alteration zones encountered are fluid pathways for a large mineralizing system.
"While the team is disappointed by todays' gold numbers, we are still encouraged that these holes intersected thick alteration zones that we interpret as the fluid pathways for a large mineralizing system and further drilling will get us closer to potential high-grade "trap sites" of gold mineralization," said Resolution Minerals Managing Director Duncan Chessell. "The team is working hard in the field to gather structural information from the drill core and this is crucial in unlocking the structural controls on mineralization. We are only just starting on this project and I think there is a lot of upside to go and I look forward to the results of the rest of this year's drilling programs."
Since the completion of hole 4, the 64 North partners have drilled one hole at Echo, a never before drilled gold target about five miles north of Aurora and four miles northwest of the Goodpaster discovery on Northern Star's Pogo property, and one hole at Reflection, which is about halfway between Aurora and Echo.
Drilling has now resumed at Aurora with hole 20AU007 testing a northeast trending structural zone proximal to an outcropping diorite intrusive and coincident with conductive rocks identified by the ZTEM geophysics survey.
The Aurora prospect is road accessible, which allows for year-round drilling.
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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