The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2020 - Published January 19, 2021
Blue Star drilled 38 holes to expand the resource and test high priority targets on its Ulu and Hood River gold properties.
Blue Star Gold Corp. is focused on expanding the high-grade gold resources on its Ulu and Hood River properties in Nunavut.
The Ulu property hosts an advanced gold project that has historically been the target of significant exploration and development by BHP Minerals, Echo Bay Mines, and others. The past work includes roughly 97,820 meters of drilling and 1,700 meters of underground development.
According to a 2015 calculation, the Flood and Gnu zones on the Ulu property host 2.5 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 7.53 grams per metric ton (605,000 ounces) gold; and 1.26 million metric tons of inferred resource grading 5.57 g/t (226,000 oz) gold.
The larger Hood River property hosts 22 known gold occurrences and is prospective for shear-hosted gold mineralization similar to the Flood zone, which hosts the bulk of the resource on the adjacent Ulu property.
During 2020, Blue Star completed 7,624 meters of drilling in 38 holes at Ulu and Hood River, including 10 holes to expand the known resource and 28 to test high priority exploration targets on both properties.
This is the most significant exploration carried out on these properties in more than a decade and Blue Star's first drilling on Ulu.
BS2020ULU-002, the second hole drilled at Ulu, cut seven meters averaging 13.42 g/t gold from a depth of nine meters at the Flood zone.
BS2020ULU-003, also drilled at Flood, cut three zones of mineralization – nine meters of 8.67 g/t gold from 13 meters, eight meters of 8.26 g/t gold from 110 meters, and 11 meters of 4.24 g/t gold from 154 meters.
Blue Star is incorporating the results into an updated resource estimate for the Flood and Gnu deposits.
A series of gold occurrences that occur on-strike and north of the Flood gold zone are thought to be related to a 5,000-meter-long regional fold that extends from Ulu onto the north Hood River property culminating at the North Fold Nose, or NFN zone.
Highlights from 14 holes drilled at NFN last year include: two meters averaging 13.18 g/t gold in hole HR20-013; four meters of 7.59 g/t gold in HR20-014; four meters of 6.09 g/t gold HR20-016; and three meters of 18.87 g/t gold in HR20-017.
This follows up on Blue Star's inaugural drilling at NFN in 2019. Highlights from that program include five meters of 5.37 g/t gold in HR-19-002; one meter of 31.1 g/t gold in HR-19-003; three meters of 6.93 g/t gold in HR-19-004; two meters of 8.47 g/t gold in HR-19-006; and four meters averaging 6.84 g/t gold in HR-19-007.
The results from the 2019 and 2020 programs are being incorporated into a maiden resource calculation for the NFN zone.
Blue Star Gold is planning to carry out a much larger 12,000- to 15,000-meter drill program on the adjoining properties in 2021. This program is expected to focus on expansion of the high-grade resource base in the Flood and Gnu zones; testing proximal targets with excellent discovery potential; and exploration of the numerous high-grade gold showings across the extensive and highly prospective properties.
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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