The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Working on reverse takeover of previously listed BC company North of 60 Mining News – May 28, 2021
Western Alaska Copper & Gold CEO Kit Marrs takes field notes during a 2016 drill program testing the Round Top porphyry copper-gold deposit on the company's Illinois Creek property.
Based on the results from the 2020 drilling, it is estimated that the heap leach pad at Illinois Creek hosts 1.5 million metric tons of material averaging 0.5 g/t (25,000 ounces) gold, 45 g/t (2.2 million oz) silver, and 0.45% (15 million pounds) copper.
Western Alaska Copper & Gold Company May 25 announced plans to become listed on the TSX Venture Exchange through a merger with 1246779 B.C. Ltd.
As a private company led by Christopher (Kit) Marrs, Western Alaska has steadily advanced multiple precious and base metals deposits and targets across its 35,520-acre Illinois Creek Mining District property near the Yukon River about 65 miles southwest of the town of Galena, Alaska.
Western Alaska's 2020 program on this property focused largely on Illinois Creek, an open-pit mine and heap-leach operation that produced roughly 150,000 ounces of gold and 500,000 oz of silver during three years of mining between 1996-2002.
The abbreviated operation at Illinois Creek left plenty of gold and silver behind. Considering that an ounce of gold is selling for nearly seven times the $280/oz average and silver is selling for nearly six times the $4.95/oz average in 2000, picking up where past mining left off is a compelling prospect.
According to a calculation completed earlier this year, Illinois Creek hosts 8.7 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.9 grams per metric ton (253,000 oz) gold, 34.4 g/t (9.6 million oz) silver, and 0.21% (40 million pounds) copper; and 3.3 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.99 g/t (104,000 oz) gold, 36.2 g/t (3.8 million oz) silver, and 0.21% (15 million lb) copper.
This includes 7.4 million metric tons of unmined indicated resource averaging 0.98 g/t (234,000 oz) gold, 32.7 g/t (7.8 million oz) silver, and 0.17% (28 million lb) copper; and 3.1 million metric tons of unmined inferred resource averaging 1.02 g/t (102,000 oz) gold, 35.9 g/t (3.6 million oz) silver, and 0.2% (14 million lb) copper.
The heap leach pad from historical mining hosts another 1.3 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.44 g/t (18,600 oz) gold, 44.3 g/t (1.9 million oz) silver, and 0.42% (12 million lb) copper.
A preliminary economic assessment that outlines plans for reprocessing the material on the heap leach pad and mining extensions of the Illinois Creek deposit is slated for completion this year.
Western Alaska is also considering Honker, situated about six miles north of the Illinois Creek mine site, as a potential source of high-grade gold.
A gold-rich quartz vein that is one to five meters thick has been traced for 800 meters at Honker. Historical bulk samples collected from Honker averaged 26.5 g/t gold and 26.8 g/t silver.
Metallurgical testing shows this mineralization is amenable to heap leach recovery, indicating Honker could be a good source of satellite ore for Illinois Creek.
The Illinois Creek District property also hosts Round Top, a large porphyry copper deposit about 10 miles northeast of the past producing mine; Waterpump, a small but high-grade zinc-lead-silver carbonate replacement target associated with Illinois Creek; and TG North, a potentially larger but lower grade zinc-lead-silver carbonate replacement target associated with Round Top.
To continue advancing exploration and development across the Illinois Creek District property, Western Alaska has entered into an arm's length non-binding letter of intent with TSX Venture Exchange-listed 1246779 B.C. for a reverse takeover that will result in Western Alaska becoming the listed company.
Prior to the reverse takeover, Western Alaska is expected to close a C$3.46 million (US$2.73 million) financing that involves the issuance of 606 Western Alaska shares at C$5,714.29 (US$4,500) per share.
Following the completion of this financing, it is anticipated that Western Alaska Copper & Gold will have approximately 3,189 shares issued and outstanding on a fully diluted basis.
At the time of the takeover, 779 plans to complete a concurrent private placement financing of at least C$2 million. Western Alaska intends to use the funds raised for continued exploration at Illinois Creek as well as expenses for the takeover and general working capital.
Once the takeover is complete, it is expected that Kit Marrs will serve as CEO, Alex Tong as CFO, Catalin KiloFliski as corporate development officer, and Joe Piekenbrock as chief exploration officer of the TSX Venture Exchange listed company.
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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