The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
First 2021 Macmillan Pass holes cut zinc-lead mineralization North of 60 Mining News – July 30, 2021
Fireweed's Macmillan Pass property blankets a roughly 34-mile trend of zinc prospect ground in eastern Yukon.
Fireweed Zinc Ltd. July 27 reported wide zones of mineralization have been encountered in the first three holes drilled this year at the Boundary West discovery on the company's Macmillan Pass zinc-lead-silver project in eastern Yukon, Canada.
A road-accessible project next to the Northwest Territories border, the 940-square-kilometer (363 square miles) Macmillan Pass property blankets a roughly 55-kilometer- (34 miles) trend of potential zinc-lead-silver mineralization.
Two deposits at Macmillan Pass – Tom and Jason – host 11.2 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 6.59% (1.63 billion pounds) zinc, 2.48% (620 million lb) lead, and 21.33 grams per metric ton (7.7 million ounces) silver; plus 39.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 5.84% (5.08 billion lb) zinc, 3.14% (2.73 billion lb) lead and 38.15 g/t (48.4 million oz) silver.
Lying about 15 road-kilometers (nine miles) west of Jason, the Boundary zone is shaping up to be a large zinc-lead-silver deposit with the potential to significantly expand these resources.
Fireweed first drilled Boundary in 2019. The second hole, NB19-002, cut 230 meters averaging 4.14% zinc, 0.3% lead, and 9.7 g/t silver from surface; including 100 meters averaging 7.94% zinc, 0.1% lead, and 11.1 g/t silver.
A ground-based geophysical program carried out identified a strong gravity high anomaly that extends 800 meters west and 200 meters east of the 2019 drilling.
NB20-004, the first hole to test the Boundary West anomaly, cut 76.5 meters averaging 4.22% zinc, 0.34% lead, and 25.6 g/t silver.
Following up on this Boundary West discovery is one of the primary targets of the 2021 program at Macmillan Pass.
Fireweed is excited about the significant widths of pyrite (iron sulfide), sphalerite (zinc sulfide), and galena (lead sulfide) mineralization intersect in the first step-out holes at Boundary West.
The first two holes, NB21-001 and NB21-002, have encountered significant widths of both laminated sphalerite-galena-pyrite-barite mineralization similar to the Tom and Jason deposits, as well as massive pyrite-sphalerite-galena mineralization reminiscent of Teck Resources' world-class Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska.
These holes were drilled 75 meters and 210 meters down-dip of NB20-004.
A third hole, NB21-002, cut massive pyrite-sphalerite-galena about 115 meters west of the 2020 Boundary west discovery hole.
"The first few holes into Boundary West confirm the presence of mineralization both along strike and down-dip from last year's new discovery," said Fireweed Zinc CEO Brandon Macdonald. "We are excited to continue drilling additional step-out holes to test the potential extent of mineralization in the area."
Crews are on the fourth hole at Boundary West and further step-out drilling from a known area of mineralization at Boundary is planned for this year.
While encouraging mineralization has been observed in the core, assays that demonstrate zinc grades are pending.
In addition to the drilling at Boundary West, Fireweed has completed two holes at Tom East, a high-grade zone that currently hosts 810,00 metric tons of indicated resource averaging 8.74% zinc, 8.62% lead, and 110 g/t silver; plus 1.68 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 9.86% zinc, 12.86% lead, and 170 g/t silver.
One hole drilled by Fireweed in 2018 cut 16.4 meters averaging 21.1% zinc, 13.5% lead, and 243 g/t silver outside the resource area.
The two holes drilled at Tom East this year have further tested this very high-grade area and a third is in progress.
"The drilling at Tom East is both confirming the nature of mineralization and improving our understanding of the geology and structure of that deposit," said Macdonald.
In addition to drilling, a ground gravity geophysics crew has been making steady progress extending the 2020 survey grid over the Eleven and Kobuk, targets west of Boundary along a 65-kilometer (40 miles) zinc-prospective trend across the Macmillan Pass property known as the Fertile Corridor.
Field crews have also completed geological mapping and prospecting around the Boundary and Boundary West zones and are now working westwards onto the Sol and Oro claims acquired by Fireweed last year. The main goals of this work include investigation of geochemical anomalies and examining prospective geology over a greatly expanded search space with potential for new discoveries.
"We're also pleased with the progress of the geophysical and mapping programs and look forward to defining new targets for future exploration and drill testing," said Macdonald.
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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