The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Nabs three properties prospective for Arctic-like VMS deposits North of 60 Mining News - October 5, 2021
Leveraging its expertise in exploring for Arctic-type volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in the Ambler Mining District, Trilogy Metals Inc. exploring for similar high-grade polymetallic deposits on three groups of claims east and west of the Upper Kobuk Mineral Project in Northwest Alaska.
Being advanced by a joint venture equally owned by Trilogy and South32 Ltd., UKMP is a 427,690-acre land package that includes state and patented claims covering a 75-mile-long stretch of the Ambler schist belt that runs along the southern slopes of the Brooks Range, along with an adjacent property owned by NANA Corp., the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional corporation for Northwest Alaska.
"While Trilogy is focused on the oversight of our primary asset, the UKMP which is being managed by Ambler Metals LLC, the joint venture company equally owned by Trilogy Metals and South32, the company has used its exploration expertise to add some early-stage, high-quality projects to its portfolio," said Trilogy Metals President and CEO Tony Giardini.
Trilogy is not the only UKMP partner exploring high-quality projects covering Arctic-like deposits outside the JV area. South32 is exploring the Roosevelt claims, an enormous land package that covers a roughly 50-mile-long stretch of the Ambler schist belt just north of the proposed Ambler Road, about 50 miles east of the UKMP area of interest.
These projects are West Kobuk, a 23,680-acre package of state mining claims bordering the west side of UKMP; Helpmejack, a 19,520-acre package of claims that covers a portion of the Ambler schist belt between UKMP and South32's Roosevelt; and Malamute, a 12,480-acre property about 20 miles northeast of Helpmejack and adjacent to Roosevelt.
Trilogy says the three claim blocks it staked earlier this year were identified by a systematic target generation study using publicly available geoscientific data from the state of Alaska, as well as privately obtained historical exploration reports.
"Given our relationships and significant technical experience within the Ambler Mining District, we decided to stake some prospective ground in our backyard," said Giardini.
The West Kobuk claims were previously explored by Kennecott after that company's discovery of the Arctic deposit in 1965. An airborne electromagnetic survey flown by Kennecott over the Ambler lowlands in 1966 identified numerous conductors within the West Kobuk claim block, but there was little follow-up done. Trilogy says field investigations by its geologists confirmed the continuation of the Ambler schist belt onto West Kobuk.
Helpmejack covers a 7.5-mile stretch of Ambler schist belt east of UKMP. The US Geological Survey mapped Ambler belt metavolcanics and metasediments in the Helpmejack area, but this region received little exploration despite stream sediment samples collected in the 1970s having anomalous levels of copper and zinc. Trilogy's fieldwork identified gossanous metavolcanics exposed along a stream for over 25 meters.
The Malamute claims cover the south side of a five-mile-long east-west valley immediately north of the of South32's Roosevelt property. Stream sediment samples collected by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys collected between 1977 and 1982 returned high cobalt and elevated copper values. Trilogy geologists have resampled the anomalous streams.
Results of a reconnaissance program carried out on the three claim blocks are being compiled and will be used to prepare a plan and budget for the 2022 field season.
"We believe that these projects, which have low holding costs, have potential to add value to our shareholders," Giardini said.
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)