The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Plans for further drilling of historical Illinois Creek deposit North of 60 Mining News – January 21, 2022
Western Alaska Minerals tested the historical Waterpump silver-zinc-lead deposit with nine holes during the 2021 exploration program at its Illinois Creek property.
Western Alaska Minerals Corp. Jan. 18 reported additional high-grade silver-zinc-lead intercepts from 2021 drilling at the Waterpump Creek carbonate replacement deposit on the company's Illinois Creek project in western Alaska.
The more than 49,000-acre Illinois Creek Mining District property is home to the past-producing Illinois Creek Mine; Waterpump; about four miles northeast of the Illinois Creek open pit; Honker, a high-grade gold target about six miles north of the historical mine; and Round Top, a large porphyry copper deposit about 10 miles to the northeast.
Much of Western Copper's 2021 exploration focused on Waterpump, which hosts 166,000 tons of historical resource averaging 295 grams per metric ton silver, 16.1% lead, and 5.5% zinc, based on 58 holes historically drilled by Anaconda Minerals Company and Novagold Resources Inc.
"Exploration at Waterpump Creek in 2021 focused on expanding our understanding of the high-grade manto mineralization first discovered by Anaconda Minerals Co. in the early 1980s," said Western Alaska Minerals President and CEO Kit Marrs.
Looking to establish an expanded resource that is compliant with modern reporting standards, Western Alaska completed nine holes targeting both shallow high-grade oxide mineralization and deeper high-grade sulfide mineralization at Waterpump during 2021.
Highlights from the 2021 drilling include:
• 16.7 meters (15.7 meters true-thickness) averaging 256 grams per metric ton silver, 0.7% zinc, and 6.4% lead from a depth of 23.2 meters in hole WPC21-02.
• 1.5 meters (1.4 meters true-thickness) averaging 1,337 g/t silver from a depth of 50.9 meters; and 9.7 meters (9.1 meters true-thickness) averaging 89 g/t silver, 6.3% zinc, and 7.7% lead from a depth of 63.1 meters in hole WPC21-03.
• 11.9 meters (11.2 meters true-thickness) averaging 149 g/t silver and 2% zinc from a depth of 35.6 meters in hole WPC21-05.
• 10.5 meters (9.1 meters true-thickness averaging 522 g/t silver, 22.5% zinc, and 14.5% lead from a depth of 109.4 meters in hole WPC21-09 (previously reported).
Assays are still pending from two holes drilled last year at Last Hurrah, a similar silver enriched carbonate replacement prospect about 2,000 meters southwest of Waterpump.
Western Alaska's technical team – led by Chief Exploration Officer Joe Piekenbrock, in consultation with technical advisors Peter Megaw and Darwin Green – is currently designing a geophysical program to help define the 2022 drill targets down-dip from WPC21-09 and the targets along a highly prospective 5,000-meter-long trend that extends from Waterpump Creek, through Last Hurrah, and onward Illinois Creek.
"Because CRDs are known for their exceptionally long continuity, large high-grade resource potential and often stacked nature of mineralization, 2022 exploration at Waterpump Creek will focus on expanding the high-grade mineralization identified in WPC21-09 and the continued testing of the Waterpump Creek Fault/Last Hurrah trend south of Waterpump Creek," Marrs added.
Additional assays are pending from six holes drilled last year at the Honker high-grade gold target.
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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