Fireweed Zinc adds Gayna River project

Fireweed Zinc Ltd. May 10 announced the staking of the Gayna River project in Northwest Territories, Canada, adding a prospective zinc-gallium-germanium-lead-silver project to its portfolio.

"The acquisition of the Gayna River project by staking is a low-cost way for Fireweed to expand our portfolio of critical metals projects and add some exciting exploration potential," said Fireweed Zinc CEO Brandon Macdonald. "While our focus remains on our flagship Macmillan Pass project, we are keen to explore Gayna River where we see the potential for high-grade massive sulphide mineralization."

Gayna River is located in the Mackenzie Mountains, within the Gwich'in and Sahtu settlement areas and the asserted territory of the First Nations Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.

Approximately 180 kilometers (112 miles) north of Fireweed's Macmillan Pass zinc project in the Yukon and 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of the winter road between Fort Good Hope and Norman Wells, Gayna was discovered in the 1970s, and more than 28,000 meters of drilling carried out by Rio Tinto outlined a large target with abundant zinc-lead-silver mineralization.

Nevertheless, Rio Tinto allowed the claims to lapse, believing there was low potential for a high-grade deposit at Gayna River. A recent shift in thinking behind the geological model, however, has led Fireweed to believe there is potential for high-grade massive sulfide zones within areas that were not tested by Rio Tinto.

Hence, Fireweed has acquired 100% of the Gayna River project at a very low cost by staking an area of 12,875 hectares (31,815 acres), covering all the historic showings and anomalies.

"I see a similar story unfolding at Gayna River as MacPass, where Fireweed can build upon historic exploration and use modern scientific understanding of deposit genesis to unlock a potentially world-class district," added Macdonald.

Fireweed has stated that the geological environment of Gayna River is very similar to host rocks at the high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-silver-germanium mine in southern Africa.

At both locations, zinc mineralization is located around large Neoproterozoic carbonate reefs – geology that is unique to only these two locations worldwide. At Kipushi, high-grade lenses of massive sulfides are located around the margins and tops of the carbonate reefs, including the "Big Zinc" zone. Using Kipushi as an exploration analog, Fireweed says it sees the potential for massive sulfide mineralization at Gayna River in similar reef-margin and reef-top positions that remain largely untested by historic drilling.

The extensive zinc mineralization discovered to date on the Gayna River project is thought to represent a large zinc system that may have high-grade centers of massive sulfide.

"We are excited to put the exploration methods we have honed so successfully at Macmillan Pass to use in whole new search space at Gayna River," said Fireweed Zinc Chief Geologist Jack Milton. "Leveraging our experience with gravity surveys, muon-tomography, and cutting-edge inversions, we can enable exploration for what has been previously difficult to find – the high-grade centers of large zinc systems."

Nonetheless, Fireweed is cautious that the Kipushi geological comparison is conceptual in nature, and it remains uncertain if further exploration at Gayna River will result in the definition of mineral resources or reserves.

"With this new technology we expect to target high-grade massive sulphides with better precision and at relatively low-cost, enabling a new wave of zinc exploration and revitalizing activity at this well-renowned zinc district," finished Milton.