Whether on purpose or by accident, Fireweed "just can't stop finding zinc."

Whether it is expanding zinc-lead-silver resources on its flagship Macmillan Pass project in the Yukon, gaining a better understanding of its newly acquired Mactung tungsten project straddling the Yukon-Northwest Territories, or carrying out reconnaissance exploration of its recently staked Gayna River zinc-lead-gallium-germanium project wholly in NWT, Fireweed Metals Corp. is having a successful exploration season in 2022.

"Despite a late start to the season we have so far had tremendous success," said Fireweed Metals CEO Brandon Macdonald. "Not only has every hole drilled intersected some degree of zinc mineralization, but we've made several discoveries of new locations for significant mineralization."

Comprised of a road-accessible project adjacent to Yukon's border with Northwest Territories, the 544-square-kilometer (210 square miles) Macmillan Pass project blankets a roughly 55-kilometer (34 mile) trend of zinc, lead, and silver mineralization.

Two of its more advanced deposits – 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.

Diamond drilling at Boundary West, a significant target discovered on the company's Macmillan Pass project in 2021, successfully stepped out a massive sulfide zone across a fault previously thought to constrain the extent of the mineralized zone. However, now it leaves Boundary West open to the south.

At Boundary Main, a hole encountered unexpected laminated zinc-lead mineralization from the same stratigraphic interval that hosts the Tom and Jason deposits, showing potential for additional mineralization further to the north.

One hole drilled at Tom East confirmed the validity of the current resource model by intersecting the anticipated width and mineralization style of laminated sphalerite-galena-barite-pyrite mineralization.

For Tom West, infill drilling is being conducted targeting closer spaced intercepts within Tom Main, near feeder proximal mineralization, to further test the validity of the company's geologic resource model.

Additional holes to step out from known areas of mineralization and resource at Boundary Zone and Tom West are also expected to be completed before the season's close.

Mactung resampling

In June, Fireweed cut a deal with the Northwest Territories government to purchase the dormant Mactung tungsten property for roughly C$15 million (US$11.8 million).

This critical metal property straddling the Yukon-Northwest Territories border hosts 33 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.88% tungsten trioxide, making it one of the largest known undeveloped, high-grade tungsten-skarn deposits in the world.

Not wasting any time, Fireweed has had field crews begin a resampling program on-site. Historical drill core will be measured for bulk density as well as re-assayed to provide key data to expound on the upcoming resource estimate.

Due to the time it will take to re-assay some material, Fireweed believes that it will take longer than planned to prepare an updated Mactung mineral resource estimate, which the company says should be expected in 2023.

Aside from the delay, LiDAR was flown successfully over the extent of the property, which should give additional critical insight into this world-class tungsten deposit.

You can read about Fireweed's acquisition of Mactung at Fireweed Zinc cuts deal to buy Mactung in the June 10, 2022, edition of North of 60 Mining News.

Gayna River prospecting

Approximately 180 kilometers (112 miles) north of Macmillan Pass and 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of the winter road between Fort Good Hope and Norman Wells, Fireweed's newly acquired Gayna River project 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 shift in thinking behind Fireweed's geological model, however, led the company to believe there was potential for high-grade massive sulfide zones within areas that were not tested by Rio Tinto.

Hence, Fireweed 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.

You can read about Fireweed's staking of Gayna River at Fireweed Zinc adds Gayna River project in the May 13, 2022, edition of North of 60 Mining News.

With the latest property added to its portfolio, Fireweed had field crews map the area in detail and ground truth known occurrences to gain a better understanding of the lithology, structures, mineralization and alteration associated with Gayna's unusual zinc systems.

Rock and soil samples were taken to evaluate mineralization at several prospects across the property and to validate historic soil anomalies. In so doing, the company confirmed the presence of significant zinc-lead mineralization at many of the prospects.

The samples were submitted for geochemical analysis on the first of August.

"Whether on purpose, or sometimes by accident when targeting other zones, we just can't stop finding zinc," finished Macdonald.