The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - August 14, 2023
When the core from drilling close to high-grade CRD at Waterpump Creek is put under UV light, mineralization shows up with intense pink and orange fluorescence. Above left shows the intensely fluorescent core known as BBQ rock observed last year in WPC22-021, a hole drilled near high-grade Waterpump Creek mineralization. Above right is a similar BBQ rock cut in hole LH23-005 at Last Hurrah.
Click on image for larger Waterpump Creek drill map.
Click on image for larger Waterpump Creek long-section.
Click on image for larger Last Hurrah cross-section.
Western Alaska Minerals Corp. Aug. 14 reports that drilling has cut more high-grade silver at the southern end of Waterpump Creek, and there is strong evidence that drilling further south is closing in on a fault-offset extension of this silver-rich carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) on the company's Illinois Creek property about 300 miles west of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Discovered by Anaconda in 1982 and further explored by Novagold Resources Inc. in the early 2000s, Waterpump Creek hosts 166,000 tons of historical resource averaging 295 grams per metric ton silver, 16.1% lead, and 5.5% zinc.
Western Alaska began exploring this deposit toward the end of the 2021 exploration season. WPC21-09, the final hole of 2021, cut 10.5 meters of CRD mineralization averaging 522 g/t silver, 22.5% zinc, and 14.5% lead.
During 2022, the company has significantly expanded the silver-rich mineralization to the south. Highlights include:
• 5.1 meters averaging 459 g/t silver, 12.1% zinc, and 14.8% lead in hole WPC22-07.
• 2.8 meters averaging 1,304 g/t silver, 2.5% zinc, and 37.1% lead in hole WPC22-13.
• 48.8 meters averaging 144 g/t silver, 9% zinc, and 5.5% lead in hole WPC22-17.
• 101.7 meters averaging 160 g/t silver, 5.4% zinc, and 5.3% lead in hole WPC22-18.
• 5.1 meters averaging 789 g/t silver, 14.9% zinc, and 22% lead in hole WPC22-21.
• 22.7 meters averaging 293 g/t silver, 20.3% zinc, and 9% lead in hole WPC22-22.
Western Alaska's 2023 drill program focused on infill holes to support an industry-compliant resource calculation for Waterpump Creek, tracing the high-grade silver mineralization to a fault that cuts off the southern end of the CRD, and exploration drilling to discover the fault-offset continuation of the mineralization in the Last Hurrah area immediately to the south.
Assays from the first hole of the 2023 Waterpump drilling were reported in July. Highlights from WPC23-0029, an infill hole drilled 28 meters east of WPC22-18, include:
• 19.4 meters averaging 158 g/t silver, 11.5% zinc, and 5.3% lead from a depth of 145.1 meters.
• 2.9 meters averaging 173 g/t silver, 13.9% zinc, and 6.7% lead from a depth of 176 meters.
The latest assays are from WPC23-0030, a hole drilled from the same pad as WPC22-22 but angled further to the south. WPC23-0030 cut three zones of high-grade CRD mineralization:
• 22 meters averaging 146 g/t silver, 9.8% zinc, and 3.3% lead from a depth of 216.6 meters.
• Eight meters averaging 47 g/t silver, 13.5% zinc, and 0.8% lead from a depth of 241.4 meters.
• 40.2 meters averaging 262 g/t silver, 4.5% zinc, and 10.9% lead from a depth of 260.6 meters.
Western Alaska says this intercept has extended the Waterpump Creek mineralization a further 45 meters to the south. Overall, the high-grade CRD mineralization at Waterpump Creek has been traced for 495 meters in a mostly north-south direction.
With drilling tracing Waterpump Creek mineralization to the northeast-trending Illinois Creek fault, Western Alaska drilled a fence of four exploration holes in search of the fault-offset extension of mineralization at Last Hurrah, an appropriate name for the last target drilled by Anaconda in the 1980s.
The company reports that all four widely spaced holes intersected pervasive and complex alteration, including sanding, bleaching, and UV fluorescence – signs that this area was hammered by multiple pulses of hydrothermal fluids.
The Western Alaska geological team is particularly excited about the UV fluorescence, which has proven to be a useful tool for vectoring toward CRD mineralization at Waterpump Creek.
When the core from drilling close to the Waterpump Creek CRD is put under UV light, mineralization shows up with intense pink and orange fluorescence – holes nearest the CRD have the most intense fluorescence. The drill core that fluoresces the most intensely has been dubbed "Barbeque Rock" due to its resemblance to hot coals.
"It is always exciting to see this strength of BBQ fluorescence response in 'fugitive calcite' veining in a new area. It says you're getting into the halo around something important," said Peter Megaw, a Western Alaska Minerals technical advisor and expert on CRD mineralized systems.
Hole LH23-0005, the westernmost hole of the fence drilled at Last Hurrah, cut a zone of BBQ rock very similar to what was observed last year in WPC22-021, a hole that was 30 meters away from the high-grade CRD mineralization cut in hole WPC22-022. This suggests that hole LH23-0005 was drilled very close to the mineralized zone Western Alaska is seeking at Big Hurrah.
"We welcome this proof that high-grade mineralization at Waterpump Creek remains open to the south and that the distinctive CRD alteration seen there is turning up in our drilling 700m farther south at Last Hurrah," said Western Alaska Minerals CEO Kit Marrs. "We look forward to continuing drilling at Last Hurrah to find the sulphides that the alteration is telling us should be nearby and trace it back towards WPC, which may just be the tip of the finger of a major CRD manto (flat-lying orebody)."
Geophysics show a fault-offset resistivity anomaly at Last Hurrah that is very similar to Waterpump Creek but 1,400 meters long, which is nearly three times longer than the Waterpump Creek sulfide body outlined north of the fault.
CORRECTION 11-05-2023: This article has been updated to correct a typo in the meterage of the upper intercept in hole WPC23-0029.
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)