The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Blasts through program in record time, adds more drill targets North of 60 Mining News – August 25, 2023
Although the bulk of Fireweed's 16,000-meter drill program has been completed, better drill performance has allowed the company to tack on additional untested targets for drilling.
With drilling ahead of schedule, Fireweed has opted to test other zinc targets at Macmillan Pass.
Fireweed Metals Corp. Aug. 22 announced that drills have tapped wide intercepts of spectacular zinc grades at Boundary Zone on the company's Macmillan Pass in Yukon, Canada.
Fireweed's 2023 program began by testing a gap between two of the best holes ever drilled at Boundary Zone - NB22-002, which cut 124 meters averaging 12.3% zinc, 1.3% lead, 45.9 grams per metric ton silver, and NB22‑023, which cut 298 meters averaging 4.5% zinc, 1.4% lead, and 30.9 g/t silver.
Drilling in this area has been testing a high-grade feeder zone target believed to link Boundary West and Boundary Main zones.
Highlights from the first three holes of this drilling include:
• 38 meters (19 meters true-width) averaging 9.12% zinc, 1.5% lead, and 52.6 g/t silver from a depth of 173 meters in hole NB23-001.
• 36.3 meters (true-width unavailable) averaging 3.31% zinc, 0.08% lead, and 10.2 g/t silver from 224.7 meters in NB23-002.
• 71.9 meters (40 meters true-width) averaging 6.48% zinc, 3.09% lead, and 97.8 g/t silver from 208 meters in NB23-003.
The latest batch of assays includes one hole, NB23-007, that cut two intercepts that each outshine all the assays received so far this year.
"In our largest field season ever, we continue to hit spectacular grade and widths of mineralization at Boundary Zone," said Fireweed Metals CEO Brandon Macdonald.
NB23-007 cut 82.5 meters of massive sulfide averaging 11.9% zinc, 2.2% lead, and 81.2 g/t silver from a depth of 170.7 meters; and 118 meters averaging 15.1% zinc, 2.8% lead, and 85.8 g/t silver from a depth of 308.9 meters.
NB23-007 has taken the top spot for best hole at Boundary – at least for now.
"The results from NB23-007 include two intersections which continue to demonstrate the world-class potential of mineralization at Boundary Zone," said Macdonald. "These results show continuity with, and even eclipse NB22-002, formerly Fireweed's best-ever drillhole, in terms of grade and length of mineralization."
Successfully targeting areas of interest, the 2023 step-outs have shown the extent of mineralization and continues to close the gaps in geological understanding. As for the first eight holes received for this year, zinc mineralization has been intersected in every step-out that has been completed to depth at both Boundary Zone and the Tom deposit.
Hole NB23-004 intersected two intervals of sphalerite and galena mineralization, with a 33.4-meter intersection (22 meters true width) correlated with the stratiform layer of mineralization averaging 8% zinc, 2% lead, and 59.2 g/t silver; and a 20.5-meter intercept of vein and replacement style sulfides averaging 4.9% zinc.
Hole NB23-005 intersected a 25.3-meter (22 meters true width) interval of semi-massive, laminated, and stratiform sulfide averaging 6.4% zinc, 0.7% lead, and 31.9 g/t silver, including 9.5 meters (8.3 meters true width) of 12.2% zinc, 1.3% lead, and 66.9 g/t silver.
Hole NB23-006 intersected two zones as well, a 32.7-meter (16 meters true width) intercept of laminated sulfides averaging 4.4% zinc and 12.4 g/t silver, and a 38.7-meter interval of vein and replacement mineralization averaging 5.6% zinc and 6.7 g/t silver.
Lastly, NB23-008 intersected a 44.7-meter interval of volcanic-hosted semi-massive sulfides containing 6.5% zinc and 9.6 g/t silver, including 16.3 meters of 10.3% zinc and 11.3 g/t silver. Additionally, this hole contained another interval of 34.4 meters of vein mineralization averaging 5.2% zinc and 8.8 g/t silver, including 11.5 meters of 10.7% zinc and 13.5 g/t silver.
To date, 31 holes have been drilled at Boundary Zone to test the laminated stratiform mineralization and massive sulfide zones. Each hole drilled continues to support the idea that this geology is all part of the same zone.
Fireweed says that this remains a preliminary interpretation of the available geological data.
The 2023 program remains in full swing with five diamond drill rigs, targeting roughly 22,000 meters of drilling primarily focused on Boundary, Tom, and Jason.
So far, 14,500 meters have been completed, with the remaining meterage aimed at step-outs at these same targets, with additional exploration targets away from the known zones for testing.
Due to higher performance from the drilling it has allowed the bulk of the original planned drilling to be completed earlier than targeted, providing an opportunity to test additional areas of interest. Drill penetration rates in the first 29 holes were between 17 to 50% faster than historical performance.
Assays are pending for the remaining 21 holes, and drilling remains underway where zones are open at depth.
Reader Comments(0)