The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – March 1, 2024
Gladiator geologist climbing slope with heavy copper mineralization at the Whitehorse project.
Plan map of the Cub Trend target area with historical drill collars and results with recently returned magnetics survey.
Gladiator Metals Corp. Feb. 27 announced it has mobilized an additional drill rig to Cub Trend at the company's Whitehorse Copper project to explore large-scale magnetic anomalies recently identified from an ongoing drone magnetic survey.
"Gladiator has mobilized a second rig at the Whitehorse Copper project and commenced the first diamond drilling campaign at the Cub Trend prospect since the 1980s," said Gladiator Metals CEO Jason Bontempo.
The Whitehorse Copper project is a 5,380-hectare (13,294 acres) copper-molybdenum-silver-gold skarn exploration project that covers a significant portion of what has historically been known as the Whitehorse Copper Belt.
Located in the backyard of Yukon's capital city, from which it gets its name, the Whitehorse Copper project is a 35-kilometer (22 miles) by five-kilometer (three miles) contiguous high-grade copper belt with 30 known prospective targets that saw production of approximately 267.5 million pounds copper, 225,000 ounces gold, and 2.84 million oz of silver from 11.1 million tons of mineralized skarn ore milled between the years 1967 and 1982.
Digging through old records compiled by the geology section of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in the 1980s, Gladiator did its own compilation of historical drilling at the Cub Trend from drilling that comprised 11,474 meters in 142 holes.
The collation of historical drilling identified high-grade copper skarn mineralization that is strongly associated with a high-tenor magnetic anomaly that occurs for more than 1,100 meters of strike length and connects multiple zones of past production, compelling Gladiator to send another rig in for further exploration.
"This drilling has been driven by recently returned preliminary drone magnetics which have highlighted large magnetic anomalies under cover and along strike from both previous mining operations at the Keewenaw and Black Cub South open pits and significant, shallow copper-skarn intercepts identified from Gladiator's compilation of historical drilling," said Bontempo.
The Cub Trend consists of multiple prospects identified from historical drilling, small-scale mining operations and outcropping skarn mineralization over more than 1,000 meters of strike. Individual prospects include Gem, Black Cub South, Black Cub North and Keewenaw with the shallow, high-grade Black Cub South and Keewenaw open pits mined historically.
Comparing past and present data with the two open pit mines, the company assumes due to the closely spaced drilling that the limited and very shallow mineralization identified was predominantly mined out.
Plan map of the Cub Trend target area with historical drill collars and results with recently returned magnetics survey.
Past results from exploration drilling at some of the Cub Trend targets include:
• Gem (Unmined):
o 16.61 meters averaging 2.59% copper from a depth of 76.05 meters in hole G-011.
o 24.99 meters averaging 1.4% copper from 23.93 meters in G-018.
• Keewenaw (Partially mined):
o 39.62 meters averaging 1.56% copper from 40.54 meters in K-004.
o 55.47 meters averaging 1.26% copper from 37.49 meters in K-005.
o 57.91 meters averaging 0.93% copper from 10.67 meters in K-006.
o 19.05 meters averaging 2.83% copper from 18.9 meters in K-013.
o 23.47 meters averaging 2.91% copper from 41.76 meters in K-019.
o 74.98 meters averaging 1.51% copper from surface in K-020.
• Black Cub South (Partially mined):
o 34.75 meters averaging 1.65% copper from 8.84 meters in BLC-008.
o 17.83 meters averaging 2.27% copper from 9.48 meters in BLC-024.
However, these historical results, combined with ongoing interpretation of the drone-borne magnetic survey, represent a different opportunity: to demonstrate the geological continuity and identify on a much larger and broader scale the mineralized system that underpins the area, potentially linking these prospects on a macro scale and connecting them to the nearby Cowley Park prospect 3,000 meters east of the anomalous targets at Cub Trend.
Despite this, the company strongly advises that historical drill results have not undertaken any independent investigation or analysis necessary to meet modern industry standards.
Therefore, the results' use is primarily for guidance on future exploration and drilling programs.
Nevertheless, with the added rig, 5,000 meters of diamond drilling will be added in addition to the ongoing 10,000 meters currently targeting the nearby Middle Chief prospect, where its own historical data revealed possible unmined zones of mineralization.
"The planned 5,000 meters of diamond drilling is designed to test near surface potential areas of magnetite-copper skarn mineralization open in all directions with limited exploration or development away from outcropping areas."
Drilling at Cub Trend will also target shallow, high-grade, prospective, unmined zones of copper skarn mineralization, along strike of the former Keweenaw and Black Cub South open cut mines, and possibly testing the undrilled Gem prospect.
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