The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - March 29, 2024
The 2024 exploration season will enable Blue Star to gain a better understanding of its properties, located approximately 525 kilometers (326 miles) north-northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in the Kitikmeot region of western Nunavut.
Blue Star Gold Corp. March 26 announced an update of its 2024 exploration campaign at the company's Ulu, Hood River, and Roma projects in the High Lake Greenstone Belt of the Kitikmeot region in Nunavut – detailing new discoveries, resource expansion, and an overall evaluation of its target pipeline.
Located roughly 525 kilometers (326 miles) northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Blue Star's flagship Ulu gold project is comprised of 12,000 hectares (29,653 acres) covering a more than 45-kilometer (28 miles) stretch of the High Lake Greenstone Belt.
According to a 2015 calculation, the Flood and Gnu zones on the Ulu property host 2.5 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 7.53 grams per metric ton (605,000 ounces) gold; and 1.26 million metric tons of inferred resource grading 5.57 g/t (226,000 oz) gold.
After a fruitful 2023 season, Blue Star has regrouped for the coming year and plans to mobilize sometime during the second quarter 2024.
"Our 2024 campaign leverages the results of a very successful 2023 program," said Blue Star CEO Grant Ewing. "Our large pipeline of high-quality targets has been refined as we prepare for the upcoming season."
Planning a balanced exploration program, the company aims for a season that spreads out as much data accumulation as possible. This will include mapping of drill targets and prospecting to further refine the controls on mineralization and for new potential target areas; geophysical work from drone-based magnetometry, ground-based electromagnetic surveys, and induced polarization surveys to further refine select zones, including gold-bearing critical metal targets; and drilling.
"The drilling component will focus on new discoveries and on resource expansion adjacent to and within known resource centers," said Ewing.
Blue Star says targets deemed drill-ready for the 2024 campaign are based on scale, proximity to existing infrastructure, and hold the potential to create a new resource center.
Many targets remain in the drill-ready or near drill-ready status but do not yet meet key criteria or are too conceptual for the upcoming drill program. These targets, and others lower in the extensive pipeline, will be the focus of the mapping, geophysical surveys, and prospecting programs.
In addition to the high potential for new discoveries, the company believes there is an opportunity to expand the mineral resources at the known deposits.
At the Flood zone, additional geological data continues to outline shallow-to-moderate depth targets for drill evaluation. These include polymetallic targets, trends of pathfinder elements coincident with alteration trends, and extensions to modeled zones.
So far, the company has detailed its upcoming priority list for the adjacent Ulu and Hood River properties; these include:
• Mikigon – a more than 500-meter-long coincident geophysical anomaly and alteration trend that returned numerous high-grade gold samples in 2023. An induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey will be used in the area under cover to the north in order to trace and refine drill targets. No drilling has been conducted in the region of this priority target.
• North Nutaaq – a 400-meter-long section to the north that hosts historical drilling intercepts that have been remodeled based on the Gnu zone and will be drill-tested.
• South Nutaaq – a 600-meter-long section to the south that hosts overburden-covered geophysical signatures similar to Gnu, will also be drill-tested.
• Central Zone – an open intercept that cut 40.24 meters averaging 0.73 g/t gold will be followed up with oriented drill core. Geophysical data has also indicated that this priority target has similar structural relationships to Flood Zone.
• South Zone-Twilight – a 500-meter-long alteration zone with a similar structural orientation as Flood Zone, cutting the same lithological units. This will receive initial oriented core drilling to assess the target's potential.
• Rhonda – an auriferous critical mineral target that will be evaluated with a ground-based electromagnetic (EM) geophysical survey and drilling.
Blue Star's priority target list for the more northern Roma property will include:
• H101 Prospect – a disseminated to semi-massive zone that contains 0.6 meters of massive sphalerite. Two historical drill holes tested a 350-meter-long EM conductor that resulted in a 21-meter section with low-grade zinc and copper values.
• North Zone extension – an extension of the High Lake gold-enriched volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit onto Roma. Groundwork will follow up on a potential marker unit and include alteration mapping as well as ground-based EM surveying to refine the target for drill testing.
• Marble Fold – prospecting will be conducted in an area that exhibits a potential caprock unit to possible sulfide accumulation in the same stratigraphy as the High Lake VMS AB/D zones.
• Roma D – historical airborne EM conductors at this target have been found to be coincident with magnetic anomalies and are closely associated with historically mapped exhalative (vented up from seafloor) units. Mapping and lithogeochemical sampling will refine the targets in this area.
"As Blue Star finalizes preparation for the 2024 exploration campaign, we are excited by the prospects and look forward to continuing to unlock the district-scale gold and critical minerals potential of the High Lake Belt," the CEO finished.
Blue Star also reports that West Kitikmeot Resources has been assigned as the new proponent for the Gray's Bay Road and Port Project. The project envisions a deepwater port built on Coronation Gulf and a road connecting Nunavut to Northwest Territories.
The proposed all-season road would travel within and immediately adjacent to Blue Star's projects, providing ideal accessibility. This future access will dramatically lower the operating costs for not just Blue Star but the entire region, ultimately connecting northern products to markets around the world and enabling supplies to reach the region at a much lower cost, for a longer period, and with greater reliability.
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