The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - May 1, 2024
The Akie camp has been the headquarters for exploring, expanding, and upgrading ZincX's Cardiac Creek zinc-lead-silver deposit.
ZincX Resources Corp. April 30 announced that Teck Resources Ltd. is renting its Akie camp to support mineral exploration in Northern British Columbia.
The Akie camp was established to support exploration along ZincX's expansive land package that includes 11 zinc exploration properties covering a 140-kilometer- (87 miles) long stretch of the Kechika Trough in northcentral B.C.
ZincX, Teck, and Korea Zinc are exploring more than a 140-kilometer (87 miles) stretch of the zinc-enriched Kechika Trough in Northern B.C.
The Cardiac Creek sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) deposit at Akie, the most advanced of the properties fully owned by ZincX, hosts 22.7 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 8.32% (4.16 billion pounds) zinc, 1.61% (804 million lb) lead, and 14.1 grams per metric ton (10.3 million ounces) silver; plus 7.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 7.04% (1.17 billion lb) zinc, 1.24% (205 million lb) lead, and 12 g/t (2.9 million oz) silver.
A 2018 preliminary economic assessment for the Cardiac Creek deposit on Akie envisions a 4,000-metric-ton underground mine providing ore for a 3,000-metric-ton-per-day mill that is expected to produce 3.27 billion lb of zinc and 362 million lb of lead over an initial 18 years of mining.
Teck, under a 50-50 joint venture with Korea Zinc, is advancing the Cirque zinc-lead-silver project about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) northwest of the Akie camp at Cardiac Creek.
While Teck has not published a modern resource estimate, according to a 1990s calculation, the Cirque Main deposit hosts 24.7 million metric tons of historical reserves averaging 8.5% zinc, 2.3% lead, and 50.8 g/t silver.
"The world-class SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag (zinc-lead-silver) endowment of both the Cardiac Creek (Akie) and the Cirque deposits carry significant potential for future mine development in the Kechika Trough region," said ZincX Resources President and CEO Peeyush Varshney.
Located close to existing infrastructure, Teck says concentrates from Cirque could easily be delivered to Trail, a Southern B.C. smelting and refining facility owned by the company.
The Teck-Korea Zinc JV also owns a 51% interest in three ZincX properties adjacent to Cirque – Pie, Cirque East, and Yuen.
To support ongoing exploration of its zinc properties in and around Cirque, Teck has cut a deal to rent ZincX's 50-person Akie camp.
ZincX said the camp was used late last summer to host Kwadacha Natural Resources Ltd. Partnership (KNRLP), the economic development and natural resources arm of the Kwadacha Nation, whose traditional territory covers roughly 240,000 square kilometers (93,000 square miles) of Northern B.C., southeastern Yukon, and southwestern Northwest Territories.
The company plans to meet with Teck early this spring to review the camp and finalize mobilization plans.
"We are happy to continue to provide support to commercial and resource extraction sectors working in the region," said Varshney. "Hosting companies such as Teck, KNRLP and Dunkley Lumber in the Akie River area reinforces our long-held belief that the region and especially the local communities will greatly benefit from year-round access and associated future economic opportunities."
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.
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