The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - August 2, 2024
Contango ORE is carrying out 3,000 meters of drilling this year at the 1-million-ounce JT gold deposit at Johnson Tract.
Contango ORE Inc. July 30 announced the start of a roughly 3,000-meter drill program at its newly acquired Johnson Tract gold project in Southcentral Alaska.
Johnson Tract is a 20,942-acre polymetallic gold exploration project about 125 miles southwest of Anchorage owned by Cook Inlet Region Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation more commonly known as CIRI.
Contango ORE added the project to its portfolio through the acquisition of HighGold Mining Inc., which was finalized on July 9.
Prior to the buyout, HighGold had substantially expanded and upgraded the JT Deposit at Johnson Tract and explored a series of similar gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) targets along a 7.5-mile-long corridor that runs across the property.
According to a 2022 calculation, JT Deposit hosts 3.49 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.33 grams per metric ton (598,000 ounces) gold, 6 g/t (673,000 oz) silver, 5.21% (400.8 million pounds) zinc, 0.59% (43.1 million lb) copper, and 0.67% (51.5 million lb) lead.
Including the value of all the metals, this comes to 1.05 million oz gold equivalent.
With its sights set on establishing a mine at JT and direct shipping the ore to an already established mill for processing, Contango has launched its first drill program at Johnson Tract.
This drilling is expected to include 20 surface holes designed to upgrade resources within the upper third of the nearly vertical deposit.
"This year's program will focus on three things: in-fill drilling to upgrade resources to the indicated category; collection of metallurgical samples for more detailed metallurgical testing to support a geometallurgical model for the deposit; and support geotechnical and hydrologic studies in preparation for permitting an approximate 1.6 kilometer (1 mile) long tunnel to access the Johnson Tract deposit and support a detailed underground drilling program in preparation of a feasibility study," said Contango ORE President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse.
While drills are turning at Johnson Tract, Contango is continuing the previously started permitting for a road to the proposed portal for the tunnel and a laydown site for underground support facilities.
"We expect to have permits in hand by the end of the year and be in a position to start construction of the portal access road next summer," Van Nieuwenhuyse added.
The exploration camp at Johnson Tract opened in mid-July and the drill program is expected to continue into October.
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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