Drill results from mineral exploration programs in Canada’s Yukon Territory this year are starting to arrive as many companies end their field operations in 2021 in what some describe as one of the busiest mining seasons. occupied for years.

Following an eight-year cycle of capital market downturn, plus a 2020 season loaded with operating restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current season brings more optimistic challenges to Canada’s Far North typically associated with better days in mining, such as a shortage of rigs and skilled labor.

One sector that is already filing encouraging results reports for 2021 exploration is base metals and silver projects.

New area at Macmillan Pass

Fireweed Zinc Ltd., a junior base metal and silver exploration company in the eastern Yukon, announced on September 16 the results of a second hole drilled this season in the Boundary West area of the district scale of 940 square kilometers (363 square miles) Macmillan Zinc-Lead-Silver Pass Project.

Three distinct zones of zinc-lead-silver mineralization were intersected in the extension hole at Boundary West, including a newly discovered zone of high-grade, stratified, stratified mineralization similar in style to the Tom and Jason deposits that host the resources at Macmillan Pass. The new stratiform zone contained 23.77% zinc, 3.44% lead and 75.7 g / t silver over 10.42 meters in a larger zone of 9.91% zinc, 1.64% of lead and 39.6 g / t silver over 32.99 meters.

Massive to semi-massive sulphides below the stratiform interval contained 8.22% zinc, 0.71% lead and 53.6 g / t silver over 60.68 meters, including a zone of massive sulphides at highest grade of 10.36% zinc, 0.94% lead and 66.7 g / t silver over 40.08 meters.

A large zone of mineralization hosted at shallow depths in the hole returned 4.57% zinc, 0.02% lead and 7.9 g / t silver over 40.24 meters, including a zone greater than high grade of 9.99% zinc, 0.06% lead and 17.4 g / t silver over 13.4 meters.

“(The results of) this hole demonstrates that the new zone has very high grades of zinc, lead and silver and opens up the remainder of the Boundary Zone to exploration for this style of mineralization,” said Brandon Macdonald, CEO of Fireweed Zinc in the 16 declaration.

“We are also very pleased to see grades increasing with depth in massive sulphide mineralization and in vein-hosted mineralization. This suggests that at Boundary West there is great potential for expansion at depth, where grades even higher can be anticipated, ”he added. added.

Fireweed Zinc completed its 2021 drill program with a total of 3,850 meters in 13 holes. The explorer found mineralization in every hole in the Boundary Zone and at Boundary West, including large zones of massive sulphides in three holes and in one hole completed in the Tom East Zone.

Company geologists say mineralization in the Boundary area is analogous to that found at the Red Dog mine in northeast Alaska, and Red Dog should be used as a model for future exploration. Red Dog’s operator Teck Resources Ltd. also owns a significant stake in Fireweed Zinc.

“The discovery of another high grade zone this summer further strengthens my belief that Fireweed’s Macmillan Pass project is one of the most exciting exploration projects I have ever been involved in,” added the President of Fireweed. Zinc, John Robins.

At Boundary West, diamond drill hole NB21-002 intersected a complete intersection of a recently discovered stratified stratiform zone of zinc-lead-silver mineralization grading 9.91% zinc, 1.64% lead and 39. 6 g / t silver over 32.99 meters, including a very high grade zone of 23.77% zinc, 3.44% lead and 75.7 g / t silver over 10.42 meters. This new area was partially intersected earlier in NB21-001, where the upper part was truncated by a fault.

In NB21-002, the new zone appears to be composed of finely layered sphalerite-galena-pyrite hosted in layered silicified mudstone, a style of mineralization encountered adjacent to the feeder structures of the Tom and Jason zones, but not directly above it. .

If similar characteristics are encountered at Boundary West, Fireweed Zinc said there may be potential for mineralization expansion at depth where even higher grades and massive sulphides can occur.

The junior also said its 2021 program, building on exceptional drilling results in 2020, further defined and broadened its exploration targets.

High-grade ore at North Rackla

On September 13, Cantex Mine Development Corp. has released the results of 10 core holes on its 14,077 hectare (34,784 acre) North Rackla claim block in the eastern Yukon.

Drilled in the central and northeast portion of the main project area, nine of the 10 holes encountered exceptionally strong massive lead-zinc sulphide intersections with strong copper mineralization present in seven of the nine holes, Cantex said in a report. communicated.

Mineralized intersections varied in apparent widths up to 11.3 meters and are open at depth and laterally.

Intensive exploration at North Rackla since 2016 has identified numerous targets, including the main zone where drilling intersected significant high-grade mineralization to a depth of 700 meters with actual widths of up to 23.7 meters. meters. Drill results from previous seasons returned average grades of 20% lead-zinc and 100 g / t silver.

Cantex said two recent core holes tested an area where surface rock sampling revealed samples containing up to 21.7% copper and 60 g / t silver. Massive chalcopyrite (copper-rich sulphide) was intersected between 20.5 and 20.8 meters in the first hole, and moderate to strong chalcopyrite was intersected between 47 and 55.4 meters in the second hole. However, the actual target depth was approximately 90 meters up to the zone of superficial high grade copper mineralization identified in the rock and slopes.

Earlier in 2021, Cantex said it had completed seven drill holes to the south and southeast of the core area.

Six of the seven holes intersected semi-massive to massive sulphides consisting of galena and sphalerite (minerals containing lead and zinc, respectively), which in holes YKDD21-184 and YKDD21-185 were oxidized. The longest recorded mineralized intersection was 24.35 meters in hole YKDD21-189.

The junior also completed the structural mapping of a high grade copper showing (anomaly G66) which consistently returned grades of up to 20.8% copper. Cantex also preliminarily mapped the G67 anomaly, from which rock samples were taken containing gold grades up to 39.6 g / t.

The mineralization at North Rackla is hosted in Proterozoic rocks and has high manganese values ​​like Sedex-style ore recovered from the Sullivan and Mt. Isa mines, according to Cantex.

Since 2016, the explorer has identified and explored other areas and targets at North Rackla, including the southern area, where a new area of ​​massive iron cap outcrop (oxidized sulphide minerals) was discovered 1,000 meters away. south of the main area. The steeply dipping iron cap was traced 1,200 meters along the surface and over 320 meters in elevation, with apparent widths exposed at the surface ranging from 2 to 20 meters. The exposure of the area correlates well with a linear feature that can be plotted over more than a kilometer in lateral length on a recently interpreted magnetic survey. The geophysical character of this zone is comparable to that of the main zone.

Analyzes of selected samples taken from this iron cap returned significantly high levels of zinc and manganese (up to 12.35% zinc and up to 5.82% manganese), which are also markers. key geochemicals observed in the main zone.

Porphyry potential west of Dawson

After spending a decade or so focusing primarily on exploring its massive Rackla project in east-central Yukon, ATAC Resources Ltd. project located 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Dawson City.

ATAC stated that the road accessible Connaught property demonstrates compelling copper-molybdenum-gold porphyry potential and harbors 26 distinct epithermal veins of silver-lead-zinc-gold-copper.

The 2021 program was to assess the copper porphyry potential of the 137.3 square kilometer property.

The junior said exploration highlights in 2021 include analyzes of rock samples taken from the 100-meter-long trenches it completed at Connaught. Samples returned up to 0.69% copper in a quartz monzonite porphyry and 0.17% copper in an intrusion breach, while several trenches returned large areas of highly anomalous copper in a porphyry of Quartz monzonite in areas where copper values ​​are expected to be depleted due to surface leaching, including 331 parts per million copper over 93 meters in trench 21-A and 548 ppm copper over 69 meters in trench 21-B .

Nine of the 10 trenches dug this year revealed visual copper mineralization (malachite, azurite, tenorite and chalcopyrite) in a 400 meter by 500 meter zone with an anomaly for copper and molybdenum in the soil, while the induced polarization and ground-based magnetic surveys revealed strong geophysical anomalies that coincide with areas of soils rich in copper and molybdenum.

“We are extremely encouraged by the first exploration results from Connaught, as they strongly support the presence of a copper-molybdenum porphyry,” said ATAC Resources President and CEO Graham Downs in a statement. September 2 press release. “The copper values ​​at the surface are very impressive given the extent of surface leaching in a non-glacial environment, and the soil and trench results compare favorably with the surface values ​​from similar projects, such as the Casino deposit. ”

Casino, located approximately 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Connaught, is an advanced copper-gold-molybdenum project currently being developed by Western Copper and Gold Corp. It harbors over 7.6 billion pounds of copper and over 14.5 million ounces of gold resources.

Although the porphyry potential has long been recognized in the area around Connaught, Graham said systematic exploration for this style of deposit has never been undertaken.

“We look forward to receiving the remaining results so that we can start planning a first drilling program targeting porphyry next season,” he added.