Placer explores Skyline’s porphyry

Decades before Skyline Gold (TSE) starting mining gold at Johnny Mountain, the Iskut River region of northwestern British Columbia was intermittently examined by various mining companies interested in the region’s potential for base metals, particularly copper. Although best known for its high-grade gold deposits, the Iskut River camp is now being actively explored by a number of companies for a variety of other deposit types.

This year, for example, Placer Dome (TSE) intends to continue exploring Skyline’s polymetallic Bonanza prospect, as well as conduct an initial evaluation of Skyline’s Bronson Creek copper-gold porphyry system.

The Bronson Creek porphyry system is considered prospective for a large tonnage, low-grade deposit suitable for development by low-cost, open pit mining methods.

“The announcement by the provincial government to construct a road and to supply power to the area significantly increases the opportunity to make a deposit of this type attractive for development,” said Skyline Chairman Ronald Shon.

As for the Bonanza zone, drilling completed to date is reported to have identified intercepts of polymetallic base metal sulphides with anomalous gold and silver values up to 10 metres thick.

Placer’s agreement with Skyline calls for the major to spend $3.2 million in exploration over the next two years on 1,800 acres to earn a 60% interest. The acreage covered by the agreement includes both the Bonanza prospect and Bronson Creek porphyry system.

The latter target was initially identified by exploration work carried out between 1987 and 1989. The porphyry system is reported to underlie a high contrast, gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly measuring about 0.3 mile wide and 1.8 miles long.

Exploration work yielded assay composites of gold values of 0.021-0.047 oz. gold per ton, silver values of 0.24-1.02 oz., copper values of 0.10-0.60%, zinc values of 0.14-0.52% and molybdenum of 0.03% from three distinct phases of the copper-gold porphyry system.

The work program planned for this season includes 6,000 ft. of diamond drilling to evaluate areas of intense sulphide mineralization in the porphyry system and gold-rich areas in the Bonanza zone.