Fort Knox plans work program for Gunsite project in Alaska

A mapping and sampling program is under way at the Gunsite property, 90 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska, at the northwestern end of the historic Palmer gold mining district.

The project was recently acquired by Fort Knox Gold Resources (FNX-T), which plans to test several known showings and new geochemical and geophysical anomalies. The junior views the project as being prospective for porphyry copper-gold deposits and high-grade, vein-type copper-gold-silver deposits.

Fort Knox acquired the core project from a private individual, and then staked 55 adjacent prospecting sites and claims to boost its overall land package to 7,720 acres.

The Palmer district produced gold from several placer and lode deposits in the early 1920s, including a small amount from high-grade veins at Gunsite. Work since then has included prospecting and sampling programs carried out by various parties in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The copper-gold-silver mineralization at Gunsite is reportedly hosted by a large, composite intrusion composed dominantly of tonalite, which grades into granodiorite and diorite. Three types of mineralization have been reported:

n quartz-bornite-chalcopyrite veins that locally carry spectacular values in copper, gold and silver;

n disseminated chalcopyrite, bornite and pyrite in strongly altered to fresh dioritic rocks; and

n mixtures of vein-hosted and disseminated mineralization in variably sheared dioritic rocks associated with the Sheep Creek fault.

Fort Knox says three areas of significant copper-gold-silver mineralization have been reported to date; Prescott Point, Gunsite Pass and the south face of Penger Mountain.

The average grade of 12 samples taken from the Sheep Creek exposure at Prescott Point (by previous operators) is reported to be 1.5% copper, 0.1 oz. gold and 0.24 oz. silver.

At Gunsite Pass, 11 scattered grab samples from veins are reported to average 10.88% copper, 0.15 oz. gold and 1.3 oz. silver. Five grab samples of the disseminated chalcopyrite-bearing material from the same area are reported to average 1.49% copper, 0.062 oz. gold and 0.3 oz. silver.

At Penger Mountain, 25 grab samples from quartz-bornite-chalcopyrite vein material averaged 10.71% copper, 0.17 oz. gold and 1.64 oz. silver. This area is believed to host the high-grade showings found in the early 1900s.

The current mapping and sampling program is aimed at locating and verifying known copper-gold mineralization. It will be followed by geophysical surveys, soil sampling and geological mapping to locate and trace mineralization under the talus cover. Diamond drilling is also planned to test the known showings and the new anomalies.