Largest mineral landholder in the state
Sand Point, Alaska —
Publicly listed for slightly more than a year, the company has zeroed in on Alaska as its geographic locale of choice, acquiring interest and rights on a large portfolio of gold, copper and polymetallic projects throughout the state. Emerging as one of the larger stakeholders in Alaska, the company recently expanded its total landholdings to more than 6,000 sq. km.
“We are the largest landholder in Alaska, someone told us, after the state, federal and native governments, but certainly among other publicly held exploration companies — and that includes Teck Cominco and its Red Dog project,” says Full Metal President Michael Williams.
The company is generating prospects, developing targets on them, and then securing joint ventures to finance further exploration and potential development.
During a recent site visit by The Northern Miner, the size and scope of the land position the company amassed in the Alaskan Peninsula-Aleutian Islands region was evident. The Alaskan Island porphyry belt tracks for several hundred kilometres along the island arc volcanic chain, hosting numerous epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold mineralized occurrences.
Full Metal’s Aleutian land package comprises some 5,700 sq. km in Port Moller and Chignik regions, on which the company is earning full interest from the Aleut Corp. and the Bristol Bay Native Corp., respectively, under exclusive agreements. The project was recently farmed out by the company to
The Port Moller area, on the tip of the Alaskan peninsula, hosts the Centennial and the Shumagain-Apollo gold projects, in addition to the Pyramid copper porphyry project. The Centennial project, on Popov Island and adjacent to the town of Sand Point, Alaska, was evaluated by Battle Mountain Gold, now part of
Across the channel on Unga Island, the Shumagin and Apollo low-sulphidation epithermal gold deposits host a historical resource of 280,000 tonnes grading 27.7 grams, gold and 92.6 grams silver per tonne with Apollo previously producing about 145,000 oz. gold. The deposits are owned by southern-U.S. natural gas producer
The Pyramid copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit underwent drilling in the 1970s, which led to a resource estimate of 125 million tonnes grading 0.4% copper and 0.025% molybdenum in a near-surface enrichment zone. Subsequent exploration by Battle Mountain in the 1980s identified gold values in the deposit. All resource estimates were conducted prior to implementation of National Instrument 43-101. A helicopter flight over the region revealed very large areas of extensive alteration staining, providing no shortage of exploration targets.
The Chignik project area also hosts a number of interesting targets. The Mallard Duck and Warner porphyry occurrences have seen historical exploration, with the former delivering values of up to 4.2% copper, 3.3 grams gold and 720 grams silver. At Bee Creek, five closely spaced historic drill holes tested a porphyry mineralized zone, returning up to 150 metres of 0.25% copper. Kawisgag is a porphyry target covering 13 sq. km of sulphide mineralization with previous sampling yielding up to 0.17% copper, 6.9 grams gold and 0.02% molybdenum.
Also in the Chignik area, testing of the Manhattan high-sulphidation epithermal prospect returned assays of up to 20.5 grams gold and 558 grams silver from pyrite-enargite mineralized vein systems.
Metallica Resources’ President and CEO Richard Hall summed up the region’s upside: “Full Metal’s Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula properties represent a large under-explored land position with excellent potential for the discovery of world-class copper-gold-molybdenum and gold-silver mines.”
Not just a Lucky Shot
With a 7-hole drill program recently completed on its aptly named Lucky Shot project, Full Metal has cut a number of bonanza-grade gold intercepts at the past-producing mine situated about 60 km north of Anchorage, Alaska.
Some of the best results came from hole 12, where a 4-metre true width intercept (from 133 metres down-hole depth) averaged 219.1 grams gold per tonne, including a 0.7 metre interval grading 1,267.5 grams gold (assay values are uncut). The hole is a 50-metre westerly stepout from previously released hole 9, which intersected 3.1 metres of 62.2 grams gold. Both high-grade intercepts are about 200 metres updip from past underground workings.
All current and previous drilling has successfully intersected the Lucky Shot shear structure, which shows strong chlorite-sericite-carbonate alteration along with brecciation and silicified components. The shear zone has been outlined both 250 metres updip from past development and 250 metres along strike. The shear remains open to the west and south, and to the north, downdip beneath historic workings.
Lucky Shot gold mineralization occurs in a series of stacked, sub-horizontal high-grade quartz veins within Late Cretaceous granites and tonalites. Mineralized veins, averaging one metre in width, are associated with faulting and shearing structures with notable thickening adjacent to faults. Recent exploration has identified vein mineralization in some of the wider shear structures with thicknesses of 3-5 metres, representing possible feeder zones.
The Lucky Shot mine was the richest historic gold producer in the Willow Creek mining district. From 1921 to 1940, a reported 250,000 oz. gold was recovered from ore averaging almost 1.5 oz. gold per ton (51 grams gold per tonne).
The project retains good existing infrastructure, including accessible underground workings, power in proximity, plus an existing camp and maintenance buildings.
Ganes Creek gold
Elsewhere in Alaska, Full Metal recently optioned its Ganes Creek gold project to
Exploration has targeted the bedrock source of spectacular nuggets found in the area. Numerous large specimens have been recovered from nearby streams with many still encapsulated in quartz, indicating a proximal source.
Geologically, the Ganes Creek intrusive complex is interpreted as a faulted-off extension of the Donlin Creek intrusive complex that hosts the more than 11 million oz. Donlin Creek gold deposit of
Boulder Creek uranium
Full Metal recently optioned its Boulder Creek uranium project, on northwestern Alaska’s Seward Peninsula, to
Mineralization occurs in a sandstone-type roll-front setting in which the uranium was initially leached from a Late Cretaceous alkalic quartz monzonite and deposited in the reducing environment of Paleocene-aged Boulder Creek basin sediments.
Historic exploration in the 1970s and 1980s by Houston Oil and Minerals saw 3,300 metres of core drilling in 52 holes. The company produce
d an unqualified resource estimate of about 1 million lbs. of contained U3O8 in material averaging 0.27% U3O8. Resource calculations predate National Instrument 43-101.
Full Metal’s large South Pebble project covers 400 sq. km surrounding
In addition to other Alaskan projects, Full Metal also holds its two initial Nunavut mineral projects, Arcadia and Mac & Cache, joint ventured with
— Michael Williams, president of Full Metals Minerals
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