Yukon gold, gem exploration heats up

While discoveries of emerald and beryl in the Finlayson Lake area have enjoyed the highest profile, the territory’s last producer was the Brewery Creek gold mine, and gold is still a mainstay of mineral exploration in the Yukon. Higher gold prices have breathed some life into Yukon exploration.

One of the most active companies in the Yukon gold hunt has been StrataGold (SGV-V), spun off by Expatriate Resources (EXR-V) in 2003 to hold its precious-metal interests. In joint venture with StrataGold, Northgate Exploration (NGX-T) has been drilling the Hyland property, about 70 km northeast of Watson Lake.

At Hyland, the partners are looking for a sediment-hosted gold deposit on the Carlin trend pattern. The property had seen some work in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including trenching and percussion drilling, which had uncovered oxide gold mineralization in sediments; an inferred resource of 3.2 million tonnes grading 1.1 grams gold per tonne had even been outlined.

Northgate and StrataGold, instead, are looking at deeper potential, in the unweathered rock below the oxide. Four holes drilled in the summer confirmed that the mineralized zone strikes roughly north and dips steeply to the west.

The holes intersected multiple zones of gold and silver mineralization in silicified phyllite and quartzite. The zones themselves varied widely in width; some were 2-3 metres in drilled width, while others ranged between 15 and 53 metres. The gold grades were generally around 1-2 grams per tonne, with silver grades anywhere from a few grams to 65 grams. Below the oxidized zone, the gold occurred along with pyrite, arsenopyrite, and base-metal sulphides.

Back for a second phase of drilling in the fall, the partners put down eight more holes to test strike extensions of the deeper mineralization. Three holes to the north of the earlier drill intersections were mineralized and altered but didn’t carry significant gold or silver values. Stepout drilling to the south, though, showed that gold values in the 1-gram range persist over a 2-km strike length, and that the structures maintain their width.

StrataGold has also been busy on its own account, at the Aurex property, straddling the territorial highway between Mayo and Elsa. A 4,000-metre drill program in early winter outlined both quartz-vein and skarn mineralization. Grades were mostly below 1 gram per tonne, but locally touched 4-8 grams over widths of 1-1.5 metres.

Tagish Lake Gold (TLG-V) keeps plugging away at its Skukum Creek property, 40 km west of Carcross. Recently, the company resampled cores from about 20 old drill holes, finding that lower-grade mineralization frequently envelops the previously defined mineralized zones.

Better known for its gemstone efforts, Firestone Ventures (FV-V) has optioned the Sonora Gulch property 110 km west of Carmacks, in a bid to find the source of local placer gold. The property has not seen systematic exploration since the mid-1980s, and hosts gold veins in two settings — cutting a series of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and as late-stage veins in quartz porphyry bodies that intrude the stratified rocks.

Firestone also found a gold showing on its Four Corners property, in the Finlayson Lake area, while exploring for gemstones.

Similarly, True North Gems (TGX-V) has announced discoveries of base metal and gold mineralization on the properties it is exploring for gemstones. Most recently, True North found massive sulphide boulders in scree slopes on its main Finlayson Lake property. Last September, True North and Hinterland Metals (HMI-V) located a new gold showing on the Gleam property, 15 km northwest of the Regal Ridge emerald showing.