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JUne 20-26, 2011 • VOL. 97, NO. 18 • SINCE 1915
Vancouver — As the Yukon emerges
from the spring melt, investors are once
again looking to the territory for exciting
news after a winter lull.
Several districts have emerged in the
territory, but the White Gold district,
initially legitimized by Kinross Gold’s
(k-t, kgc-n) buy-out of Underworld Resources,
remains an essential part of the
new Yukon gold rush. In the district, all
major claim holders have already
kicked-off their exploration programs
for the year.
Kaminak Gold (kam-v) started exploration
at its Coffee project in mid-April,
with a reverse circulation rig targeting
the T3 trend at its Supremo zone, and
three diamond drill rigs working on the
Latte zone and Double Double zone.
Thanks to its early start, the company
has already released the first 2011 drill
results from its 2-km-by-2-km gold-insoil
anomaly Supremo zone. The 16 RC
holes, spaced 25- to 50-metres apart
across a 100-metre strike length of the
T3 structure, were all drilled westward
between 50 and 70 degrees.
Hole R3, the most southeast hole in
the crop of results, hit 27.4 metres grading
2.52 grams gold per tonne from 89
metres depth. Fifty metres west, Hole R1
cut 16.8 metres of 4.51 grams gold from 37
Exploration heats up in
White Gold district
Smash Minerals
Rio Minerals’ Andrew Molnar and Smash Minerals CEO Adrian Fleming study
a map at Smash’s Whiskey gold project in the Yukon’s White Gold district.
By ian bickis
metres downhole. R5, drilled 25 metres
north of R1, returned 6.1 metres of 10.41
grams gold from 15 metres depth.
Twenty-five metres east of R5, R6A hit
24.4 metres of 2.28 grams gold from 47
metres.
The company’s planned holes and
pending results continue southward on
the T3 target. The company uses a mobile
track-mounted RC rig capable of drilling
up to 200 metres deep. The company is
working to secure a second rig for the site.
Kaminak has budgeted $15 million for
this year’s exploration, which includes
40,000 metres of drilling and 10,000 soil
samples in new areas. The company
wants to expand and define the geometry
of the eight gold zones discovered
last year, work towards defining inferred
resources on priority zones, and
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JUne 20-26, 2011 • VOL. 97, NO. 18 • SINCE 1915
Ethos Capital
All Terrane Mineral Exploration Services owner Carl Schulze prospecting on
Ethos Capital’s Bridget gold project in the Yukon’s White Gold district.
find new zones by following up promising
soil anomalies.
New entrant Smash Minerals (ssh-v)
was also an eager beaver, starting its exploration
program in early May. Unlike
most other Yukon players, Smash’s stock
was not exposed to last year’s Yukon excitement.
It only listed this April on the
Venture after a $6.4-million initial public
offering.
But while the company’s name is new,
CEO Adrian Fleming is not. As the former
president of Underworld, Fleming
played a part in putting Yukon on the
map again. He is also CEO of Entourage
Metals (emt-v), and has been involved
in several discoveries and projects over
his 35-year mining career.
Smash’s 846-sq.-km Whiskey project
sits immediately east of Kinross’ claims
in the district, a possibly plum location
secured with the help of prospector
Shawn Ryan.
Smash took roughly 7,000 soil samples
last year, using private funding, and
identified three priority targets. This
year’s program calls for at least 15,000
samples, plus 3,000 metres of core drilling
in August, with a total budget of $4.5
million.
Ethos Capital (ecc-v) also plans a
sample-heavy exploration season as it
explores five properties spanning 763
sq. km in the area. Launched in early
June, the company’s program calls for
an ambitious 33,000 soil samples at a collection
rate of 2,000 a day.
Having optioned its properties from
Shawn Ryan, Ethos chief operating officer
Peter Tallman noted in a recent
meeting that the company benefits from
Ryan’s sample-collection expertise and
efficiency.
Tallman said the intent of the program
is to blanket all of Ethos’ properties and
establish targets.
“The intent is basically to do what
Kaminak did in four years, in one,” Tallman
said.
Like other companies conducting soil
sampling programs, Ethos benefits from
the fact that the White Gold district is
not glaciated. This makes surface samples
a much more reliable predictor of
sub-surface anomalies.
Ethos has budgeted $6 million for its
exploration program, which will also include
2,000 metres of drilling on its Wolf
gold target.
Silver Quest Resources (sqi-v)
started exploring its 850-sq.-km land
package in the district in early June. The
company plans to spend $5 million on
15,000 metres of diamond drilling, 20,000
soil samples, geological mapping and airborne
surveying.
Silver Quest has claim blocks all over
the district, but will concentrate exploration
on its 55-sq.-km Prospector Mountain
project and 49-sq.-km Boulevard
project. In 2010 the company identified
a 1,600-metre-long anomalous trend at
Prospector that it dubbed the Bonanza
zone, while at Boulevard the company
found geochemical anomalies over 20
km of the Boulevard trend.
Rounding out the major land holders
in the area, Taku Gold (tak-v), with
substantial ground on the north end of
the district, also plans to take upwards
of 30,000 soil samples in 2011. Thanks
to a recent addition of 137 sq. km of
property through staking, the company
now holds roughly 762.4 sq. km in the
Dawson area.
Kinross itself sits in the heart of the
district. But as with most majors, the
company keeps tight-lipped about its exploration,
as it is usually non-material
news.
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