North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Yukon Zinc Corp., formerly Expatriate Resources, is rapidly advancing a moderate-size project in southeast Yukon toward development.

The Yukon Silver-Zinc Project is centered largely on the Wolverine deposit tucked into the side of a mountain in the Finlayson district about 237 kilometers northwest of Watson Lake. The deposit is estimated to contain a 6.2 million-tonne resource.

Yukon Zinc employees and contractors culminated nine months of drilling this year Sept. 19 by punching an underground tunnel through the mountain to reach the ore body of the deposit ahead of schedule.

"We thought we had another six meters to go before we reached the ore body," said Richard Goodwin, vice president of exploration for Yukon Zinc as he examined a chunk of zinc ore about the size of a loaf of bread. "This is a massive sulphide mineralization," Goodwin added.

Wolverine, discovered nearly a decade ago by Westmin Resources, is on track to become one of the first producing mines in the Yukon this century. It sits in the midst of a zinc-rich mining district estimated to contain 100 million tonnes of resource. Only an estimated 20 million tonnes of the resource have been discovered so far.

Underground development this year

Yukon Zinc conducted underground development and sampling, infill drilling and additional metallurgical studies in its 2005 program.

The Wolverine deposit is about one-tenth the size of Alaska's Red Dog zinc-lead mine near Kotzebue, but nonetheless is expected to fill an important niche in the minerals market, according to Harlan Meade, president and CEO of Yukon Zinc. "It's not the size but how much money you make that counts," Meade said in an interview at the drilling site.

Meade said the project, which is on track for first production in the third quarter of 2007, is poised to capitalize on high prices for both precious and base metals, along with a phenomenal runup in selenium prices as global supplies have been depleted since 2003. Selenium currently sells for $65 a pound, up sharply from $3.75 a pound 24 months ago, he said.

Yukon Zinc estimates its Wolverine deposit can produce 51,500 tonnes of zinc annually. It also is expected to provide byproduct output of 7 million ounces a year at 11 ounces a ton of ore; 35,800 ounces of gold; 3,300 tonnes of copper; and 4,800 tonnes of lead.

The Wolverine property also contains about 2,800 tonnes of selenium, of which an estimated 345 tonnes, or 15 percent of world demand, can be produced annually, the company said.

A new resource estimate is planned for November, including the results of sampling 50 new drill holes and a production decision is anticipated in early 2006.