Driven Capital Corp. recently launched a maiden 1,500-meter drill program to investigate the extent of high-grade gold-copper-silver rocks that pepper the surface of the White River property tucked in the southwestern corner of the Yukon Territory.

Situated about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of the Alaska border and a mere 10 kilometers (six miles) north of the Alaska Highway, White River is a grassroots discovery made by Tarsis Resources Ltd. in 2010.

"You just get a tingle up your spine when you see that kind of activity going on for a discovery that you made," Tarsis President and CEO Marc Blythe told Mining News during a June 19 interview.

According to an agreement inked in April, Driven can earn a 60 percent interest in White River by paying Tarsis C$400,000 in cash; issuing 2 million Driven shares to the optionor; and completing C$4.25 million in exploration expenditures at the property by 2016. This includes at least C$500,000 of exploration spending this year. Tarsis will retain a 2 percent net smelter return royalty on any minerals produced from the property, half of which may be purchased by Driven for C$2 million.

While much of the focus in the Yukon was on gold finds being made in the White Gold District and other exciting locales around the territory, Tarsis was quietly revealing White River's potential to host a large gold-copper-silver deposit.

"The things that we are looking for are porphyry-style deposits or deposits that are related to that type of mineralization," Blythe explained when Mining News visited the site last August. "We like them because they are potentially large - and potentially large means bigger companies will be interested in them."

And one bigger company has taken notice. Teck Resources Ltd. has moved into the region, staking large blocks of claims to the south and east of the White Gold property.

When prodded about Teck's work in the region, Driven Capital President and CEO Toma Sojonky told Mining News, "There are a lot of tangible reasons why we pursued the White River property - one of the intangibles was the fact that for once you have a major staking after a junior and that is pretty compelling for us."

Inaugural drilling

Driven's first phase of drilling at White River is targeting High Grade and Cool, two zones that returned significant gold, copper and silver assays during the prospecting completed by Tarsis.

Sojonky told Mining News that 10 holes are planned for this initial round of drilling, with six holes targeting the aptly named High Grade zone and four holes in the Cool zone.

The Cool zone owes its name and discovery to an east-trending surface feature marked by a series of frost boils containing abundant iron-rich limonite and traces of copper-rich malachite over some 350 meters. Sampling of the rocks heaved up by the frost along this trend returned 2 grams per metric ton gold, 274 g/t silver and 3.83 percent copper.

Tarsis followed up this surface sampling with three hand-dug trenches. Highlights from 13 samples collected in trench TR-CZ11-01 include 1.18 g/t gold, 595 g/t silver and 1.77 percent copper; and 0.12 g/t gold, 345 g/t silver and 6.41 percent copper. The lowest grade sample from the end of trench 1 returned 0.08 g/t gold, 36.9 g/t silver and 0.25 percent copper.

Trenching at HG, situated about 500 meters south of Cool, reveals a gold-dominant zone.

The best results at HG came in trench TR-HG11-02, where a 1-meter continuous sample retuned 82.2 g/t gold, 2.4 g/t silver and 0.24 percent copper. A grab sample from this channel returned 214 g/t gold along with 8 g/t silver and 0.1 percent copper; and an auger sample here assayed 129 g/t gold and 10.5 g/t silver.

Blythe told Mining News that while he was visiting the White River property on June 14 Driven was setting up the drill to test below the high-grade gold sampled in TR-HG11-02.

The Tarsis executive is eagerly anticipating the results from this initial drill program

"You are not going to extensively test the property with 1,500 meters but the best targets are going to get hit with this first phase of drilling and we will see what's underneath these prospecting samples we have collected," he said.

While the "truth machine" tests below the high-grade mineralization that peppers the surface of White River, Driven has geologists seeking out new prospects across the 6,400-hectare (15,800-acre) land package.

"Two of our geologists are up there and doing sampling at some of the other zones that will be the next priorities," Sojonky explained. "The overall program that we envision for this year consists of the drill program, more rock and soil sampling, and possibly further trenching."

When asked whether Driven will carry out a phase 2 exploration program in 2012, Sojonky said, "That is not beyond the realm of possibility. We are financed to carry out our first phase of exploration and, contingent on the results, we will proceed accordingly."

He said weather, logistics and market conditions will all factor into the company's decision to conduct further drilling this year.

Teck investigates Wolf

While Driven has a relatively small crew carrying out its 2012 program, Teck has mobilized a 20-man crew to investigate its Wolf claims situated immediately to the south and east of White River.

While Tarsis' prospecting may have spurred Teck to investigate the White River region of southwestern Yukon, the Vancouver, B.C.-based miner has a century of information to guide its exploration.

"Between Teck and Cominco, there is probably over 100 years of exploration data for B.C., Yukon and Alaska. So we have a terrific database for gold and base metals, providing us quite a collection of historical data we utilize for making decisions on exploration."

While Tarsis has found copper, gold and silver on its White River claims, Teck said it is solely interested in the gold potential of its claims in the Yukon.

"Our work in the Yukon is gold-only, and a fair bit of it is going back into our historical exploration files and coming up with some very encouraging stream sediment anomalies for gold," Teck Resources VP of Exploration Fred Daley told Mining News last September. "So, over the last two years we have gone back to the Yukon and staked a couple of large properties and this year we are following up with some soil surveys and additional rock sampling."

Daley said the Teck exploration team is refining targets for a potential 2012 drill program at its two large gold properties in the Yukon Territory.

While it remains unclear whether Teck will drill Wolf this year, the diversified miner has big plans for the property.

In late May, Teck filed an application with the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board to obtain the permits required to conduct up to 60,000 meters of drilling at its Wolf property over the next five years. According to the application, two of the areas Teck proposes to drill are on claims immediately adjacent to White River. The diversified miner has identified a claim block about 45 kilometers (25 miles) farther east as a third drill area and site for a 35-man camp.

"We were astounded to hear about the level of activity that is planned next door," Sojonky told Mining News.

Blythe, who worked closely with Teck and its field crews during the 2011 season welcomes the additional exploration being carried out by the White River neighbor.

"It is really encouraging to see that work going on so close to where we are and I hope they are successful. I think it adds to the story we have," said the Tarsis CEO.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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