Explorers scratch surface in south-east

FARO - Legendary mineral explorer W. Douglas "Doug" Eaton hurried forward to greet the group of visitors clambering out of the MD900 helicopter as its whirring blades whipped miniature cyclones of dust in the air.

Eaton - unlike many of the geologists, engineers and mining executives the group would meet during a weeklong tour of mine sites, exploration camps and conferences around Yukon Territory - grinned from ear to ear.

The early part of the territory-wide mining tour also would include visits to the Einarson Project being explored by Anthill Resource Ltd., a privately held firm, and to Ryan Gold Corp.'s Ida Oro Project farther to the north relatively near Victoria Gold Corp.'s Eagle Project.

Silver streak near Faro

Silver Range Resources Ltd., the silver-focused exploration company that Eaton has honchoed since its spin-out from Strategic Metals Ltd. in 2010, is on a winning streak.

After encouraging field seasons in 2010 and 2011, Silver Range has embarked on a comprehensive 2012 exploration program of its 1,100-square-kilometer (425 square miles) property in southern Yukon, with a focus on the 17-kilometer- (11 miles) Mount Mye Trend with drilling at the high-grade Hammer Zone. The explorer plans to complete a minimum of 16,000 meters of drilling at a total phase 1 cost of C$10.2 million. As of May 30, Silver Range had about C$17.7 million in working capital.

Four drills are turning on the project, including two rigs that are systematically expanding the bulk tonnage silver-zinc-copper-lead Keg Main Zone, where mineralization has been outlined along 850 meters strike length and to 350 meters depth. The zone remains open in all directions.

Silver Range is also exploring 24 silver-bearing mineralized zones, including the Hammer, Risby and Cirque zones and numerous untested geochemical anomalies on the property that indicate strong potential for more high-grade and bulk tonnage discoveries. In addition, the junior is conducting reconnaissance drilling at RGS, Archimedes and other newly identified mineralized zones and drilling to follow-up encouraging results at the Rebel, Snap and Owl zones.

All of the work is occurring only a few kilometers from the historic mining town of Faro, where extensive modern infrastructure is available.

In addition, Silver Range is conducting a first-ever drilling program at its Mint gold-copper porphyry project in southwest Yukon, testing extensive geochemical and IP/chargeability anomalies.

The program is being managed by Archer Cathro & Associates (1981) Ltd., an in-house geological and engineering and exploration and pre-eminent exploration consulting firm since 1965.

Eaton is a partner in Archer Cathro, which can truthfully boast of discovering or advancing many of the known mega-deposits of important minerals in the Yukon. These include the Casino (copper, gold, molybdenum, silver), Carmacks Copper (copper), Golden Revenue (copper, gold), Tiger (gold), Marg (copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold), Blende (silver-lead-zinc- copper), Wolverine (zinc, lead, copper, silver, gold), Osiris (gold), Ice (copper, minor gold, silver, cobalt), Wellgreen (copper, nickel, platinum, palladium), Division Mountain (coal), and Klaza (gold) deposits.

High-grade silver discovery

Today, Eaton, who is president and CEO of Silver Range, is pleased because the junior has just announced new diamond drill results at the Hammer zone, which is located just 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Faro.

This summer Silver Range followed up exceptionally eight encouraging rock samples that averaged 6,218 grams per metric ton (about 200 ounces per ton) silver and 2.45 g/t gold with drilling. Among drill highlights:

Bonanza grades of 4,620 silver (134.8 ounces per ton) over 0.53 meters has been intersected from sulphide mineralization and 1,590 g/t silver (46.4 oz/t) over 0.70 meters from oxide mineralization;

The silver mineralization at the Hammer zone is hosted in northerly striking, nearly vertical veins that cut granitic rocks of the Mid-Cretaceous Anvil Batholith. The veins demonstrate good lateral and vertical continuity.

Four subparallel high-grade, silver-bearing veins, typically 40-70 centimeters wide surrounded by 3-10 meters of alteration halos featuring pervasive sericitization of mafic minerals and minor clay alteration feldspars, have been identified to date in the Hammer zone epithermal system. Individual veins are spaced about 75 meters apart, and are open for extension along strike and to depth.

Drilling indicates vertical metal zonation in the veins, which together with mineralogical and textural features, is consistent with a silver-rich low sulphidation epithermal system.

At the top of the system, the veins sometimes bifurcate into narrower veins and fractures, but elsewhere the mineralization is mostly hosted in discrete structures.

The oxide-sulphide interface has not been accurately defined - fresh sulphide mineralization has been cut 140 meters vertically below surface, but elsewhere oxidized mineralization extends to a vertical depth of at least 260 meters.

While sulphides are presents, the assemblage is a mixture of galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite and sulphosalts.

Silver to base metal (lead-zinc-copper) are strongly zoned, averaging 2,500 g/t silver; 1 percent lead-zinc-copper near surface and gradually decreasing to about 70 g/t about 70 g/t: 1 percent lead-zinc-copper in the deepest intercepts.

Veins have been traced by drilling for strike lengths of up to 600 meters and through a vertical range of 280 meters. All veins are open for extension along strike and to depth; and,

High-grade silver mineralization has been discovered in several new areas near the Hammer zone and within the surrounding Mount Mye Trend.

At Aug. 6, 20 holes cover 3,662 meters had been completed at the Hammer Zone.

Bulk-style polymetallic discovery

At the Keg Main zone, 7,800 meters of drilling had been completed this summer as of Aug. 6 and drill results were pending.

Eaton said strong geochemical anomalies that had never been drilled lured Strategic Metals' geologists to aggressively explore the area and make the discovery in 2010.

A theory emerged after the explorers asked themselves, "What if something different is here," he said.

The early work revealed values in samples that were "clearly discordant to the bedding," along with "interesting bulk tonnage values of copper, lead, zinc and silver" values with significant quantities of tin and indium, Eaton said.

"On their own, they are just not good enough, but add all of them up together and you realize they are twice as good," he explained.

Silver Range decided to drill four holes in 2010 in what is now called the Keg Main zone, with the second hole collared 200 meters to the east of the first hole; the third hole 300 meters to the west; and the fourth hole in front of the first one.

"All of them hit mineralization," Eaton said. The drill results averaged up to 50.09 g/t silver, 1.39 percent zinc, 0.65 percent lead, 0.22 percent copper, 534 parts per million tin and 9.55 ppm indium.

The junior then staked more claims, following geochemical anomalies that are continuous for 80 kilometers (50 miles. Further drilling revealed porphyry-style fractionalization that does not have intrusive characteristics; rather it has epithermal veins with broken brecciated mineralization grading 6,000 g/t silver.

Eaton said he can draw parallels between the mineralization at Silver Range and that of the Bolivian Tin Belt, which is one of the world's best silver resources and averages 300-400 ppm tin and 4-ppm indium and a very high-grade core grading 120 g/t silver.

The Hammer Zone, on the other hand, bears striking similarities to the Keno Hill silver camp, which has produced more than 214 million ounces of silver since the early 1900s, including current silver-lead-zinc production by Alexco Resource Corp. at the Bellekeno Mine.

"Besides being an important geological discovery, we've got the best infrastructure you can imagine," said Eaton. "We're excited by the possibilities."

Exciting results at Einarson

A day later, the spacious, eight-seat MD 900 soars like a giant raptor over a land of steep mountain peaks that resemble majestic cathedrals in the clouds. The big black bird, rumored to have once transported champion golfer Tiger Woods, soon descends into a scenic Alpine valley taking visitors to the Einarson Project's exploration camp, nestled along the shore of crystal blue lake.

At Einarson, chief geologist John Li and project manager Carl Schulze, P.Geo, proudly display early results of 2012 field geological work. Anthill optioned the Einarson Property from Yukon prospect Ron Berdahl who staked it on the premise that the mineralized horizon observed by Atac at the Rackla Project would extend farther east. Early results suggest that Berdahl and Anthill's gamble will pay off.

At Aug. 4, roughly 1,200 rock samples were taken by the geological team, and a total 6,425 soil samples and 1,100 silt samples were collected by 14 samplers.

The Einarson property encompasses 11,597 claims covering 2,400 square kilometers (926.4 square miles).

Anthill is following up its first season in 2011 where it identified 10 exploration targets from test results of about 2,300 rock samples that returned values as high as 750 parts-per-billion gold and nearly 800 silt samples that returned values as high as 250 parts-per-billion gold.

This summer, the company built a camp while conducting phase 1 of a two-part exploration program in May and June before beginning summer-long surface work, including more soil sampling, trenching, mapping and traversing ridge lines on the property. Anthill planned to begin phase 2 in mid-August after developing three targets to drill 600-700 meters each, or a total of about 2,000 meters in eight holes.

As of Aug. 4, the company had identified a strong gold-in-soil anomaly with values as high as 87.2 g/t gold in rock samples in Target D2; a gold zone (Bachelor Zone) found in Target A with values as high as 9.27 g/t gold; a strong gold-in-soil anomaly in Target D1; and significant values of silver, zinc and copper in several of the targets. In all, Anthill said it found values in 911 of 1,200 rock samples, 2,997 of 6,425 soil samples, and 89 of 1,100 silt samples.

"We started doing detailed soils and got enough results at targets D-1, D-2 and A to make a judgment about drilling," Schulze said. "It turns out D-2 is a prospect that is a lot like Osiris and Conrad because of the presence of orpiment and realgar along the ridgeline of its northeast flank. It looks a lot like what you get in the Osiris Trend, which returned 35 g/t gold."

In identifying the targets for initial exploration this summer, Schulze said a visit to the property in early July by consultant Venessa Bennett, Ph.D. and P. Geo., proved fortuitous. "We decided to explore Target D-1, and Venessa said, 'You may as well take a look at D-2,' and that's where it was good … we found a lot of anomalous little pods in areas along trend due east from the Nadaleen Trend where Atac reported the Osiris discovery. We got 82.1 g/t gold from one sample."

Schulze said geologists found all of the rock samples at D-2 in place. "It's got hanging wall potential and the whole thing is about 100 meters thick. It's got about a 200-meters-wide cross section and it goes 400 meters along strike," he added.

The project manager said he believes D-2, which is located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Osiris and the Nadaleen Trend, similar mineralization.

"'Carlinesque,' I call it, but the rock samples taken from D-2 also host a dusky pyrite," he said.

"I believe it's a lot like what they're finding in the Nadaleen Trend. I, personally, had never seen realgar and orpiment in the Yukon until we found it at D-2 because I have never been to the (Rackla Project)," Schulze said.

Gold mineralization at D-2 appears to be hosted in dolostone with a lot of sphalerite and galena in veining with calcite, he said.

More discoveries fuel enthusiasm

On Aug. 7 Anthill was building a drill pad on D-2 in preparation for drilling the first of three holes. "We also have the option to steepen the hole. We're going to drill it at 55 degrees initially and then steepen it later," Schluze explained.

A day earlier, an Anthill exploration team discovered two additional gold zones -a quartz corridor of 5 meters and another one 6 meters long about 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) farther north.

"We found the first one about mid-morning on Target A (Bachelor Zone) where we noticed a lot of limestone, and after lunch, we started heading west and in the afternoon, we started coming across all this really beautiful silicified limestone. And that's classic Carlin Trend mineralization," said Schulze. "I'm beginning to think the whole area has a lot of potential for Carlin-style mineralization, but it's subtle. It's not something you can spot from five miles away. … In this area we got up to 8 g/t gold in soils, and that's really high."

Anthill also completed soil sampling at targets F1, F2, B, C, A and G and has additional rock sample for which test results are pending.

The junior plans to spend at total of C$5 million at Einarson this year, after sinking C$2 million into staking the property in 2011.

In addition to its initial focus on Target D, Anthill plans to drill three holes on Target A and two holes on Target E this season. At Target E, geologists have observed quartz veining, strong alteration and a lot of arsenopyrite.

"The president of Anthill, Ming An Fu, has a lot of faith in the project," Schulze said.

Fu, who owns a smelter in China and three iron ore and gold mines and processing facilities in Mongolia, immigrated to Canada in 2009 and turned his focus toward North American mineral exploration and development opportunities.

Solving the Ida Oro puzzle

Farther to the northwest amid the peaks of the Tombstone Mountains, Ryan Gold is in the throes of a second season of aggressive exploration at the Ida Oro Project, which encompasses 269 contiguous claims covering 5,625 hectares (13,899 acres). Ida Oro the most advanced of some 85 properties that the junior is currently exploring in the Yukon.

Ryan Gold budgeted C$12 million to C$15 million for its Yukon-wide 2012 exploration program, with about C$5 million earmarked for Ida Oro.

At Aug. 6, the company had drilled 37 holes this year on the steep-ridged property. That compared with total of 11 holes drilled at Ida Oro in 2011.

Regional stream sediment sampling by government geologists led to Rio Tinto mapping the property in the 1970s and then Noranda picked it up for a while in the 1980s.

The Ida Oro property is a significant Tombstone Suite intrusive-hosted gold prospect long known but little understood within Tintina Gold Belt that has not previously been drilled.


The property is underlain by a sequence of Ordovician-Silurian Road River Group sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by Cretaceous quartz monzonite stocks.

Within the claim block, the exposed Road River Group consists of interbedded black to green chert, black to grey argillite, graptolitic shale, quartzite, and rare chert pebble conglomerate.
The Road River sedimentary units have been intruded by a Cretaceous monzonite that is exposed as three stocks and several east-west trending related dykes.

The resistant quartz monzonite forms the prominent north-south ridge of the claim block and underlies the highest point found in the area.

The stocks and dykes exposed on the Ida property have a strong east -west (90-110-degree) trend that is the same structural and mineralized trend at both the Panorama Ridge and Brewery Creek properties to the west.

All three properties lie along a 70-degree trend that extends from Brewery Creek through Panorama Ridge and on to the Ida property.


The main exploration target associated with Tombstone Suite intrusions is bulk tonnage, low-grade deposits similar to the Fort Knox deposit near Fairbanks, Alaska and the Eagle deposit on the Dublin Gulch Property north of Mayo, along with other well-known similar deposits or occurrences in a belt that extends for over 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) across Yukon and Alaska.

The 2012 program is following up drilling completed last year along 3 kilometers (2 miles) of ridge lines with 300-meter step-out holes spaced 100 meters apart, along with big 500- to 600-meter step-out holes and another 3 kilometers (2 miles) of ridge-top drilling.

Andy Randell, Ryan Gold's chief geologist, said the company is beginning to get a clearer picture of the mineralization at Ida Oro.

"At the end of last year, we thought we had some big intrusions with tightly folded rocks and that the gold was getting caught in these hinges of the folded rocks," he explained. "This year, we found that we've got north-south structures and also east-west structures, so we've had to put our drill holes in at angles now … Everything is steeply dipping to the north with the mineralization probably sitting in the north limb of south-verging structures.

"The big intrusions don't really exist. We've got big dyke systems instead, and we seem to have big north-south faults off to the west of the ridge," he said. "Our understanding is just evolving, even at the ridgeline; the outcrop is quite complex; and it's difficult to make out. The interpretation is changing with more results, and this year feels like two seasons in one."

Randell described mineralization at Ida Oro as being something of a hybrid between that found at Dublin Gulch to the northeast and Brewery Creek to the west.

With a plan to spend C$5 million on exploration at Ida Oro in 2012, Randell said the drilling has been driven by what Ryan Gold is seeing as it progresses. So far, the company has identified gold, lead and copper in the IO North and IO South zones, gold and molybdenum in the Europa Zone and gold, lead and copper in the Ganymede zones.

"The structures are becoming a little more meaningful, and a major project this year is figuring out the vein types and where they go," he said.

Randell also said metallurgical tests are underway to learn more about mineralization found on the property.