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

Solstice Gold Corp. May 1 provided details of the 2018 exploration program at its Kahuna gold project in Nunavut.

Spun out of Dunnedin Ventures Inc. in April, Solstice Gold is focused on exploring the gold potential at Kahuna, which is about seven kilometers (4.4 miles) east of Agnico-Eagle Mines' Meliadine gold mine project.

Dunnedin has outlined 4.02 million carats of diamonds in 3.99 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.01 carats per metric tons in two kimberlites at Kahuna. During its diamond exploration, however, the company also found gold similar to the deposits being developed at Meliadine.

To explore this gold potential, Dunnedin has spun out Solstice, a gold-focused exploration company with full rights to 66 claims and 50 percent of 12 other claims covering the larger Kahuna project.

Upon the April completion of this spin-out, Solstice launched a winter exploration program that is expected to run through this month.

The new company is expected to resume exploration with a summer program slated to begin in June.

The goal of these programs is to further define drill targets in high priority areas and identify new gold exploration targets at Kahuna.

The winter portion of the 2018 program is expected to include up to 5,000 meters of shallow rotary air blast (RAB) drilling to test below the thin glacial till (sediment) in 34 target areas at Westeros, the most advanced gold target at Kahuna.

Additionally, Solstice is currently carrying out a 5,000-line-kilometer ground magnetic survey to identify prospective targets in the Central and the North areas of the property.

The summer program at Kahuna will include an intensified effort to advance targeting and geological understanding on the project through the implementation of a 16-person prospecting, rock sampling, and mapping program.

Westeros, the North and the Central targets will see the bulk of the work in the summer program with ample focus on the remaining areas of the project.

Overall, the 2018 program has been designed to increase confidence in these target areas and narrow down drill targets for drilling in 2019.

–SHANE LASLEY