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

Klondike Gold Corp. May 24 said drilling is now underway at the company's 527-square-kilometer (203 square miles) Klondike District gold project near Dawson City, Yukon.

The 2018 program is slated to include at least 5,000 meters of drilling aimed to gain a better understanding of the property's larger potential by systematically testing for gold mineralization along a trend that spans the entire property, from the Lone Star zone to the newly discovered Gold Run target, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) to the southeast.

In addition to drilling, the C$2.5-million-plus exploration program slated for this year includes structural and lithologic mapping, soil sampling and geophysics.

A series of shallow holes being drilled at Lone Star, a sizeable lode gold zone that lies above the confluence of celebrated Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks, are designed to provide information on the lateral and vertical geometry and continuity of gold mineralization. Drilling procedures will include using oriented core tools and systematic use of XRF analyzers.

The initial 20-hole program for Lone Star will also include drilling specific locations across the zone for preliminary metallurgical tests. Klondike Gold said additional holes at Lone Star are expected to follow as the summer progresses.

Exploration of the Lone Star area suggests that a major fault – Rabbit Creek Thrust – has been a conduit of gold-bearing fluids and that secondary faults are the location of gold mineralization as quartz veins or as broader disseminations. Drilling three of these structures yielded significant gold intersections associated with these faults.

At the Gold Run target, prospecting carried out late last year located three "lost" circa 1900 mine shafts. The company said visible gold was observed in quartz vein material within sorted, hand-stacked tailings piles adjacent to each of these shafts within a 300-meter by 200-meter area.

Individual quartz vein pieces with selvages identified in 27 select gold-bearing samples collected from the tailings suggest individual veins are only 10 to 50 centimeters (four to 20 inches) wide.

The old shafts are in a similar structural position as the Lone Star zone above a major thrust fault that is inferred to be a continuation of the Rabbit Creek thrust and adjacent to an interpreted secondary fault.

Klondike Gold plans to complete an initial four holes test for geology and mineralization at Gold Run, which will be followed by soil surveying to help identify anomalous trends. If this work turns up positive results, the company plans additional drilling at this target later in the season.

Klondike Gold recently completed a structural and geological compilation, producing the first geology map of the Klondike District that subdivides the previously "Undifferentiated Klondike Schist," which is expected to help focus exploration efforts on the most prospective geologic targets.

To compliment this work, the company has contracted SRK Consulting to carry out structural and lithologic mapping to identify district-scale structures and the disposition of individual lithologies adjacent to these faults.

Klondike Gold Corp.

To gain a better understanding of what can not be seen at surface, the 2018 program will also include a roughly 3,000-line-kilometer (1,865 miles) helicopter-borne magnetic, radiometric, and very low frequency electromagnetic surveying over the Klondike District property, including portions previously covered by ground surveys. This work, scheduled to begin in June, is expected to provide a comprehensive view of structures transecting the district, potentially allowing for targeted drilling follow-up this season.

In addition, Dawson City-based GroundTruth Exploration has completed drone orthophotography (geometrically corrected) surveys on targeted areas where no previous coverage exists. Additionally, GroundTruth has been contracted to collect roughly 5,000 soil samples covering the core areas of interest within the Klondike District property.

–SHANE LASLEY