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

Contango ORE Inc. Aug. 30 said a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Peak Gold (formerly

Tetlin) project in eastern Alaska is slated for completion by the end of September.

Being advanced by a joint venture between Contango ORE (60 percent) and Royal Gold Inc. (40 percent), the Peak Gold project hosts two parallel gold-rich skarn deposits – Main Peak and North Peak – and 850,000 acres of underexplored and highly prospective land.

The two Peak skarn deposits host a global resource – measured, indicated and inferred – of 15.65 million metric tons averaging 2.98 grams per metric ton (1.5 million ounces) gold, 14.68 g/t (7.39 million oz) silver and 0.16 percent (55 million pounds) copper, according to a calculation published in 2017.

This resource, along with any expansions from drilling completed since mid-May last year, will form the basis for a PEA that will provide the first look at the economics of developing a mine at the high-grade Peak zones.

"We expect to receive the preliminary economic assessment on our Main Peak and North Peak areas by the end of September 2018," said Contango Ore President and CEO Brad Juneau.

In April, the Peak Gold JV announced a US$9.1 million budget for an initial phase of 2018 exploration at Peak Gold, a program that involved roughly 6,900 meters of exploration drilling and geophysical surveys.

Contango ORE Inc.

The Peak Gold joint venture controls rough 850,000 acres in Interior Alaska, which involves a large property leased from Tetlin Village and nearby state mining claims. So far, exploration has been primarily focuses on the Tetlin lease, with only a limited amount of work performed on the outlying claims.

This work has three primary objectives: define a path to commercialization of Peak and North Peak; explore for a third skarn orebody close to these deposits; and acquire data that would help evaluate the potential for porphyry or epithermal deposits across the wider joint venture property.

So far, this drilling has yet to turn up any additional skarns that warrant follow-up. Drills, however, are still investigating the potential of the lower grade but typically much larger deposits of porphyry mineralization that is often found associated with skarn deposits.

Copper Hill, a prospect about 25 miles southeast of the Peak zones, is one area tested this year for porphyry mineralization. North Saddle, a zone about 2,000 meters northwest of the Peak zones, is another.

Exploratory drilling is ongoing at Peak Gold project, to evaluate a porphyry prospect at North Saddle located approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) north of our North Peak resource area," said Juneau.

Assay results for Copper Hill and Saddle North are pending.

–SHANE LASLEY