The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

ME2018: Klondike Gold Corp.

Klondike Gold Corp. is exploring the hills above the legendary Yukon creeks that have produced more than 20 million ounces of placer gold since the stampede to the Klondike in 1898. The company's 527 square kilometers (203 square miles) of mining claims cover a 55-kilometer- (34 miles) long swath of the legendary Klondike Gold District.

A roughly 9,000-meter drill program carried out this year focused on gaining a better understanding of the Klondike District 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.

The 2018 drilling at Lone Star, a sizeable lode gold zone that lies above the confluence of the celebrated Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks, is providing information on the lateral and vertical geometry and continuity of gold mineralization. Assays from this drilling began to roll in during July, highlights include: 65.05 meters of 1.4 grams per metric ton gold from 2.5 meters in hole LS18-156; and 26.2 meters of 1.33 g/t gold from 6.6 meters in LS18-155. So far, drilling has traced Lone Star for about 1,000 meters along strike.

Like explorers over the region's 120-year history, Klondike Gold initially focused its exploration on gold-bearing quartz veins carrying higher grades over narrower intervals, such as the 2.8 meters of 76 g/t gold it drilled at Gay Gulch and the 14.3 meters of 5.1 g/t gold drilled at Nugget Zone. While these remain targets for future exploration, the company has since recognized the potential for gold disseminated in the host rock adjacent to quartz veining.

As a result, the company is re-sampling previously drilled holes for wider zones of lower-grade, near-surface gold. This work included resampling of holes drilled at Nugget, a zone that runs parallel to Lone Star about 1,500 meters to the southwest. Highlights from this work include 45.2 meters of 1.55 g/t gold in hole EC15-03; 58.1 meters of 1.03 g/t gold in EC15-15; and 9.15 meters of 2.52 g/t gold in EC17-04.

Given the results from the resampling, Klondike Gold brought in a second rig to broadly outline the geometry, continuity, and extent of disseminated gold mineralization and gold-bearing quartz vein mineralization at the Nugget zone, which is interpreted to extend about 1,400 meters along the Nugget Fault.

In addition to drilling and resampling, the roughly C$2.5-million in exploration by Klondike Gold this year included structural and lithologic mapping, soil sampling and geophysics.

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.

Klondike Gold recently produced 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 gain a better understanding of what lies below the surface, the 2018 program also included roughly 3,000 line-kilometers (1,865 miles) of helicopter-borne magnetic, radiometric, and very low frequency electromagnetic surveying over the Klondike District property, including portions previously covered by ground surveys.

In addition, Dawson City-based GroundTruth Exploration has completed drone orthophotography (geometrically corrected) surveys on targeted areas where no previous coverage exists and collected soil samples covering the core areas of interest within the Klondike District property.

-SHANE LASLEY

Klondike Gold Corp. - TSX-V: KG

President and CEO: Peter Tallman

VP, Exploration: Ian Perry

Director: Gordon Keep

3123 – 595 Burrard St., Vancouver BC, V7X 1J1

Tel: 604-559-4440

 

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