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The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Picks up two Doyon properties in Alaska's Goodpaster District North of 60 Mining News – September 4, 2020
Tectonic has leased Doyon properties near its Tibbs property, where 2019 drilling encountered 6 g/t gold over 29 meters.
Tectonic Metals Inc. has cut a deal with Doyon Ltd. that significantly expands its gold exploration properties in Alaska's Goodpaster Mining District and strengthens its mutually beneficial partnership with the Interior Alaska Native regional corporation.
"We are committed to our goal of finding the next Alaskan gold mine and providing economic and social benefits to the communities in which we work and operate," said Tectonic Metals President and CEO Tony Reda.
Under an agreement announced on Sept. 2, Tectonic has entered into a long-term exploration, development, and production lease on 65,600 acres of Doyon lands adjacent to or near its Tibbs gold project in the Goodpaster District.
These new properties include Carrie Creek, 15,800 acres of Doyon lands divided in two blocks immediately north and south of Tibbs, and Mount Harper, a 49,800-acre polymetallic exploration property about 10 miles southeast of Tibbs.
"The acquisition of three prospective properties at Carrie Creek and Mt. Harper represents another forward shift in the game for Tectonic as we ramp up our exploration activity in Alaska's Goodpaster Mining District," said Reda. "Carrie Creek's 15,800 acres more than doubles our existing Tibbs exploration acreage, which, with the addition of Mt. Harper's 49,800 acres, adds an additional 65,600 acres of underexplored property to Tectonic's total."
There has been no exploration at Carrie Creek and Mount Harper in more than two decades and Tectonic believes the new geological models it has successfully applied at Tibbs, combined with modern day exploration techniques, can unlock the potential of these newly acquired properties.
The properties also demonstrate an increasingly strong partnership with Doyon, which is already leasing two properties to Tectonic and has taken an ownership position in the explorer.
"The Carrie Creek and Mt. Harper properties not only represent a broadening of the exploration territory available to us and the creation of a district-scale opportunity for Tectonic, but also a further strengthening of our already close partnership with one of Alaska's leading Native Regional Corporations, Doyon," said Reda.
More information on Doyon's investment in Tectonic can be read at Doyon nabs major stake in Tectonic Metals and in-depth information on Doyon and its mineral properties in Alaska can be found at Doyons vast Tintina Gold Belt potential in North of 60 Mining News.
Growing Goodpaster portfolio
Carrie Creek and Mount Harper add to Tectonic's growing portfolio of mineral exploration properties in the Goodpaster District.
Tibbs, which is roughly 20 miles east of Northern Star Resources' Pogo gold mine property, is the anchor of Tectonic's portfolio of Goodpaster District properties.
While previous exploration at Tibbs has shown high-grade gold potential, this past work has been intermittent due to not finding the horizontal high-grade "Pogo-style" gold veins that have historically framed the exploration model for companies seeking high-grade gold in this area.
Applying new ideas, the Tectonic team has identified several drill targets at Tibbs, including Michigan zone, where last year's drilling cut 29 meters averaging 6.03 grams per metric tons gold.
Further details on Tibbs and the 2020 drill program there can be read at Tectonic kicks off 2020 Alaska drilling in the July 24 edition of North of 60 Mining News.
Earlier this year, Tectonic staked Maple Leaf, an 11,840-acre gold exploration property about nine miles northeast of Tibbs.
Regional-scale, northeast-trending structures are known to control mineralization throughout Alaska's Eastern Interior region, including the Pogo and Fort Knox gold mines. Maple Leaf is adjacent to two such structures – the Black Mountain Tectonic Zone to the west, which appears to host high-grade mineralization at Tibbs and Northern Star's Brink gold prospect about six miles (10 kilometers) southeast of Tibbs, and the Mount Harper lineament to the east.
Past exploration at Maple Leaf has identified numerous gold targets with associated pathfinder elements.
"The Maple Leaf property exhibits potential for intrusion-related mineralization within a favorable structural corridor, and Tectonic is excited to apply our understanding of structurally-hosted mineralization to analyze the project and other accretive opportunities in the district," said Tectonic Metals Vice President of Exploration Eric Buitenhuis.
More information on Maple Leaf can be read at Tectonic stakes new Goodpaster gold claims in the June 26 edition of North of 60 Mining News.
New Doyon properties
Carrie Creek, a pair of properties covering a large portion of the Black Mountain Tectonic Zone north and south of Tibbs, host at least three styles of gold mineralization related to quartz veining – high-grade quartz veins with a gold-arsenic-bismuth-tungsten-tellurium geochemical signature similar to mineralization at Tibbs and Pogo; Fort Knox-style gold-bearing sheeted quartz veins and veinlets found at Brink, a Northern Star property adjacent to the southern Carrie Creek block; and stockwork quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite-stibnite veins similar to the Michigan zone at Tibbs.
During the Pogo gold exploration rush of the late 1990s, soil and rock sampling, geophysical surveys, and 3,000 meters of diamond drilling identified multiple zones for further exploration.
This includes long northeast trending structures interpreted as shear zones with coincident soil, rock and geophysical anomalies. From west to east, the structures are the Gunsight, Missing Lynx, Black Mountain, and Raincoat Ridge shear zones.
Mount Harper covers 49,800 acres of underexplored ground centered on the Mount Harper intrusive complex.
Multiple prospects and styles of mineralization – tungsten skarn, quartz-molybdenum veining, porphyry molybdenum-copper, and structurally controlled silver-lead-zinc mineralization – have been identified at Mount Harper.
Previous exploration work on the property, focused on the skarn and porphyry mineralization, consisted of prospecting, sampling, and a four-hole drill program completed in 1981.
Historical grab samples of skarn mineralization at Larsen Ridge contained up to 7.2% tungsten. Other rock samples contained up to 1.39% copper and 1,045 parts per million molybdenum. A rock sample collected from Airplane Ridge at Mount Harper contained 42 ppm silver, 7,170 ppm lead, and 3.74% zinc.
Intrusion-related gold mineralization was identified at Mount Harper near the end of exploration carried out in the 1990s but no follow-up work has been completed there in more than two decades.
Mutually beneficial lease
Much like previous land agreements with Doyon, Tectonic has again formed a mutually beneficial mineral lease covering all aspects of exploration through to production, which aligns with Tectonic's business model and risk management strategy.
The initial lease term is for 15 years and the agreement includes renewal clauses to extend the lease period up to the entire operational period of a future mine or mines on the properties.
To keep the lease in good standing, Tectonic has agreed to carry out exploration on the properties, including at least US$1 million on the combined properties by the end of 2022.
Tectonic also paid Doyon US$10,000 in cash on the date of execution of the Agreement and is required to make annual payments of:
• US$10,000 from 2021 through 2024
• US$40,000 from 2025 through 2029
• US$100,000 from 2030 on.
If Tectonic exercises an option to extend the lease by five years after completion of a feasibility study, the annual cash payment shall be increased to US$200,000.
Upon completion of a feasibility study on any portion of the Carrie Creek or Mount Harper properties, Tectonic is also required to pay a one-time fee of US$150,000 to Doyon.
Tectonic has committed to contributing to the Doyon Foundation or to another accredited institution, as directed by Doyon, an annual US$10,000 scholarship for the term of the lease.
The scholarship amount increases to US$50,000 each year following the commencement of commercial production at either Carrie Creek or Mount Harper.
The Doyon Foundation, established as a separate non-profit charitable organization by Doyon in 1989, has a mission to provide educational, career and cultural opportunities to enhance the identity and quality of life for Doyon shareholders. This mission is accomplished by providing basic and competitive scholarships, works with organizations to place interns, and advances traditional Native knowledge by partnering with various organizations.
Doyon is granted a 2% net smelter royalty for precious metals and a 1% NSR for base minerals until the end of the fourth year of commercial production. This NSR increases to 3% for precious minerals and 2% for base minerals from the fifth to tenth anniversary of commercial production. After the tenth year of commercial production, the precious metal royalty increases to the greater of 4% or 15% of net proceeds and the base minerals royalty will be the greater of a 3% NSR or 15% of net proceeds.
"Tectonic is proud of its strong working relationship with Doyon and our collaborative approach to structuring innovative lease agreements, which cover all aspects of exploration and production while supporting the local community by contributing to the Doyon Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization benefitting Doyon shareholders," said Reda.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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