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

Tectonic Metals Inc. Sept. 14 reported strong gold intercepts from drilling at Lower Trench, a discovery zone about 1,500 meters northwest of the Michigan zone on the Tibbs project in Alaska's Goodpaster Mining District.

Michigan was first tapped by Tectonic during 2019 and was a primary focus of a 27-hole program rotary air blast drill program carried out this this year at Tibbs, which is about 22 miles (35 kilometers) southeast of Northern Star Resources Ltd.'s Pogo gold mine. One RAB hole drilled at Michigan last year cut 28.95 meters averaging 6.03 grams per metric ton gold.

In September, Tectonic reported results from 11 holes drilled at Michigan.

Previously reported highlights from this drilling include:

• 9.14 meters averaging 6.71 g/t gold, including 3.05 meters of 19.3 g/t gold in hole TBRB20-029.

• 12.91 meters averaging 2.61 g/t gold, including 3.05 meters of 5.56 g/t gold in TBRB20-026.

• 7.62 meters averaging 3.73 g/t gold, including 1.52 meters of 12.8 g/t gold in TBRB20-025.

The remaining 16 holes of the 2020 Tibbs drill program focused on Lower Trench and Wolverine, adjacent zones along a 3,000-meter prospective corridor that also encompasses Michigan.

Tectonic reports that this year's drilling at Lower Trench encountered gold mineralization identical to Michigan but 1,500 meters to the northwest, indicating a significant hydrothermal system across the larger structural corridor.

The best intercept at Lower Trench is 7.6 meters averaging 4.5 g/t gold, including 3.05 meters averaging 10.78 g/t gold in hole TBRB20-032.

"Hole TBRB20-032 at Lower Trench returned high-grade gold within a broad, lower-tenor mineralized envelope; essentially a carbon copy of mineralization drilled by Tectonic at Michigan this year, 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) to the southeast," said Tectonic Metals Vice President of Exploration Eric Buitenhuis.

Lower Trench represents a 1,000-meter-long portion of the Michigan structural corridor, offset to the west after the mineralizing event.

"Our 2020 drill holes represent the first test in over 20 years at the Lower Trench target and have significantly advanced our understanding of the structural story at Tibbs and the potential of these structurally controlled gold targets," said Buitenhuis. "The identical nature of the mineralization at the Michigan and Lower Trench targets suggests a well-developed hydrothermal system, which we know is capable of producing high-grade gold mineralization in multiple locations."

Tectonic said mineralization at Lower Trench is open along trend and at depth.

Drilling at the adjacent Wolverine zone tested a ridge above high-tenor gold-in-soil anomalies believed to have slipped downhill from their source.

The drilling at Wolverine, however, only cut minor gold mineralization. Tectonic said this year's drilling does not explain the size or tenor of the 1,000- by 400-meter gold anomaly at Wolverine, and further drilling is warranted.

Tectonic completed a follow-up induced polarization geophysical survey at Michigan to determine the geophysical signature of drilled, near-surface mineralization at this zone, which will provide a signature for future drill targeting. In addition, an IP line was completed at the Lower and Upper Trench zones to aid in structural interpretation of the target area.

Shane Lasley

Given the success last year in utilizing Ground Truth America's RAB rig during 2019, Tectonic chose to utilize this cost-effective and rapid drill method at Tibbs this year.

Tectonic also completed a comprehensive soil sampling campaign to both infill and expand the historical soil grid over previously untested ground to the west and east. The goal of the soil program was to generate new exploration targets with a focus on exploring the gneissic rocks in the west of the property, where low-angle thrust faults have been mapped by previous workers. The interplay of low-angle regional shears and high-angle fault structures as observed at Pogo, where both styles of structure acted as hydrothermal fluid conduits. The presence of interpreted low-angle structural features at both the Lower Trench and Michigan zones suggests that similar relationships may be present within the gneissic rocks just west of these targets.

Tectonic also completed a 26-hole (2,852 meters) drill campaign at Seventymile, a gold exploration project about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of Tibbs. Assays from this drilling are pending.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

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.

• Email: [email protected]
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