The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Investigating potential Zackly-Caribou Dome mining operation North of 60 Mining News – February 12, 2021
ZX18018 tapped copper-gold mineralization below the Zackly Main resource during the 2018 Alaska Range program.
PolarX Ltd. Feb. 10 reported that sophisticated and professional investors have committed to a A$5 million (US$3.9 million) financing that will fund further exploration of the Australia-based company's exploration at the Alaska Range gold-copper property and Humboldt Range gold-silver project in Nevada.
"We are delighted with the response to our capital raising, particularly the strong support from our existing shareholders, and we welcome the new shareholders to our register," said PolarX Managing Director Frazer Tabeart. "These funds allow us to commence our exploration programs in Nevada and Alaska with a high degree of confidence, and we look forward to providing progress updates."
Much of this funding will go toward a scoping-level study and further exploration of Zackly, a high-grade gold-copper-silver skarn deposit that lies at the center of a 7.5-mile- (12 kilometers) long mineralized corridor that runs across the Alaska Range property.
Based on drilling by PolarX and previous explorers, Zackly Main hosts 3.4 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant inferred resource averaging 1.2% (90.4 million pounds) copper, 2 grams per metric ton (213,000 oz) gold, and 14 g/t (1.5 million oz) silver.
Looking to expand this resource, PolarX focused its 2020 exploration on Zackly East, a particularly robust skarn discovery made by the company in 2018. Highlights from the 2018 drilling include:
• ZX‐18020, drilled about 850 meters east of Zackly Main, cut 54.6 meters averaging 2.8 g/t gold, 0.6% copper, and 9.4 g/t silver, including a 0.3-meter (one foot) section averaging 27.3% copper, 2.5 g/t gold and 82.5 g/t silver.
• ZX‐18024, drilled about 40 meters north of hole 20, cut 46.7 meters of 3.1 g/t gold, 0.6% copper, and 3.3 g/t silver from a depth of 37 meters.
During the 2020 program, PolarX drilled 23 holes at Zackly East, highlights from this drilling include:
• ZX20035, drilled 60 meters east of ZX18020, cut 11.6 meters averaging 1.86 g/t gold and 0.38% copper.
• ZX20040, drilled about 60 meters further east, cut 68.6 meters averaging 0.6 g/t gold and 0.3% copper, including 24.5 meters of 1.24 g/t gold and 0.6% copper.
• ZX20056, which tested a faulted offset of an intense magnetic anomaly, cut 57 meters averaging 0.2 g/t gold and 0.26% copper, including 1.5 meters averaging 5.01 g/t gold and 3.15% copper.
PolarX says drilling has traced mineralization at Zackly East for more than 1,500 meters along strike and high-resolution magnetic data shows the structural system may extend for another 2,500 meters.
Based on the results of the 2020 program, PolarX has decided to initiate a scoping study that will evaluate an operation that includes Zackly Main, Zackly East, and the Caribou Dome copper deposit.
Lying about 15 miles southwest of Zackly, Caribou Dome hosts 2.8 million metric tons of JORC-compliant resource averaging 3.1% (189.6 million lb) copper.
The scoping study will help determine minimum resource size required for a viable mining operation and whether Caribou Dome can be mined on a campaign basis and processed at Zackly.
In preparation for this study, PolarX has begun a metallurgical test work program to evaluate processing options for the Zackly mineralization and the potential for co-processing with Caribou Dome mineralization.
This metallurgical work is expected to be completed before mid-year and the scoping study is slated to be finalized during the third quarter.
In the meantime, PolarX is already preparing for a 2021 Alaska Range drill program.
This drilling will target the depth extensions of the Zackly Main deposit; a 500-meter-long undrilled magnetic structure between Zackly Main and Zackly East; and test the more than 2,400-meter extension of Zackly East mineralization indicated by geophysics.
In addition, the company plans to deepen the discovery hole at Mars, a porphyry target about 5,000 meters west of Zackly.
The Mars discovery hole, 19MAR001, cut 102 meters averaging 0.22% copper and 0.1 g/t gold. This hole, however, was terminated in porphyry mineralization due to difficult drilling and heavy snows bringing an end to the 2019 exploration season.
Work at the Humboldt Range project in Nevada is expected to include mapping and sampling aimed at generating drill ready targets by the end of third quarter, about the time the field season at Alaska Range is expected to wind down.
The A$5 million financing to fund these programs, which will include the issuance of 125 million PolarX shares at A4 cents per share, is expected to close on Feb. 17.
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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