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

Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd. July 5 announced the beginning of surface exploration work on its recently staked Cantoo and Mineral Hill properties within the Alaskan region of the Golden Triangle near Hyder.

"The wide, stacked veins identified by Blackwolf's crews in 2021 at the Cantoo property are the most compelling targets that I've seen in my career in the Golden Triangle," said Blackwolf Copper and Gold President and CEO Rob McLeod.

In addition to Blackwolf's flagship Niblack project, in the last several months the company has added the Cantoo, Casey, Texas Creek, and Mineral Hill claim groups through staking to its growing portfolio.

These Southeast Alaska land packages cover 10,744 acres (4,360 hectares) across 534 federal mining claims and four state mining claims.

The properties are six to 12 miles (10 to 20 kilometers) northwest of Hyder, Alaska, four miles (six kilometers) south of the past-producing Granduc copper mine, six miles (10 kilometers) south of the past-producing Scottie copper mine, and due west of the past-producing Premier gold mine.

While Niblack has had more modern exploration, including a resource calculation from 2011 that has outlined 5.64 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.95% (118.1 million pounds) copper, 1.74 grams per metric ton (317,220 ounces) gold, 29.5 g/t (53.5 million oz) silver, and 1.73% (215 million lb) zinc, Blackwolf's new properties near Hyder have seen little to no modern examination, only accounting for various historical records of the area.

The priority for the planned work is to prepare for initial drilling at Cantoo, where large, outcropping quartz veins and breccias were identified with high-grade gold, silver, and copper mineralization. Blackwolf expects permits shortly from the U.S. Forest Service for diamond drilling.

Furthermore, rock and soil sampling, mapping, and assessment of historic prospects and workings will be performed.

"We are excited to evaluate all of our claims in the Hyder area, which has not seen significant exploration since the 1930's," said McLeod. "We look forward to an exciting season of exploration and discovery."

Located due east of the Premier and Silver Coin, deposits currently in development by Ascot Resources Ltd., and likely part of the same metallogenic system, Cantoo hosts at least two shallow southeast dipping vein structures that are up to 30 meters thick.

According to Alaskan territorial records, ore was direct shipped from surface without blasting and work ceased on any plans to develop Cantoo after the stock market crash of 1929.

Historic literature describes an upper gold-rich vein and a lower silver-rich vein, with a single historic sample from the upper collected by U.S. Geological Survey geologists in 1995 assaying 27.7 g/t gold.

Mining adits and two aerial tram line cables from the 1920s mining helped Blackwolf geologists to locate the veins.

Grab samples from the company's limited sampling along scree slopes below the cliffs assayed up to 30.4 g/t gold, 2,860 g/t silver, and 5.8% copper. Additional samples collected during 2021 from Cantoo include 0.82 g/t gold, 418 g/t silver, 0.41% copper, 16.2% lead, and 0.08% zinc, as well as 1.99 g/t gold, 9.7 g/t silver, 0.27% copper, 1.06% lead, and 0.24% zinc.

Click image to see larger map.

Mineral Hill, which lies immediately south of Cantoo, is underlain primarily by earliest Jurassic Hazelton Group volcanic rocks and associated intrusives, which includes the Premier porphyry.

Mineralization includes multiples phases of quartz and sulfide veining associated with strong hydrothermal alteration. Within Mineral Hill, the Top prospect has garnered the most attention with 18 representative and grab samples being collected in 1995 from historic trenches by U.S. Bureau of Mines geologists.

These samples returned grades as high as 48.03 g/t gold and 100.8 g/t silver, averaging 5.97 g/t gold and 23 g/t silver.

McLeod said Blackwolf will be announcing its 2022 plans for the recently permitted Niblack copper-gold-zinc-silver volcanogenic massive sulfide property on Prince of Wales Island in the near future.