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

Kenorland Minerals Ltd. May 10 announced that it plans to carry out drilling and geophysics on its Tanacross and Healy mineral exploration projects in Alaska.

In April, Kenorland announced that Antofagasta Minerals, a subsidiary of Chilean copper miner Antofagasta PLC, plans to invest US$3.8 million this year on exploration at the Tanacross porphyry copper-gold project in eastern Alaska.

Last year, Antofagasta Minerals agreed to pay Kenorland an initial US$1 million and invest US$30 million on exploration over eight years to earn a 70% joint venture interest in Tanacross, a 113,400-acre property lying alongside the Alaska-Yukon border that hosts world-class porphyry copper-gold deposit potential.

Since the discovery of the East Taurus deposit at Tanacross in 1971, 17,076 meters of drilling in 67 holes have been completed on this property.

Highlights from historical drilling include:

• 175 meters averaging 0.31% copper, 0.1 grams per metric ton gold, and 0.032% molybdenum in hole 96DDH030.

• 208.5 meters averaging 0.23% copper, 0.14 g/t gold, and 0.32% molybdenum in hole 96DDH032.

• 232.6 meters averaging 0.31% copper, 0.25 g/t gold, and 0.036% molybdenum in hole 08DDH040.

• 285 meters averaging 0.23% copper, 0.16 g/t gold, 1.08 g/t silver, and 0.036% molybdenum in hole 19ETD050.

• 412.4 meters averaging 0.11% copper, 0.12 g/t gold, 1.17 g/t silver, and 0.015% molybdenum in hole 19ETD051.

In 2021, Kenorland completed detailed soil sampling and mapping over the East Taurus, West Taurus, South Taurus, and Big Creek target areas of the property. High-resolution drone magnetic surveys were flown over the same area, and a Titan high-powered induced polarization and magnetotelluric survey was completed at South Taurus.

Last year, Antofagasta invested US$1 million for Kenorland to carry out additional geophysical, geological, and geochemical surveys to help refine drill targets.

This year's program will include up to 4,500 meters of diamond drilling to test three primary target areas associated with the initial discovery – East Taurus, West Taurus, and South Taurus.

Most of the historic drilling has been carried out at East Taurus, with a few holes drilled at West Taurus. Kenorland plans to drill one hole at South Taurus, a coincident geochemical and geophysical target that has never previously been drilled.

Targeting Healy

Kenorland also plans to carry out an electromagnetic geophysical survey this summer to refine drill targets at Healy, a gold property that lies about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Tanacross.

The company optioned Healy from Newmont Corp. in 2018 and recently earned a 70% JV interest in the greenfield gold project.

Mapping, soil sampling, geophysical surveys, and reverse circulation drilling carried out by Kenorland during the 2018 through 2020 field seasons identified three primary drill targets – Bronk, Thor, and Spike.

The company also carried out a 14-hole diamond drill program at Healy in 2021.

Highlights from this drilling include:

• 11.9 meters averaging 1.29 g/t gold in hole 21HDD017 (Thor).

• 13.38 meters averaging 1.22 g/t gold in hole 21HDD019 (Thor).

Drilling also cut multiple intervals of lower-grade gold at Bronk.

Kenorland says the broadly disseminated and vein-hosted low-level gold mineralization encountered confirms the presence of a large gold system.

Induced polarization and magnetotelluric geophysical surveys completed towards the end of the 2021 drill program revealed significant untested geophysical anomalies associated with mineralization, controlled by structural and lithological traps.

Kenorland Minerals Ltd.

Kenorland Minerals Alaska projects map.

"While there are many indications that Healy represents a significant greenfields gold discovery within Alaska's prolific Goodpaster Mining District, it will require additional drill testing to fully evaluate the economic potential," Kenorland Minerals CEO Zach Flood said when the results from the drilling were released in 2022.

This year's extremely low-frequency electromagnetic (ELF-EM) geophysical survey will help refine the targets for further drilling.

Overall, roughly C$33 million (US$24.7 million) of exploration will be carried out this year on Kenorland's projects in Quebec, Ontario, and Alaska. Approximately C$29 million (US$21.7 million) of that exploration is slated to be financed by the company's partners.

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.

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