Tectonic Metals Inc. Oct. 30 announced that it has expanded Flat through staking of state mining claims and an option on two claim blocks north of the 91,620-acre gold project in the Kuskokwim Mineral Belt of Southwest Alaska.

Located roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the world-class Donlin Gold project, Flat is a property Tectonic leased from Doyon Ltd. that covers the likely lode source of two creeks – Flat and Otter – that are estimated to have produced more than 830,000 oz of placer gold since 1908. When you add in other streams draining Chicken Mountain on the property, this total exceeds 1.3 million oz of alluvial gold.

Historical exploration carried out from the 1960s until 2003, including roughly 11,000 meters of drilling, has outlined a 3,800-meter-long and up to 600-meter-wide gold-in-soil anomaly formed by intrusion-hosted mineralization that begins at surface and remains open along strike and at depth.

Highlights from the 55 historical holes include 24.7 meters averaging 12.56 grams per metric ton gold; 1.4 meters averaging 211 g/t gold; 76 meters averaging 0.98 g/t gold; and 36.6 meters averaging 1.36 g/t gold.

The new properties acquired by Tectonic cover three potential intrusions that are on-trend and show similarities to the intrusion at Chicken Mountain.

"The complex north of Otter Creek appears to contain multiple potential intrusion-related gold systems similar to the Chicken Mountain intrusion, which Tectonic is exploring through drill testing this year," said Tectonic Metals President and CEO Tony Reda. "Two of the potential intrusions lie immediately north of and drain into Otter Creek, which has already produced 417,000 ounces of recorded placer gold. Surprisingly, historic data indicates that these areas have seen minimal exploration and no drilling in contrast to the southern portions of the Flat Gold System."

The new properties include two claim blocks – Jam and Caribou – the company acquired under an option with an unnamed third party.

Jam is a 640-acre claim block about one mile north of Flat that covers an exposed monzonite intrusion, volcanic cap rocks and related hornfels, and several historical gold showings.

Caribou, which lies about 10 miles northeast of Jam, is a 2,080-acre block of claims where the geology and geophysics indicate the potential for another intrusion.

Tectonic has agreed to lease these claims for an annual payment of US$25,000 for years one through three and US$50,000 annually thereafter. After the sixth anniversary of the lease, Tectonic has the option to purchase full ownership of the claims for US$200,000 in cash or company shares.

To keep its option in good standing, Tectonic must invest $650,000 in exploration on the properties by Dec. 1, 2028, including at least US$50,000 next year.

Tectonic has also agreed to pay the lessor a 2% net smelter return royalty on all precious mineral production from the optioned claims. If the option is exercised, the royalty for precious metals can be reduced at any given time to 1% for US$1.5 million.

In addition to the optioned properties, Tectonic staked 4,960 acres of mining claims to cover prospective geology between, around and south of the acquired claim blocks.

"Introducing 'The Flat Gold System' – a network of interconnected geophysical anomalies that indicate six confirmed or potential intrusion related gold systems. Spanning a 20-kilometer trend, these intrusion targets are significant in size and interpreted to be bedrock sources for placer gold, reinforcing our belief that Flat is a tier one opportunity," said Reda. "It is truly remarkable that our company has access to such a large number of intrusion targets, which would be nearly impossible in a more established, mature, exploration and mining district."

Tectonic Metals Inc.

Click on image for larger Flat gold system map.

Tectonic is carrying out its inaugural drill program at Flat.

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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