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

In a win-win deal for both parties, Hecla Mining Company bought out ATAC Resources Corp., keeping two precious metals enriched Yukon exploration properties in its own portfolio and spinning a portfolio of more copper forward assets previously held by ATAC into Cascadia Minerals Ltd.

ATAC's extensive portfolio of mineral exploration projects in the Yukon and Northern British Columbia were anchored by Rackla Gold, a massive 170,000-hectare (420,000 acres) land package divided into two separate projects, Nadaleen and Rau.

Nadaleen is home to the first Carlin-style gold discovered in the Yukon, including the Osiris Gold deposit. According to the 2022 mineral resource estimate, Osiris hosts 5.53 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 4.12 grams per metric ton (732,000 ounces) gold and 9.36 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 3.47 g/t (1.04 million oz) gold.

On the east side of Nadaleen, Rau also accommodates a wealth of deposits, with the most advanced being Tiger, which hosts 4.56 million metric tons of measured and indicated resource averaging 3.19 g/t (464,000 oz) gold.

Connaught is an earlier staged but road-accessible property about 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Dawson City were rock samples with grades as high as 4,050 g/t silver, 10.9 g/t gold, 7.2% zinc, and 1.98% copper have been collected.

In a buyout valued at roughly US$18.8 million (C$25.8 million), Hecla issued 3.7 million shares in exchange for shares held by ATAC stockholders.

The Idaho-based silver miner also invested C$2 million (US$1.5 million) for a 19.9% stake in Cascadia Minerals, a new exploration company created to spin ATAC's copper projects into.

Hecla held onto Rackla Gold and the silver-rich Connaught property east of Dawson City.

"Hecla is an ideal acquirer for the Rackla Gold property, given its adjacent Keno Hill mining project and demonstrated commitment to the Yukon and its communities," said Cascadia Minerals President and CEO Graham Downs. "As an established and successful multi-asset producer, Hecla has the resources, strengths and experience to meaningfully advance the known targets at Rackla and Connaught."

It was only a few short weeks later that the new Cascadia Minerals, helmed by former ATAC management, kicked off exploration of its portfolio of copper projects that include the Catch (Yukon), PIL (Northern BC), Rosy (Yukon), and Idaho Creek (Yukon).

"I am very excited to begin a new chapter of discovery with Cascadia," said Downs. "With backing from Hecla as a strategic investor, and a strong and experienced management team, we are ready to hit the ground running with a robust exploration program for 2023."

Cascadia Minerals Ltd.

Although it sold its Rackla and Connaught gold properties, as part of the agreement, Cascadia held onto the Catch, Rosy, Idaho Creek, and PIL properties.

In addition to getting Cascadia geologist boots on the ground to carry out sampling, prospecting, and geophysical surveys, the company quickly optioned the Sands of Time property, adding yet another highly prospective target to its portfolio.

Cascadia's crowning achievement for 2023 was the discovery of a copper-rich porphyry in the first two holes ever drilled at Catch, including 116.6 meters of 0.31% copper and 0.3 g/t gold in CA-23-002 – an outcome not typically found in the mining industry.

"To have made a significant copper-gold porphyry discovery in the first two holes ever drilled on a project is incredibly rare," said Downs.

Feeling eager as a first mover in this underexplored extension of the Stikine Terrane in Yukon, Cascadia intends to not only advance this property but to also utilize it as a case study regionally to potentially acquire additional holdings in the area.