Elsewhere Overseas; Cash Resources granted Yukon trenching

A controversial federal land use permit allows Cash Resources (VSE) to drive an excavator onto its Killer Gold project for trenching purposes.

Government biologists, environmentalists and native groups have expressed concern about the exploration’s impact on caribou and Dall sheep in the Killermun Lake area of the southwest Yukon.

But in late August, the Department of Northern Affairs granted the permit — subject to several conditions, including cessation of work during caribou calving and rutting seasons and revegetation of any disturbed land. Critics accused the Yukon government of flip-flopping in that it originally opposed the application, then said it could be granted with conditions. But Cash director Douglas Eaton credited Jesse Duke, the Yukon government mining facilitator, with having helped clear up misunderstandings between the company and the Department of Renewable Resources.

The company has agreed voluntarily to restrict activities on its claims so as to preserve scenery and wildlife; for example, no trenching will be carried out on cliffs inhabited by lambs.

Cash has released preliminary exploration results from 63 rock samples taken from surface float, outcrops and hand trenches. The average grade was 16.32 grams gold per tonne, with 18 samples assaying between 16.39 and 193.57 grams. For a grassroots program at this stage of development, “those are really encouraging numbers,” Eaton said, noting that many questions remain about the deposit’s characteristics.