Exploration heats up in White Gold district

As the Yukon emerges from the spring melt, investors are once again looking to the territory for exciting news after a winter lull.

Several districts have emerged in the territory, but the White Gold district, initially legitimized by Kinross Gold‘s (K-T, KGC-N) buy-out of Underworld Resources, remains an essential part of the new Yukon gold rush. In the district, all major claim holders have already kicked-off their exploration programs for the year.

Kaminak Gold (KAM-V) started exploration at its Coffee project in mid-April, with a reverse circulation rig targeting the T3 trend at its Supremo zone, and three diamond drill rigs working on the Latte zone and Double Double zone.

Thanks to its early start, the company has already released the first 2011 drill results from its 2-km-by-2-km gold-in-soil anomaly Supremo zone. The 16 RC holes, spaced 25- to 50-metres apart across a 100-metre strike length of the T3 structure, were all drilled westward between 50 and 70 degrees.

Hole R3, the most southeast hole in the crop of results, hit 27.4 metres grading 2.52 grams gold per tonne from 89 metres depth. Fifty metres west, Hole R1 cut 16.8 metres of 4.51 grams gold from 37 metres downhole. R5, drilled 25 metres north of R1, returned 6.1 metres of 10.41 grams gold from 15 metres depth. Twenty-five metres east of R5, R6A hit 24.4 metres of 2.28 grams gold from 47 metres.

The company’s planned holes and pending results continue southward on the T3 target. The company uses a mobile track-mounted RC rig capable of drilling up to 200 metres deep. The company is working to secure a second rig for the site.

Kaminak has budgeted $15 million for this year’s exploration, which includes 40,000 metres of drilling and 10,000 soil samples in new areas. The company wants to expand and define the geometry of the eight gold zones discovered last year, work towards defining inferred resources on priority zones, and find new zones by following up promising soil anomalies.

New entrant Smash Minerals (SSH-V) was also an eager beaver, starting its exploration program in early May. Unlike most other Yukon players, Smash’s stock was not exposed to last year’s Yukon excitement. It only listed this April on the Venture after a $6.4-million initial public offering.

But while the company’s name is new, CEO Adrian Fleming is not. As the former president of Underworld, Fleming played a part in putting Yukon on the map again. He is also CEO of Entourage Metals (EMT-V), and has been involved in several discoveries and projects over his 35-year mining career.

Smash’s 846-sq.-km Whiskey project sits immediately east of Kinross’ claims in the district, a possibly plum location secured with the help of prospector Shawn Ryan.

Smash took roughly 7,000 soil samples last year, using private funding, and identified three priority targets. This year’s program calls for at least 15,000 samples, plus 3,000 metres of core drilling in August, with a total budget of $4.5 million.

Ethos Capital (ECC-V) also plans a sample-heavy exploration season as it explores five properties spanning 763 sq. km in the area. Launched in early June, the company’s program calls for an ambitious 33,000 soil samples at a collection rate of 2,000 a day.

Having optioned its properties from Shawn Ryan, Ethos chief operating officer Peter Tallman noted in a recent meeting that the company benefits from Ryan’s sample-collection expertise and efficiency.

Tallman said the intent of the program is to blanket all of Ethos’ properties and establish targets.

“The intent is basically to do what Kaminak did in four years, in one,” Tallman said.

Like other companies conducting soil sampling programs, Ethos benefits from the fact that the White Gold district is not glaciated. This makes surface samples a much more reliable predictor of sub-surface anomalies.

Ethos has budgeted $6 million for its exploration program, which will also include 2,000 metres of drilling on its Wolf gold target.

Silver Quest Resources (SQI-V) started exploring its 850-sq.-km land package in the district in early June. The company plans to spend $5 million on 15,000 metres of diamond drilling, 20,000 soil samples, geological mapping and airborne surveying.

Silver Quest has claim blocks all over the district, but will concentrate exploration on its 55-sq.-km Prospector Mountain project and 49-sq.-km Boulevard project. In 2010 the company identified a 1,600-metre-long anomalous trend at Prospector that it dubbed the Bonanza zone, while at Boulevard the company found geochemical anomalies over 20 km of the Boulevard trend.

Rounding out the major land holders in the area, Taku Gold (TAK-V), with substantial ground on the north end of the district, also plans to take upwards of 30,000 soil samples in 2011. Thanks to a recent addition of 137 sq. km of property through staking, the company now holds roughly 762.4 sq. km in the Dawson area.

Kinross itself sits in the heart of the district. But as with most majors, the company keeps tight-lipped about its exploration, as it is usually non-material news.