Sand Point, Alaska – Full Metal Minerals’ (FMM-V, FLMTF-O) strategy of focusing on a pro-mining, stable region with high potential for major discoveries appears to be paying dividends for the junior.
Publicly-listed for just over a year, the company has zeroed in on Alaska as its geographic locale of choice, acquiring interest and rights on a large portfolio of gold, copper and polymetallic projects throughout the state. Emerging as one of the larger stake holders in Alaska, the company recently expanded its total landholdings to over 6,000 sq. km, and is one of the more active explorers.
“We are the largest landholder in Alaska, someone told us even after the state, federal and native governments, but certainly among other publicly-held exploration companies, and that includes Teck Cominco and its Red Dog project,” states Full Metal president Michael Williams.
The company is enjoying success in generating prospects, developing targets on them, and then securing joint ventures to finance further exploration and potential development.
During a recent site visit by The Northern Miner, the size and scope of the land position the company amassed in the Alaskan Peninsula-Aleutian Islands region was easily evident. The Alaskan Island Porphyry Belt tracks for several hundred km along the island arc volcanic chain, hosting numerous epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold mineralized occurrences.
Full Metal’s Aleutian land package comprises some 5,700 sq. km in Port Moller and Chignik regions, on which, the company is earning full interest from the Aleut Corporation and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation respectively under exclusive agreements. The project was recently farmed out by the company to Metallica Resources (MR-T, MRB-X), which can earn 65% interest for total investments of US$4.75 million over the five year term of the option. Interest can be boosted to 70% on selected properties by completing a prefeasibility study and then a further 10%, to 80%, for completing a final feasibility.
The Port Moller area, on the tip of the Alaskan peninsula, hosts the Centennial and the Shumagain-Apollo gold projects, in addition to the Pyramid copper porphyry project. The Centennial project, on Popov Island and adjacent to the town of Sand Point, was evaluated by Battle Mountain Gold, now part of Newmont Mining (NEM-N), in the 1980s. The senior identified about 6 million tonnes of unqualified resource grading 1.5 grams gold per tonne in quartz stockworks under a basalt cap in an intermediate-sulphidation epithermal gold environment.
Across the channel on Unga Island, the Shumagin and Apollo low-sulphidation epithermal gold deposits host a historical resource of 280,000 tonnes grading 27.7 grams gold and 92.6 grams silver per tonne (at Shumagin) and have previously produced about 145,000 oz. of gold (at the Apollo mine). The deposits are owned by southern-U.S. natural gas producer NGAS Resources (NGAS-Q).
The Pyramid copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit underwent drilling in the 1970s, which led to a resource estimate of 125 million tonnes grading 0.4% copper and 0.025% molybdenum in a near-surface enrichment zone. Subsequent exploration by Battle Mountain in the 1980s identified gold values in the deposit. All resources estimates were conducted prior to implementation of National Instrument 43-101. A helicopter flight over the region evidenced very large areas of extensive alteration staining, providing no shortage of exploration targets.
The Chignik project area also hosts a number of interesting targets. The Mallard Duck and Warner porphyry occurrences have seen historical exploration, with the former delivering values of up to 4.2% copper, 3.3 grams gold and 720 grams silver. At Bee Creek, five closely-spaced historic drill holes tested a porphyry mineralized zone, returning up to 150 metres of 0.25% copper. Kawisgag is a porphyry target covering 13 sq. km of sulphide mineralization with past sampling yielding up to 0.17% copper, 6.9 grams gold and 0.02% molybdenum.
Also in the Chignik area, testing of the Manhattan high-sulphidation epithermal prospect returned assays of up to 20.5 grams gold and 558 grams silver from pyrite-enargite mineralized vein systems.
Metallica Resources’ President and CEO Richard Hall summed up the region’s upside, “Full Metal’s Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula Properties represent a large under-explored land position with excellent potential for the discovery of world class copper-gold-molybdenum and gold-silver mines.”
More than just a Lucky Shot
With a 7-hole drill program recently completed on its aptly named Lucky Shot project, Full Metal has cut a number of bonanza-grade gold intercepts at the past producing mine situated about 60 km north of Anchorage.
Some of the best results came from hole 12, where a 4 metre true width intercept (from 133 metres down hole depth) averaged 219.1 grams gold per tonne, including a 0.7 metre interval grading 1,267.5 grams gold (assay values are uncut). The hole is a 50-metre westerly step-out from previously released hole 9, which intersected 3.1 metres of 62.2 grams gold. Both high-grade intercepts are situated about 200 metres up-dip from past underground workings.
All current and past drilling has successfully intersected the Lucky Shot shear structure, which shows strong chlorite-sericite-carbonate alteration along with brecciation and silicified components. The shear zone has been outlined both 250 metres up-dip from past development and 250 metres along strike. The shear remains open to the west and south, and to the north, down-dip beneath historic workings.
Lucky Shot gold mineralization occurs in a series of stacked, sub-horizontal high-grade quartz veins within Late Cretaceous granites-tonalites. Mineralized veins, averaging one metre in width, are associated with faulting and shearing structures with notable thickening adjacent to faults. Recent exploration has identified vein mineralization in some of the wider shear structures with thicknesses of 3-5 metres, representing possible feeder zones.
The Lucky Shot mine was the richest historic gold producer in the Willow Creek mining district. From 1921 to 1940, a reported 250,000 oz. of gold was recovered from ore averaging almost 1.5 oz. gold per ton (50.7 grams gold).
The project retains good existing infrastructure, including accessible underground workings, power in close proximity, plus an existent camp and maintenance buildings.
Hunting the Ganes Creek gold source
Elsewhere in Alaska, Full Metal recently optioned its Ganes Creek gold project to Fury Explorations (FUR-V, FURXF-O). The property is situated within the Tintina gold belt in the west-central interior of Alaska, about 440 km northwest of Anchorage.
Exploration has targeted the bedrock source of spectacular nuggets found in the area. Numerous large specimens have been recovered from nearby streams with many still encapsulated in quartz, indicating a proximal source.
Geologically, the Ganes Creek intrusive complex is interpreted as a faulted-off extension of the Donlin Creek intrusive complex that hosts the more than 11 million oz. Donlin Creek gold deposit of NovaGold Resources (NG-T, NG-N) and Placer Dome (PDG-T, PDG-N), situated about 120 km to the southwest.
Boulder Creek uranium
Full Metal also recently optioned its Boulder Creek uranium project, on northwestern Alaska’s Seward Peninsula, to Triex Minerals (TXM-V, TRXMF-O) that can earn up to an 80% interest. The property hosts Alaska’s largest uranium deposit discovered to date.
Mineralization occurs in a sandstone-type “roll-front” setting in which the uranium was initially leached from a Late Cretaceous alkalic quartz monzonite and deposited in the reducing environment of Paleocene-aged Boulder Creek Basin sediments.
Historic exploration in the 1970s and 1980s by Houston Oil and Minerals saw 3,300 metres of core drilling in 52 holes. The company produced an unqualified resource estimate of about one million pounds of contained U3O8 in material averaging 0.27% U3O8. Resource calculations predate National Instrument 43-101.
Full Metal’s large South Pebble project covers 400 sq. km surrounding Northern Dynasty Minerals’ (NDM-V, NAK-X) massive Pebble gold-copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit in southwestern Alaska. The company has completed programs of geochemical sampling and ground geophysics, and has developed a number of drill targets on the property.
In addition to other Alaskan projects, Full Metal also holds its two initial Nunavut mineral projects, Arcadia and Mac & Cache, joint ventured with Garnet Point Resources (GRC-V, GRCDF-O).
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