Yukon Min., Perrex discover 40 veins at Ketza silver bet

Forty veins ranging in width from two to 50 ft have been uncovered at the Ketza silver property in the Yukon, joint-venture partners Yukon Minerals and Perrex Resources report.

Grades of grab samples vary from 10 oz silver per ton to extremely high values. Because of the discoveries, the property has been expanded from an initial 90 claims to more than 400 claims. The companies report 24 men were employed on the project this past season, which saw a permanent camp establish ed and an 8-mile access road upgraded.

Perrex contributed $670,000 of the 1987 exploration budget of $900,000. The two companies entered into their agreement, under which Perrex may earn a 30% interest in the property by spending $3 million before the end of 1989, in August.

Work at Ketza will resume in late March or early April, 1988, with a budget of $1 million for the first phase and $1.3 million to follow. The 1988 program will commence with surface drilling of the more developed zones 2 and 3. This work will be followed by the driving of adits for underground exploration of these zones, bulk sampling and underground drilling.

Yukon Minerals also plans to conduct a high grade mining operation on Ketza’s PN and Lucky zones, to be carried out separately from the exploration program. The company is confident more than 2,000 tons of ore, grading 150 oz silver and 50% lead, can be mined and smelted next year. The company says the lead values should pay for the costs of mining, transportation and smelting so that the silver production, estimated to be 300,000 oz, should represent the profit for the operation.

In other news, Yukon Minerals reports it is currently exploring its recently acquired Payday gold-silver property near the Slocan mining camp in British Columbia. The old, partially mined veins have been reopened for sampling and a number of new vein systems have been discovered at surface. A winter work program involving underground drilling is planned.