Alaska explorer Contango ORE announced Wednesday that it had purchased Alaska Gold Torrent, which owns the rights to the Lucky Shot mine and related claims in the Willow mining district north of Anchorage.
The Lucky Shot mine historically produced 252,000 oz of gold from 169,000 t of ore, indicating an average head grade of 1.5 oz / t.
President and CEO Rick van Nieuwenhuyse He said the Lucky Shot project represented an "exciting opportunity" to add additional value for Contango shareholders and marked a new focus for the company.
โThe historic Willow Mining District consistently produced high-grade gold from free-mill, low-angle quartz veins, averaging between 30 g / t and 60 g / t and 1 m to 5 m thick. The property is accessible by road and has an excellent infrastructure. Our plan is to restore access to drill the downward extension of the Lucky Shot and Coleman mines, โhe said.
Once access is established, Contango plans to renovate the underground works and then build 600m of new 3m by 4m bypass parallel to the vein, followed by 2,400m of underground diamond drilling to define a new resource.
The Lucky Shot and Coleman veins have only been mined a short distance down, Van Nieuwenhuyse said, noting that these types of mesothermal vein systems typically extend for miles downward.
The company sees the potential to develop significant gold resources from high-grade gold veins along the well-known 1.6 km Coleman-Lucky Shot-War Baby trend by drilling historically mined areas.
Additionally, drilling by Full Metals Minerals between 2005 and 2009 in the Murphy area, some 600 m east of the historic War Baby mine, cut a 1 m vein sample at 54.6 g / t, resulting in suggests that mineralization may continue further east of the mine. three developed mines: Coleman / Lucky Shot / War Baby.
โContango is well positioned, with experienced staff and capital, to explore and expand the historic high-grade resource at Lucky Shot. We believe that the exploration potential of the Willow District is excellent, although perhaps underestimated, โsaid Van Nieuwenhuyse.
Contango also has a 30% non-operating interest in the Manh Choh project in Alaska. Kinross is the owner and operator of 70% of the gold project, which is currently in a feasibility study stage.
