New Mineralization Encountered At Brewery Creek Project
VANCOUVER - Golden Predator Corp. reported results from 9 diamond drill holes completed on the Moosehead Zone at its flagship Brewery Creek Project. These are the first holes drilled by Golden Predator on the Moosehead Zone, and have successfully intercepted extensions to mineralization mined by previous operators.
Highlights of the Company's initial Moosehead Zone drilling include: BC12-460 with 26.9 m of 0.96 g/t gold from a depth of 66.2 m and 12.0 m of 1.24 g/t gold from a depth of 108.0 m; BC12-462 with 16.8 m of 1.01 g/t gold from a depth of 88.7 m; and BC12-466 with 59.2 m of 1.22 g/t gold from a depth of 15.9 m including 9.7 m of 3.23 g/t gold.
The Moosehead Zone lies 2.1 km east of the Big Rock Zones and 5.1 km west of the Bohemian and Schooner Zones. The Moosehead Zone was mined from a small open pit during 2000 by the previous operator, Viceroy Minerals Corporation, towards the end of their operations at Brewery Creek which were halted primarily due to low gold prices. The mineralization at depth, the majority of the deposit to the southwest, and the sediments to the north east were not mined.
The mineralization is primarily hosted in an altered monzonite sill which strikes northeast, dips southeast and is underlain by Earn group sediments. Results to date indicate that the sill is approximately 80 m thick and can be traced approximately 400 m along strike. Mineralization is truncated to the west by a steep brittle fault, but remains open down dip and along strike to the north east.
Thrusting to the northeast has placed favorable ore-hosting Road River Group Steel Formation siltstone on top of Earn group sediments. Historic trenching and drilling within this northeastern sedimentary package has encountered gold mineralization along strike extending beyond the historically mined area.
Drilling by Golden Predator in 2012 has been designed to extend the known mineralization along strike and down dip. The Company has also drilled 3 PQ holes at the Moosehead Zone to provide material for column leach tests which are planned to be completed later this year. The Company has not published a resource estimate for the Moosehead Zone, but anticipates incorporating drill results from the Moosehead Zone into an updated resource estimate for its Brewery Creek Project, planned for later in 2012.
Brewery Creek hosts a NI 43-101 compliant resources of 581,000 indicated gold ounces in 20.417 million tonnes at 0.89 g/t and 346,000 inferred gold ounces in 12.990 million tonnes at 0.83 g/t (Barr, 2012; GPD NR 12-20 June 18, 2012). The Company anticipates publishing an updated resource estimate incorporating the current year's drilling later in the year.
The Brewery Creek Project is a past producing heap leach gold mining operation with a total of 278,484 oz Au produced from seven near-surface oxide deposits along the property's Reserve Trend from 1996 through 2002, when the mine (operated by Viceroy Resource Corporation) shut down primarily due to low gold prices. The 181 km2 property is located 55 km due east of Dawson City, accessible by paved and gravel roads from the junction of the North Klondike and Dempster Highways.
The Project is in receipt of all necessary permits required to conduct additional exploration. The Brewery Creek Project holds a Type A Water License with an expiry date of December 31, 2021, subject to the restrictions and conditions contained in the Yukon Water Act and Regulations. The Project also holds a Quartz Mining License (QML) with an expiry date of December 31, 2021. The Company is working to amend the Water License and the QML to incorporate current mine planning and design studies which are currently underway. In addition, a restated and amended Socio-Economic Accord with Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation with respect to the Brewery Creek Project is in place.