Vancouver, BC: Klondike Gold Corp. (the 'Company') is pleased to announce significant advances on its Yukon Lone Star Property with the completion of extensive data compilation. The Company now has sufficient geological and structural control to direct targeted drilling towards a disseminated bulk tonnage gold target contained within a high grade orogenic vein system. This important advancement builds on the discovery of significant quantities of disseminated gold in schist and a higher grade vein system that increases the overall gold grade in the bulk tonnage target gold bearing schist (GBS1) unit.
The advances that allow Klondike Gold confidence in drill-ready targets are:
1. Confirmation that the majority of placer gold from Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks (probably >10 million ounces) was derived from gold-bearing lodes within an approximately 4 by 2 kilometer area centered on Lone Star Ridge between Eldorado and Upper Bonanza Creeks.
2. The discovery that the higher grade orogenic vein system contains those that are both steeply dipping (previously recognized in 2006) and shallow dipping veins whose significance was recognized in the 2012 excavation of the Bolder Lode open cut. 2012 observations in the Boulder Lode excavation confirmed significant gold of up to 43.1 g/t Au in grab sample from shallow veins.
3. Lithogeochemical analysis demonstrated that stratigraphic units within the pyritic schist package can be recognized and mapped and that one of these units (GBS1) contains up to several grams per tonne disseminated gold. This advancement was made possible by research and field work by scientific consultants and technical staff from 2011 to 2013.
This is a milestone in the 100+ years of exploration activity that took place on the Lone Star Ridge and it is the first time that a property operator has gained such advanced geological and structural control over the historic Lone Star Hard Rock Mine.
The following provides further details of technical and scientific advances:
The Klondike Gold Fields have produced approximately 20 million ounces of placer gold since their discovery in 1897; however, no significant hard rock mine has been developed. The source of gold is an intriguing geological mystery that is elusive due to the complex nature of geology of the Klondike. During the Lone Star Property's 115 year history there have been several significant leaps in understanding of the hard rock source. These advances include the understanding that small sample sizes tend to under-report the actual grade, that gold in soil anomalies extend far beyond the initial hard rock discoveries, and that placer gold is locally derived. In the past nine years, exploration of the property by Klondike Gold Corp. and the previous operator has built on this work and made further major advances in the understanding of the hard rock sources of the placer gold in the Bonanza and Eldorado Creek drainages.
It has been shown that the majority of placer gold from Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks (probably >10 million ounces) was derived from gold-bearing lodes within an approximately 4 by 2 kilometer area centered on Lone Star Ridge between Eldorado and Upper Bonanza Creeks. An independent detailed investigation of the compositions of placer and lode gold throughout the Klondike was undertaken by
Dr. Robert Chapman from the University of Leeds and Dr. Mortensen and published in 2010 in Economic Geology. This work led to several key conclusions, one of which is the importance of Lone Star Ridge in the production of the millions of ounces of Eldorado and Bonanza placer gold.
Klondike Gold now understands the structural controls for gold-bearing veins on Lone Star Ridge. This provides a structural framework within which it is possible to identify the extent and geometry of vein systems on the Lone Star Property and to predict where these vein systems might be localized. Reconstructing the deformation history of the Klondike region has been key in this new understanding of gold deposition. Between 2004 and 2007, the entire Klondike was remapped geologically to understand the structural controls on gold-bearing veins. This work was carried out by Dr. Douglas MacKenzie and Dr. David Craw from the University of Otago, geological consultant Dr. Timothy Liverton, and Dr. Jim Mortensen from the University of British Columbia. The work culminated in a 2008 publication in
Mineralium Deposita that identified and described a previously unrecognized and localized phase of deformation (the "D4 event") that appears to be the main control on the location of gold-bearing quartz veins in most parts of the Klondike. This work suggested that the main structural control on gold-bearing veins was steeply-dipping D4 deformation zones. Excavation of schist at the north end of the Lone Star trend in 2011 and the 2012 excavation of the Boulder Lode on Lone Star Ridge shows that a shallow, northeast dipping, stacked D4 vein system is dominant. This system contains significant gold over a package thickness of at least 6 meters.
Dr. Liverton has postulated that these packages may repeat at depth. Repeating packages of shallow dipping gold enriched veins may be a partial explanation of the abundance of placer gold in Bonanza and Eldorado Creek. There is strong evidence for this phenomenon in the area of Victoria Gulch below the Boulder Lode where the topographic slope is similar to the dip of the gold enriched package in the Boulder Lode and significant eluvial (in situ gold in soil) and placer gold is present.
Recent lithogeochemical analysis demonstrated that stratigraphic units within the pyritic schist package can be geochemically recognized from conventional multi-element assay data, and more importantly, that one of these units (GBS1) contains up to several grams per tonne disseminated gold. These geochemical criteria can also be applied to most of the past
Diamond drilling, rotary drilling, and surface sample assay data that has recently been compiled for the first time, making it possible to trace individual rock units over the entire Lone Star Ridge area. The geochemical signatures of individual lithologies have identified units that are mappable in the field, and this distinction has made it possible to constrain a map of the key gold-bearing schist unit (GBS1) over a 50 to 250 m by 3 plus km area (still open along strike) of Lone Star Ridge that is postulated by Dr. Mortensen to be contained within a steeply dipping limb of a northeast verging fold sequence. This understanding was facilitated by the most recent phase of mineral exploration work on the Lone Star property performed by
Dr. Mortensen and Dr. Liverton. This work highlighted the importance of sub units of the pyritic felsic schist package as a source of gold that has been locally remobilized into high grade orogenic quartz veins (probably on a scale of <100m) as well as a potentially bulk-mineable rock package of gold bearing schist (GBS1).
The aforementioned lithogeochemical and structural advances will allow Klondike Gold to direct exploration drilling with greater precision. Dr. MacKenzie and Klondike Gold identified an undulation on a 100 to 200 meter scale in the lower contact of the felsic schist caused by the interaction of D3 and D4 deformation. The high points of this undulation show enrichment of gold with late D4 extensional deformation, preferentially mineralizing these anticlines. This suggests new target areas to the east, west, and north of the Boulder Lode in the domes of these structural undulations.
The corporate strategy of systematic property wide investigating gold occurrences has also been productive. This has resulted in the advancement of several targets across the property including:
- Boulder Lode open cut results of 1.86 g/t over 6 by 25 meters, including 9.43 g/t over 2.5 by 4.2 meters of the excavation and significant advances in understanding of the structural and lithologic control on gold mineralization (as outlined above). Individual samples show a high of 43.1 g/t Au in the quartz veins and 4.1 g/t in the interstitial schist host rock.
- Nugget Zone mapping, extension, grab samples of up to 179 g/t Au with 78 g/t Ag and recognition of a possible trend 1.1 km to the Buckland Zone.. Past results from the Buckland Zone include:
- Violet Ridge trend advancement with high sample of 47.4 g/t Au and 894 g/t Ag and evidence for a 4 km strike length in soil samples.
- Boy Zone 400 by 900 m soil anomaly and recognition of further under explored areas of the property.
Klondike Gold plans to continue to utilize a systematic approach in the future evaluation of the Lone Star Property. The 20 million ounces of placer gold recovered from Klondike gold fields was partly derived from the hard rock sources on Klondike Gold claims and we are dedicated to unlocking this hard rock economic potential.
T. Liverton, PhD., C. Geol, F.G.S. is the qualified person for the purposes of this news release.