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Aben Resources (TSX-V:ABN) is prepping for what is sure to be a busy
season of drilling at two highly prospective gold projects, one in
northwestern BC and the other in the eastern Yukon.
Vancouver-based Aben has for the past couple of years been
advancing their Forrest Kerr and Justin properties, and while the company has
seen some great results at Forrest Kerr, this year will be different in that
a plan is in the works for over a million dollars to be budgeted for Justin,
which butts onto Golden Predator’s (TSX-V:GPY) 3 Aces project.
There will also be a renewed focus on Forrest Kerr, located in BC’s Golden
Triangle smack dab between the past-producing Snip and Eskay Creek
mines, where Aben is planning an initial 5,000 meters to follow up
on last year’s expansion of the North Boundary Zone. The company has the
opportunity to execute on a number of target areas thanks to the
authorization of 40 new drill pad locations versus just nine in 2018.
For an overview of Aben’s exploration program this summer, view
a recent
video featuring Aben’s President and CEO, Jim Pettit.
Forrest Kerr
When Aben acquired the Forrest Kerr set of properties they came
with a significant amount of exploration - 120 holes and about 20,000 soil
samples. The most promising intersection was in the Boundary Zone hole, which
returned 33.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 11 meters
including 326 g/t gold over 0.45m.
However, the high grades were not followed up on due to high drilling
costs, limited accessibility, and glacier coverage in the Golden Triangle.
Recent glacial recession and significant improvements to infrastructure -
construction of the 335-km Northwest Transmission Line, a new three-dam
hydroelectric facility (AltaGas’ Forrest Kerr, the largest run-of-river
project in the province and an engineering marvel), and the paving of the
Stewart-Cassiar highway north from Hazelton - have lowered exploration
costs and made the project more accessible.
Aben was interested in the 23,000-hectare land package because of the
Kerr fault - a large structural feature that is thought to be a significant
gold source for Golden Triangle plays.
According to the corporate presentation:
Aben’s Forrest Kerr claim package .... consists of a 40 km long
north-south belt overlying rocks of the Hazelton
and Stuhini Groups, a complex assemblage of volcanic accumulations
with intervening sedimentary sequences which are host to significant gold
deposits in the Golden Triangle.
In 2017 Aben decided to begin exploring around the Boundary
Zone, where the highest grades had been found. The results of a nine-hole
drill campaign were extremely positive. Continuous mineralization was identified
in the first three holes of the new North Boundary Zone. Highlights
included 21.5 g/ t gold, 28.5 g/t silver and 3.1% copper over 6m;
2.91 g/t gold, 5.2 g/t silver and 0.6% copper over 14m.
Fast forward to last summer, when Aben hit
a discovery hole early in the drilling season, by positioning the drill
35m northwest of the three 2017 holes (the North Boundary Zone) to
investigate the possibility of mineralization at depth.
There was, and not just mineralization, but jewelry-box-style
mineralization.
Featuring four high-grade zones all within 190 meters downhole, the
highest-grade zone assayed at an impressive 331 g/t over 1.0m,
within a broader zone of 38.7 g/t over 10m. Other results from the discovery
hole included 22.0 g/t gold and 22.4 g/t silver over 4.0m,
4.0 g/t silver over 13.0m, and 8.2 g/t gold with 1.4 g/t silver over 6.0m.
Guided by chief geologist Cornell McDowell, Aben decided to test
new ground 1.5 km south of the North Boundary Zone, going by soil geochemical
anomalies and “elevated gold in rock and soil values that are coincident with
an historic electromagnetic (“EM”) conductive geophysical anomaly,” the
company stated
in a news release.
Watch an interview
with Aben's VP Exploration Cornell McDowell
Restricted to one pad location/drill, the crew still managed to tap into
mineralization that appeared similar to the three holes that
defined the North Boundary Zone ie. containing ample chalcopyrite - the
copper mineral - and gold pathfinder minerals.
The three collared holes (ie. drilled from the same pad in different
directions) hit quartz-sulfide veins at various depths, with enough gold,
silver and copper values to coin the new South Boundary Zone.
The rock pulled up from South Boundary has lower grades than North
Boundary, but it’s still between 6 and 15 g/t, within broad intersections.
That’s exciting for Aben, especially considering the soil anomalies
light up like a Christmas tree as you move south, down the drainage. (see the
“Au in soil” middle map below)
Here’s Jim Pettit, talking about Aben’s successful extension of
the North Boundary Zone, keeping in mind that due to the handful of pad
locations (9), Aben could only drill at so many angles, into the
underlying mineralized structures:
“North Boundary only had three holes in it, now it’s got a lot more,
over 20 holes. We’ve expanded it north and south, it’s elongated. A little
bit to the east going uphill, not so much to the west going downhill towards
the Kerr fault, but we do know much more about it. We’re using oriented core
drilling, which is a technique to give us an idea of the orientation of what we’re
looking at. We’re still very much looking at structure to give us an
indication of what’s going on in that zone because it’s very complex.”
Aben’s 50-kilometer-long property runs along the Kerr fault, which
acts as a major geological “engine” for the whole region,
giving Aben tremendous discovery upside due to the amount of
geological activity in the area.
The fact that the Kerr fault - a 40-km-long trend - transects Forrest Kerr
is important, because it divides the Mesozoic stratigraphy (rock layers) to
the east from the older Paleozoic stratigraphy to the west. The fault acts as
a conduit for the hydrothermal fluids that rushed towards the surfaced due to
volcanic activity.
Heavy dotted line is Kerr Fault.
Lesser dotted lines are sub-faults and splays. Recent geologic studies
by BC Geological Survey personnel concluded that most
of the major deposits in the region occur within 2 km of the regional
stratigraphic contact (the red line representing the
Hazelton/Stuhini contact).
Aben is looking for “splays” that run off the Kerr fault, since these
splays - which are like subsidiary faults that branch off the main fault -
are known to host mineralization, sometimes with bonanza grades.
As for what’s in store for Forrest Kerr this summer, Pettit said
that Aben will, now that they have 40 new drill pad locations, do
extensive drilling in the South Boundary Zone to follow up on that 2018
discovery. Pettit also said that ABN has three targets that will be drilled
in the North Boundary Zone (NBZ): An area north of the North Boundary Zone
that has seen limited drilling based on good information; following up the
2017 and 2018 discoveries at the NBZ and drilling beneath the very high-grade
‘Noranda hole’ 230m south of North Boundary, drilled by Noranda in 1991,
which hit an eye-popping 326 g/t gold and 10m of 38 g/t.
Regarding the Noranda Hole Pettit had this to say “We’d like to get in
there and do what we did to the North Boundary Zone because that was
extremely high grade when Noranda drilled it. I think there’s potential to go
underneath and really hit something good.”
To further refine those 2019 targets, Aben is planning to first
do an extensive airborne magnetic survey using a helicopter, and drones in
specific areas. The survey is aimed at gleaning more information about
Forrest Kerr’s large, complicated structures.
“There’s so many faults and fissures and fractures, are they all related
to the Kerr fault? Absolutely. There’s a lot of sub-splays that have
come off of that, and sub-faults. Getting a handle more on the
orientation of those, is going to help a lot,” says Pettit.
Justin
In 2010 Aben Resources was picking up properties all over the
Yukon. Aben and Eagle Plains Resources (TSX-V:EPL) let lapse
most of them but hung onto one they figured was most prospective:
Justin. The 7,411-hectare land package is contiguous to Golden Predator’s
(TSX-V:GPY) 3 Aces project, which includes six mineralized areas that extend
over a 35-kilometer gold trend.
 
According to Aben, Justin has the potential for both high-grade and
bulk tonnage mineralization - epithermal, skarn and sediment-hosted -
throughout a 3.5 kilometer by half a kilometer trend encompassing the
Confluence, Main, Kangas and POW zones. The latter was drilled in 2011-12.
“It’s a classic intrusion-related gold system. You've got this younger
intrusion coming up into the area, and it’s a massive area. Generally, you
would get bulk tonnage from those,” Pettit said in a 2018
AOTH interview, comparing it to Kinross’ 4.3 million-ounce Fort Knox
operation in Alaska, Golden Predator’s Brewery Creek mine, and the Coffee
gold deposit in the Yukon. The latter owned by Kaminak Gold was
acquired by Goldcorp in 2016 for CAD$520 million.
In 2017 ABN discovered the Lost Ace Zone which is just west of the POW
Zone. The gold-bearing vein system occurs in a geological setting that is
very similar to mineralization present on Golden Predator’s 3 Aces project,
located immediately northwest of the Justin claim group.
A 3.8-kg bulk soil sample collected for gold grain count analysis and
classification from a location 115 meters upslope from Lost Ace returned
1,135 visible gold grains. Of the 1,135 gold grains recovered, 1,049 were
classified as pristine - meaning the gold mineralization was likely carried
to surface by the magma intrusion.
As seen from the image below, the gold grains are jagged versus smooth,
indicating the gold has remained in place and not moved anywhere.
Last summer Aben completed a trenching program at Lost Ace whose
results were posted in January 2019. The series of 250m-wide trenches
delivered samples of mineralization that are remarkably similar
to 3 Aces.
Highlights included 88.2 g/t gold over a meter, within 20.8 g/t over 4.4
m. “It is begging for drilling,” says Pettit.
According to Aben’s
news release:
“Mineralization at Lost Ace is interpreted to be orogenic-style
quartz-gold veins that bear a strong resemblance to and share similar
geologic setting with Golden Predator’s adjacent 3 Aces Property. Previous
exploration at Justin has successfully discovered Intrusion related sheeted
veins & vein breccias along with gold bearing skarn mineralization. The
new discovery at Lost Ace highlights the existence of a multi-phase
hydrothermal system with the potential for overprinting mineralizing
systems.”
Overprinting occurs when rock of different ages is jumbled together,
meaning younger rock can end up on top of older rock.
That would explain the two distinctly different types of mineralization
found at Lost Ace. Pettit explains:
“I think these two systems could be associated, where what we’re seeing at
surface, is more like an orogenic high-grade vein system, brought up possibly
from the uplifting of the older quartz veins by the younger magma intrusion.
It could be some sort of an enriching event.”
To test that theory, Aben plans to
bring in a rotary air blast (RAB) drill, a small, mobile
drill that can explore the 250m area - likely punching in about 20 holes, 50m
deep. A diamond drill will also follow up on the Properties best targets.
Conclusion
In early 2018 my readers were given an opportunity to get into ABN at a
very good price (0.15). They had ample opportunity to ride the stock into the
high $0.40’s, to reap their rewards along the way up, and on the way down as
the top was recognized.
When Aben fell back to 0.115 in January of this year I said I
liked it again.
I can’t wait to see what Aben uncovers through two exciting
drill programs this summer. I’ll let readers know as soon as drilling starts,
either at Justin or Forrest Kerr, and I expect plenty of news flow for
investors to realize some nice share price gains:
- Results from Forrest Kerr’s new 5,000m+ drill program
- Possible connection between the North Boundary and South
Boundary zones
- Results from Justin’s new +$1m drill program
- Potential for expanding the intrusion-related gold
system
Legal Notice / Disclaimer
This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or
the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.
Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he
believes to be reliable but which has not been independently
verified. Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and
accepts no responsibility or liability as
to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard
Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no
warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or
completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be
held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement
contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no
liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular,
for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and
existence of the information provided within this Report.
Aben Resources (TSX.V:ABN), is an advertiser on Richard’s site
aheadoftheherd.com. Richard owns shares of ABN
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