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Late in the Yukon's drilling season, Aben Resources (TSX-V: ABN) made a brand new greenfields gold and silver discovery, thus allowing the company to begin 2012 boasting a new flagship at its Justin Project. Approximately 35 kilometres southeast of the recently re-opened Cantung Mine, Aben's 100% owned Justin Gold Property comprises 11,098 acres in eastern Yukon on the Tintina Gold Belt, with year-round road access running through the property. Going forward, the company now has an impressive portfolio that spans the Yukon and North West Territories, with multiple stages of exploration so far underway.
JUSTIN GOLD PROJECT - YUKON
The 2011 ten-hole drill program represented the first ever completed on the property's POW and Kangas Zones with significant gold and silver discoveries being made at both zones. Two drill holes tested the POW Zone with both holes intercepting robust zones of gold mineralization. The first hole, JN11009, intercepted 60 metres of 1.19 g/t gold at a vertical depth of 113 metres and is dominated by massive skarn-style replacement mineralization, overprinted by quartz-calcite stock work veining. Both the skarn-style and vein-style mineralization carried gold values. The second drill hole, JN11010, intercepted 11.3 metres of 2.70 g/t gold and 29.00 g/t silver at a vertical depth of 125 metres. Additional groundwork at the POW Zone in 2011 returned surface samples up to 8.97 g/t Au and 84.10 g/t Ag. Positive surface sampling results from 2010 and 2011 are located 400 metres to the east of the new gold discovery in holes JN11009 and JN11010.
Both phases of mineralization seen in the POW zone display geochemical affinity to an Intrusion Related Model and indicate that the mineralizing system was long-lived. The size of the porphyry dikes and their spatial distribution suggest a large intrusive stock is present and the porphyry potential will be tested this season. There are also large untested geophysical anomalies proximal to the POW Zone with high priority drill targets. The POW Zone mineralization is open in all directions.
Aben also drill tested the Kangas Zone in 2011, located 1.4 kilometres south of the POW Zone. A new high-grade silver-copper zone was intercepted in drill hole JN11003 despite being abandoned within the contact of a fault zone. A 1.07 metre interval within the contact zone of the fault returned values of 7320 g/t Ag (234 oz/ton Ag) and 3.52% Cu at a down-hole depth of 42.23 metres. The hole was terminated within the mineralized interval due to extremely poor ground conditions. This newly discovered silver-copper zone is open along strike and follow-up drilling will be conducted next season to further delineate this high-grade zone.
As a result of the new greenfields gold, silver and copper discoveries on the Justin Project, Aben recently acquired 7,058 additional acres of mineral tenure in the immediate vicinity of the project to facilitate an even more aggressive work program next season. The bulk of the Company's upcoming $3 million exploration budget in the Yukon will be focused on aggressively following up and expanding on the recently discovered mineralized zones.
SELWYN RECCE PROJECT � NWT
While the frenzy within the Yukon last year saw a lot of capital drawn to the area, the same kind of rush wasn't witnessed within the Northwest Territories. It was through this industry oversight that Aben was able to capture a massive land package to explore in which it has the exclusive rights to roughly 575,000 acres, directly east of the Yukon/NWT border. This land package covers prospective precious and base metal targets with both Carlin-style stratigraphy and promising geochemical signatures. In addition, the Company attained a world-class proprietary database for the region consisting of previous exploration data and results from Teck (TSX: TCK) and Kennecott prior to its takeover by Rio Tinto. Aben has since added 9,000 more geological samples to the initial database thereby compiling a one-of-a-kind data set for a very underexplored but highly prospective part of the world.
Acquired from Eagle Plains Resources, Aben re-assayed previous samples for precious metals. The result was a baseline with numerous targets to follow up on within the McKenzie Mountains over an area the size of Switzerland. Aben isolated 18 high priority areas throughout the mountain range and going forward the company plans to fine-tune its exploration of these areas. The giant land base sits on the NWT side of the border, to the east of ATAC Resources' (TSX: ATC) Rackla Gold Project which has garnered considerable attention recently with the discovery of Carlin-style gold mineralization there.
Permitted for the next 2 years, the Company will have plenty of time to investigate what's within the massive land package. To date, Aben has spent over $2.5 million on the property adding value through reconnaissance exploration. Aben now has an enviable land position with its Selwyn Recce holdings that could possibly draw the likes of a major.
RUSTY SPRINGS SILVER PROJECT� YUKON
To the northwest near the Alaskan border, is Aben's silver-rich Rusty Springs Project, which would be higher in importance at this stage if the company would've been able to drill on it last year. The rig was booked, the order was made, but last year's drilling frenzy led to a last minute bailout by the contractor which left the property undrilled.
But the project has major potential, regardless, that garnered the interest of silver's super bug Eric Sprott who had looked over the property and loved the spectacular silver numbers already witnessed. In lieu of drilling, the Aben team was still able to do a large geological survey extending to the Alaskan border to see if the system continued in that direction.
Aben plans to further investigate the epithermal system chalked full of silver that extends for a couple thousand metres. The discovery is wide open, but quite remote at the moment. The property has an airstrip that's been cleared to allow for access, and another option is to take the Dempster highway up to the Eagle Plains Lodge nearby and stay there whilst helicoptering in to carry out the work.
Access aside, the property has been under a watchful eye since the early 1970s. Eagle Plains held it for a while, but even longer than that the property had been held in the name of the Termuende family (Tim Termuende, CEO of Eagle Plains, is on Aben's board of directors). Originally the property was being explored for a big zinc/lead deposit, but since Aben took over, the potential for precious metals has been of interest.
Defined over a 6 square km area, the mineralization on the property has been highlighted by historic drilling that includes 1,140 g/t (33.27 oz/t) silver, 4.72% lead and 2.30% copper found in hole 77-08 (drilled in 1977) over 37.5 metres (123 feet) from surface to a depth of 37.5 metres. Located 1.5 km from 77-08 was hole 95-07 (drilled in 1995) which tested the same stratigraphic interval and returned 517 g/t (15.1 oz/t) silver, 3.0% copper and 1.3% zinc over 15.3 metres from 28.6 metres to 43.9 metres below surface.
OTHER YUKON PROJECTS
Aben's other properties in the Yukon include the Hit Property, which has had a little bit of work done in it, and the Rude Creek South Property which is 40 km southeast of Kaminak Gold Corp's Coffee Creek Property..
The Hit Property targets skarn-replacement gold mineralization associated with Tombstone-Suite intrusives and surrounding sediments. Some of the work done already on the property has highlighted intrusive-related gold mineralization, and historic results include an average of 7.85 g/t gold over 7.0 metres in trenches.
The Rude Creek Gold Project is benefitting from the work done by neighbours, with Kaminak's recent gold discoveries nearby that resulted from a 2010 drill program. For Aben, this gives an opportunity for more work to be done in the future, but at this stage the Company will remain focused on other projects in its well-rounded portfolio like its flagship Justin Project.
One of the strongest investment highlights of Aben includes the team that has been assembled to manage the company and carry out the exploration. Two additions to the board of directors in 2011, namely Ron Netolitzky and Tim Termuende, bring world-class expertise and a reputable track record of exploration success to Aben.
Ron Netolitzky serves as the Company's Chairman and was previously Chairman and President of Viceroy Exploration before the sale of the company to Yamana Gold in 2006. Ron was also Chairman of Brett Resources, which was acquired by Osisko Mining Corp. in the Spring of 2010. His knowledge of mineral exploration and aggressive business acumen resulted in exploration success on three western Canadian gold and silver projects (all of which became producing mines): the Eskay Creek and Snip deposits in British Columbia and the Brewery Creek deposit in the Yukon.
G. Joel Chury
The Bottom Line Report
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