From the Old West to the True North

The Klondike Gold Rush is world renowned as an intriguing period of history.

Following the Civil War of the 1860's there were gold rushes that punctuated the expansion of settlements across North America and which resulted in a surplus of manpower that was idled in what was a recession during the 1890's.   The California gold rush had occurred decades earlier, and adventurers had explored all over the west and north, in British Columbia and in Alaska, but the best was yet to come.

In 1896, on the banks of Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza Creek) in the Yukon, a few hardened prospectors found gold, although story tells that they were doing their dishes in the creek when a nugget was discovered. This sparked the greatest gold rush in human history. The Klondike was truly a magnificent gold field with the richest ground per square foot in the world.  Spectacular wealth was created in a few short years, but the gold rush soon was over and industry stepped in, the gold fields that were once mined by hand were later mined by steam driven dredges, an ingenuity of an industrial revolution that produced a fortune for a famous American family, the Guggenheims.

World War 1 began in 1914 and ended what could have been another era of mining in the Klondike. In 1912 an underground mine, the Lone Star Mine, was producing gold on the ridge between the two most famous creeks in the Klondike...Bonanza Creek and Eldorado Creek. The workers dropped their picks and shovels and went to war: and few returned.  The war effort also stripped the region of all the steel that had built rail lines into the goldfields, and little infrastructure was left.

The mystery of the source of the Klondike gold has been a target for exploration by many during the past century. Efforts to re-start the Lone Star Mine (1912-14) had failed because of financial problems; exploration by renowned geologists such as Hinchey produced invaluable information; or that of C.C. Buckland in the 1950's; and Archer Cathro in the 1970's; and again by Richard Hughes in the 1980's and 1990's. That work was the beginning of Klondike Gold Corp., and included joint-venture work with major mining Kennecott.

That century led to this century. The Old West has transformed and the mining industry in the true north of Canada had distinguished itself as a world leader in mineral resource development.  Again in 2003 the  mineral claims that cover Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks were joint ventured, this time to Klondike Star Mineral Corporation, and a modern exploration approach was undertaken to look beyond the gold and to study the rocks, the structural geology, and to formulate a geological model that could lead to 'cracking the code' on the mystery of the source of the Klondike gold. Unfortunately, the global market collapse in the period of 2008-2009 shortened Klondike Star's efforts, but that result allowed Klondike Gold Corp. to renew it's role as operator through a merger with Klondike Star.

So what comes next? As Dr.. James Mortensen has said "where did this enormous amount of placer gold come from, this is about as intriguing a question as I can imagine...the idea of being actually close to having an answer is pretty exciting."

The work that Dr. Mortenson and many other leading academics from universities in Canada, New Zealand and England have collaborated together on has resulted in a working model that postulates regional and structural geological controls on gold mineralization in the area.  This is critical for locating economic concentrations of gold on the Lone Star property.

The 2012 Lone Star Property assessment report records and compiles the most recent scientific and technical data and interpretation of the property.  Most exploration companies do not release their assessment reports and only submit them to the government with the provision of a five year holding period.  Klondike Gold management and the technical team are comfortable releasing this new data now as the Company has its preferred ground position and has the ability to hold it.  The 2012 work on Lone Star Claims extended the first expiry of any claim on the Lone Star to December 9, 2017.  The report is titled "Diamond Drilling, Trenching, Soil Sampling, Rock Sampling, and Prospecting at the Lone Star Property" and focuses on the facts and figures that summarize exploration progress to date.

This report is not a light read, with over 80 pages of facts and figures, but for those intent on creating wealth through discovery, the report is the guiding next step in the search for a hard rock source of all that surface gold.  It represents the most current technical and scientific understanding and evaluation of the Lone Star property.  

The report is downloadable from the Klondike Gold website using this link:

Download Report  

Highlights of the report include:

"During the 2012 exploration season Klondike Gold Corp. conducted diamond drilling, trenching, soil sampling, rock sampling, geological mapping and prospecting on the Lone Star Property, Yukon. This was the first time since 2008 that a sustained large-scale exploration program was conducted on the property. The focus of the exploration program was to further investigate known gold occurrences at the Boulder Lode, Nugget, Buckland, Violet, 310, and JF Zones as well as investigate new exploration targets such as the Boy Zone anomaly."   

Lone Star Property Map with all main Zones

Boulder Lode Excavation with High Grade Mineralization Annotated

Violet to 310 Zone Trend Map

Aerial photographs of the Violet and 310 zones: 2012 exploration showed that these zones may link up over a 4km distance

Sampling at the JF Zone

"During winter 2012 Klondike Gold conducted a full Lone Star Property data review and compilation which was used to further evaluate targets and drive exploration."

"The 2012 work program was successful in systematically advancing the Lone Star Property. Several targets are drill ready and scientific understanding of gold targets has been greatly increased."

"Further exploration in the down dip northeast direction of the mineralized zone is warranted as is investigation into a possible northwest extension in the area of O'Neil Gulch."

"The effectiveness of systematic soil geochemistry in conjunction with the use of geomorphology was underscored during 2012."

"The Boy Zone anomaly was confirmed and expanded by the 2012 sampling program and it is now a priority target for trenching and possible RC drilling in 2013. Klondike Gold looks forward to continue utilizing the geomorphological mapping to further define existing soil targets and discover new anomalies over its 133 square kilometer Lone Star Property."

"Klondike Gold will use the results of the 2012 exploration season in conjunction with its developing historical database to drive future exploration in the 2013 season."