Teuton Resources Corp. reports the following regional exploration news for the Stewart district, located in the southern portion of the Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia.
In 2014, three separate Stewart area gold properties-the KSM, Brucejack and Red Mountain-all made significant advances towards attaining production. Two other properties, the Bow and the Premier, reported discoveries of exceptionally high-grade gold (see accompanying map for locations). Although the year was marked by falling gold prices and severely curtailed exploration by the juniors, it must be considered one of the best on record for the region.
Over twelve months ago two BC Government geologists (Nelson and Kyba) wrote: "The Treaty Glacier-KSM-Brucejack-Stewart trend is one of the most productive and promising in northwestern British Columbia". This sentiment can now be extended from British Columbia to the world. Total mineral endowment at the KSM and Brucejack properties is phenomenal.1
Highlights of 2014 regional results are presented below:
KSM Property-After spending $200 million, Seabridge Gold was granted provincial and then federal environmental approval for its $5.3 billion KSM Project . Exploration results continued to shine at both the Deep Kerr and the Iron Cap. Hole K-14-45 cut 737 metres of 0.36 g/t Au and 0.59% Cu at the Kerr; Hole IC-14-53 cut 514 metres of 0.68 g/t Au and 0.30% Cu, establishing a new major gold-copper discovery below previous drilling at the Iron Cap.
Teuton's High property controls all of the southward projection of favourable geology from the KSM property, including the southward continuation of the Sulphurets thrust fault thought to be related to all of the deposits at KSM. The Iron Cap deposit, located in the northern portion of the KSM property, lies just 800 metres southwest of Teuton's Treaty Creek property (Teuton 49% interest).2
Brucejack Property-Pretium Gold continued work at the Brucejack property on its VOK high-grade gold deposit. Late in 2014, Pretium announced that Zijin Mining Group was making an $81 million investment into Pretium. Current plans call for commercial production in 2017. Pretium has spent more than $280 million exploring Brucejack.
Teuton's High property controls all of the southward extensions of favourable geology from the Brucejack. A new zone discovered by Teuton in 2014, the "Tuck", recently exposed by melting ice, shows many of the characteristics of those zones presently being explored at Brucejack (see news releases dated August 19, August 26 and November 17, 2014 for details).2
Bow Property-Decade Resources reported three exceptional holes in 2014 at its Bow property, located near the formerly producing Scottie Gold Mine. Results are as follows: 12.20m grading 56.70 g/t gold; 12.66m grading 39.43 g/t gold; and, 13.11m grading 27.54 g/t gold. The property is located along volcanic rocks on the boundary with the Summit Lake stock, part of the Texas Creek Plutonic suite in the Stewart area. This suite of rocks is related to alteration and mineralization as found at the formerly producing Premier mine and the KSM copper-gold porphyries/Brucejack Lake gold deposits.
Good potential exists to find similar mineralization on Teuton's Tennyson property, located 6km west of the Bow claim and also along the flanks of the Summit Lake stock.2
Premier-Dilworth Property-In 2014, Ascot Resources found a high-grade gold zone near the old Premier Mine Pit. Several drill holes encountered very high gold grades, including: 1,395.0 grams per tonne gold and 739.0 g/t silver over 1.0 metre (40.69 opt gold and 21.56 opt silver over 3.3 feet); 14,394.5 g/t gold over 0.75m (419.91 opt gold over 2.5 feet), and 873.0 g/t gold over 1.00m (25.47 opt gold over 3.3 feet).
Teuton's Harry property, which adjoins the Dilworth part of Ascot's holdings to the west, features very anomalous gold soil geochemistry. Source is yet to be determined.2
Red Mountain Property-IDM Mining acquired the Red Mountain gold property in 2014 and immediately commissioned a 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment for the project. The aftertax base-case economics at a 5-per-cent discount rate indicated an internal rate of return (IRR) of 32.8 per cent and a 1.5-year payback of initial capital. Life-of-project direct operating cost was estimated at $516 (U.S.) per ounce of gold recovered. IDM Mining also discovered and drilled two new high-grade gold zones in 2014. Gold mineralization at Red Mountain is thought to be related to hornblende porphyry intrusions (Goldslide Intrusions).