JUNIOR MINING SPECIAL — Companies target gold and

Olympic Dam-type deposits in northeastern Yukon and hardrock gold targets in the Klondike are keeping several exploration companies busy this season.

Joint-venture partners Westmin Resources (TSE), Newmont Mines, Pamicon Developments and Equity Engineering plan to spend $1.6 million exploring the Bonnet Plume region. The focus will be on the occurrence of breccia in the Wernecke Super Group, which bears similarities to the Olympic Dam copper-gold mine in Australia.

The group holds about 1,280 claims on eight different properties in northeastern Yukon.

The field work is being performed by Pamicon and Equity, which were responsible for acquiring the claims. The other partners became involved in 1992.

This year’s plans include construction of an airstrip, 3,000 metres of diamond drilling on three properties, and continued geology, geochemistry and geophysics on the remaining ground.

Harlon Meade, Westmin’s vice-president of exploration, says the companies are working with various levels of government, First Nations and communities to develop a plan for managing exploration and development in the Bonnet Plume River Basin.

Meanwhile, a private syndicate is looking for similar deposits in the Richardson Mountains. This group has acquired at least three Yukon properties. At the same time, Kennecott Canada and Hastings Management both are exploring the historic placer mining creeks of the Klondike.

Larry McLean, Hastings’ operations manager, believes there is potential for not merely one hardrock deposit, but a major gold camp. He says the area resembles the Carlin and Battle Mountain Trends in Nevada and that similar structures have been traced through many miles of the Klondike. “It has required nine years of work to put it all together,” McLean says from Vancouver, B.C. “It has been quite a slow process to figure out what was going on geologically, because of the permafrost. We had to piece together (an understanding of the geology) based on excavations that the placer miners have done.”

The Hastings group, which includes Arbor Resources (ME), Faith Mines (VSE) and Wealth Resources (VSE), plans to spend about $100,000 initially, concentrating on the eastern part of the Klondike gold field. McLean says more exploration is planned 110 km south at Thistle Creek, another hardrock gold interest. Faith Mines operates and leases placer mines at the fly-in operation, which was mined during the period 1912-14 and in the late 1940s.

Kennecott has optioned a claim block from various members of the Hastings group. The block spans 480 sq. km in the northwest, which is the most productive part of the gold field, according to Eric Finlayson, Kennecott’s exploration manager for gold and base metals in western Canada. Finlayson says McLean and his associates did a “superb job” assembling the land package. “This has allowed us to explore the gold field without bumping into claim boundaries,” he explains, “and it gives us a lot of scope to conduct regional exploration and to put together a coherent picture.” He says the Lone Star property, which Arbor owns, contains the most significant documented hardrock gold deposit in the Klondike. The goal now is to find more, using systematic modern technology.

Kennecott kicks off the 1994 season with a ground geophysical program, followed by drilling and regional reconnaissance.

To earn a 55% interest, Kennecott must spend $6 million (in total) on the Lone Star, Klondike Gold and 80 PUP properties. More than $500,000 will be spent this season.

The company is also exploring elsewhere in the Yukon, though Finlayson declined to offer specifics.

Dennis Ouelette, a geologist with the federal Northern Affairs department, says four other projects are in the exploration stage: the Brewery Creek and Grew Creek gold deposits and the Williams Creek and Minto copper-gold deposits. Pacific Sentinel Gold (VSE) hopes to carry out a prefeasibility study this fall, he says.

Meanwhile, Cominco (TSE) is exploring the Barr lead-zinc property in the Rancheria area and about five companies are keen to explore the Mount Freegold gold area. Nickel giant Inco (TSE) is expected back at the Hart River massive sulphide deposit

Ouelette adds that United Keno Hill Mines (TSE) is planning to carry out surface drilling and underground rehabilitation at the closed Elsa silver mine, while Yukon Revenue Mines (VSE) is using a percussion drill on its Aurex gold claims nearby.

The lead-zinc mines at Faro and Sa Dena Hes remain closed. Cominco and Korea Zinc have bought the latter, and a consortium of Yukon First Nations hopes to be involved in the project. Faro remains unsold.

— The author is a freelance writer who lives in Whitehorse.