Summary
Flat is in the Kuskokwim Mineral Belt just 40km north of the giant Donlin Gold Project and hosts intrusive-hosted, sheeted quartz vein gold mineralization similar to that found at the Fort Knox (Alaska) and Eagle (Yukon) gold mines owned and operated by Kinross Gold Corporation and Victoria Gold Corporation respectively. Since 1908, when gold was first discovered at Flat, the immediate vicinity has been notable as an area of significant placer gold mining activity with an estimated 1.4 million ounces of placer gold produced from streams draining Chicken Mountain1.
- The main target area is Chicken Mountain
- Chicken Mountain: Gold at Chicken Mountain occurs as disseminated and fracture-controlled mineralization within a late-stage quartz monzonite intrusion, which appears to have been the major source of placer gold in the Flat district. This target comprises an open ended +100 ppb gold-in-soil anomaly extending 3,800m x 600m in a north-northwest orientation over the core of exposed intrusion. Gold is hosted within quartz veins which contain free gold, arsenopyrite, pyrite, stibnite, cinnabar, and rare chalcopyrite. Historic drilling intersected bulk-tonnage gold mineralization, although thinner, high-grade intervals are observed.
- Consistent gold mineralization in intrusive-hosted, sheeted quartz veins at Flat are structurally similar to that found at the Fort Knox and Eagle Gold Mines owned by Kinross and Victoria Gold respectively.
- The Flat area represents one of Alaska’s best examples of a direct, preserved bedrock source of mineralization for surrounding placer deposits. Placer gold is found within all the creeks that drain Chicken Mountain, with the Flat area producing over 1.4 Moz of placer Au throughout a protracted history of placer mining.
- Historical hard rock exploration at Flat occurred sporadically from the 1960’s to 2003 and consisted of surficial geochemical sampling, geophysics, and both reverse circulation (“RC”) and diamond drilling. Approximately 11,000m of RC and diamond drilling has been conducted on the property. Flat remains fully open for expansion. Multiple near-surface targets remain untested, and potential exists for blind and buried mineralization as well as possible high-grade vein mineralization.
References
- “Mineral Occurrence and Development Potential Report, Locatable and Salable Minerals, Bering Sea-Western Interior Resource Management Plan, BLM-Alaska Technical Report 60”, prepared by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, November 2010.