EXPLORATION

Kaminak discovers new gold zones as Yukon drilling campaign begins

There was good news for Kaminak at the drillbit as it cut gold mineralization in new gold zones in the Yukon.

HALIFAX, NS (MINEWEB) - 

In a game of connect the gold zones Kaminak Gold (TSX-V: KAM) was off to a good start at the outset of a drilling campaign in the Yukon.

Kaminak released drilling results - the first of the year - on 14 drillholes from its Coffee project in the White Gold district that was propelled to international attention when Kinross bought-up junior Underworld Resources and its White Gold project in 2010 for $139 million.

That acquisition was a triumph for prospector Shawn Ryan, from whom Underworld acquired its properties, and heated up what has been dubbed the Yukon's second gold rush, which in the late 2000s attracted a multitude of juniors such as Kaminak on the heels of Underworld's drilling successes.

Now Kaminak is moving toward its first resource estimate, planned for 2013. To get there it is methodically tracing the extent of multiple, nearby, gold zones in a web of structures crossing gold zones with caffeine inspired names.

The latest drilling results come from an extension of the Supremo zone in the T4 and T5 structures striking to the south. On two sections, about 50 metres apart, Kaminak hit broad and more narrow envelopes of strong gold mineralization. The better hits included 32 metres @ 3.6 g/t gold, 18 metres @ 2.1 g/t Ag and 6 metres @ 5 g/t Au.

The drilling did two important things for Kaminak. The first is that it showed T4 and T5 structures host significant gold mineralization over a roughly 150-metre vertical extent. The second is that it pushed the strike length of the structures to about 400 metres and bolstered Kaminak's hypothesis and hope that T4 and T5 run some 1000 metres to the south and meet up with the Latte zone.

If the connection proves positive then Kaminak would have drawn long gold zones that meet up in a simplified T junction near the eastern end of Latte, a relatively well-defined gold mineralized zone on the Coffee project. Kaminak's hunch is that, given soil chemistry and magnetics, T4 and T5 - along with another parallel zone - do just that. And Kaminak, through a 50,000 metre drilling campaign this year, will flesh out such evidence.

Meanwhile, other non-drilling results have buoyed Kaminak's prospects in the White Gold district this year. Early in April, Kaminak outlined initial metallurgical tests that showed oxide gold mineralization, which runs from surface to up to 150 metres on the Coffee project, can get strong recoveries. Over 80 days in a cyanide leaching test of material grading 3.75 g/t Au recoveries were 90.4 percent, Kaminak said. Over the first 15 days recoveries were a respectable 83.2 percent.

These results play to one of the strengths of the White Gold district where there is oxide mineralization; it opens up the potential for cheaper processing options down the road during mine planning. Surely this will not have escaped the ever watchful eyes of bigger fish prowling for potential acquisitions in the Yukon and beyond.