Work History
First staked as the Blue Idol, etc cl (38865) and Blueberry cl (38859) 3.6 km south at the head of Corkery Creek in Sep/35 by J.E. Hawthorne, who added Armagh, Newry, etc cl (55034) in Jun/37, Mary Ann cl (81146) in Jun/62 and Blacker, etc cl (Y56207) in Sep/71. Hawthorne explored with shallow trenches and shafts from 1935 to 1979. R. Holway bulldozer trenched in 1974 to earn a 50% interest. Apollo Mines Ltd staked the adjoining Lee, Sam and Apollo cl (Y86352) in Jan-Jul/74.
The Tree, Pine, Spruce cl (YA41520) were staked 4 km to the east in Jan/80 by W. Malicky, who trenched in 1980. The Ev cl (YA43320) were added to the south in Oct/80 by E. French. I. Tornai tied on Steve and Isabel cl (YA76029) on the west side in Oct/81, restaked the Ev group as Verna cl (YA76688) in Jul/82 and explored with bulldozer trenching in 1982 and 1984.
Restaked April and Oct/92 as Aurex 1-113 cl (YB28429) by A.J. McFaull, who prospected and mapped in the same year, and optioned the property to Yukon Revenue Mines, which drilled 128 percussion holes (2 169 m) in 1993. Yukon Revenue Mines Ltd added the Aurex 114-171 cl (YB29669) in Mar/93 and drilled 200 percussion holes (6 000 m) and 4 diamond holes (600 m) in 1994. Ownership of the claims was transferred to Yukon Revenue in Dec/95.
In 1996 Yukon Revenue drilled 92 percussion holes (2 749 m) and completed an airborne geophysical survey over the Aurex claim block. In Dec/97 the company changed its name to YKR International Resources Ltd and in 1998 the new company carried out geophysical surveying over the northwest corner of the claim group.
In Jan/99 Expatriate Resources Ltd, which owns the adjoining (to the west) Sinster property (Minfile Occurrence #105M 072) optioned the Aurex claims from YKR and carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling later that year.
In Nov/99 after staking Fisher cl 23-67 (YC01996) and Rex cl 1-49 (YC02041) at the eastern end of the Aurex-Sinister claim block, Expatriate optioned the property to Newmont Mining Corporation, which carried out regional airborne surveying, auger drilling, geological mapping, prospecting and 290 linear meters of machine trenching in 2000.
Expatriate transferred its gold properties to a newly formed subsidiary Stratagold. Stratagold performed ground magnetic and IP surveys over the Aurex and Lynx properties in 2003 and diamond drilled 4038 m in 26 holes on the Aurex property. Stratagold conducted a soil sampling survey over its property in 2007.
Capsule Geology
The claims are located about 3.2 km southwest along strike from the former Silver King Mine. To the north, the south-dipping Robert Service Thrust Fault juxtaposes Mississippian Keno Hill Quartzite against quartz-sericite schist of the Proterozoic-Lower Cambrian Hyland Group which underlies most of the property. Metavolcanic rocks exposed on the property may be Devono-Mississippian in age, exposed in an erosional window beneath the Robert Service Thrust.
McFaull identified calc-silicate skarns in several old trenches, suggesting the presence of one or more buried plutons in the area. Coincident airborne resistivity and magnetic anomalies provide further evidence for possible buried intrusions beneath the property. Typical skarn mineralogy includes diopside, actinolite, scapolite, quartz, carbonates, plagioclase and epidote. The skarns contain scheelite, up to 5% fine grained arsenopyrite and minor pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite and return elevated values of gold, arsenic, tungsten, bismuth, copper, lead and zinc. Specimens of rusty calc-silicate hornfels from trenches on the Aurex 7 claim contained 5.4 g/t Au and 3.6 g/t Au.
The 1993 percussion drilling intersected skarn layers in quartz-sericite schist. Anomalous gold values better than 100 ppb were obtained from 47 of 128 holes, including 4.1 g/t Au over 3.0 m in hole 93-44 and 2.9 g/t over 3.0 m in hole 93-58. Surface oxidation extends to a depth of 1.5 to 10.6 m.
The 1994 percussion drilling program outlined five new zones of anomalous gold. The gold-bearing zones vary in thickness from 3 to 21 metres, strike east-west and dip 25 degrees south. The best intersections included 3 m grading 4.1 g/t Au in hole 94-50, and 3 m grading 5.5 g/t Au in hole 94-193.
Aerodat Inc completed 430 line kms of airborne geophysics over the Aurex claims in Jul/96. Anomalies in magnetics, EM and resistivity were located over widespread areas, including areas of known Au mineralization.
The 1996 rotary percussion drill program tested 3 separate areas of the Aurex claim block and was aimed at testing airborne geophysical anomalies and the extensions of known gold mineralization intersected in previous drilling programs carried out in 1993 and 1994. Results were similar to those encountered in the 1993 and 1994 drill programs, with 33 holes returning 49 intersections that assayed above 0.34 g/t Au over 3 m lengths. The highest intersection assayed 5 g/t Au over 3 m.
Additional ground followup in 1998 of another airborne geophysical anomaly by induced polarization methods identified a broad, highly chargeable and somewhat resistive anomaly in an apparently favourable stratigraphically postion within Hyland Group rocks.
Sampling in 1999 by Expatriate identified a broad arcuate Au-As geochemical anomaly in the west central section of the Aurex claim block. The anomaly has a length of 2 700 m and contains peak vlaues of 710 ppb Au, 2 460 ppm As and 66 ppm Sb. Smaller clusters of anomalous geochemical response were also located outside the main anomaly. In the majority of cases, these anomalies occur in areas where there are no known mineral showings and where there has been no drilling. In addition to previously recognized stratabound sulfide bearing skarn horizons, Expatriate identified quartz+/-carbonate sulfide vein mineralization in widespread float. Chip sampling of a large float slab of this material, found in the Corkery Creek area, yielded 150 ppb Au, 2.4 g/t Ag, 268 ppm As and >1% Sb, while a grab sample of similar material collected nearby returned 9.31 g/t Au, 6.4 g/t Ag, 1 400 ppm As and >1% Sb.
Newmont's assessment of the property in 2000 involved a thorough compilation and review of all known and new geological, geochemical and geophysical data. The company determined the following:
-That most of the mapped contacts in the area have been located by considering float boulder trains, detailed structural data and airborne magnetic and EM survey results.
-That the property hosts a series of pyrrhotite-gold skarn lenses where regional shear foliation clearly controls pyrrhotite mineralization; there are four dominant types of mineralization that include early quartz lenses and boudins, the calc-silicate phyrrhotite-gold horizons, quartz-arsenopyrite-pyrite-gold vein zones and siderite-galena-sphalerite breccia minerlization.
-That known mineralization, together with pegmatite veins suggests that a granitic mass is proximal to the central portions of the property.
-There are at least two types of faults that occur within the map area: those that contain major concentrations of ore minerals, called vein faults and those with small amounts of ore minerals, called cross-faults, bedding faults, etc.
-That the property is overlain by a variety of surficial materials due to multiple phases of glaciation and subsequent weathering and mass wasting and that each geomorphological domain requires a different approach to geochemical sampling.
-That up to 95% of earlier soil samples reflect transported glacial material rather than true residual soil profiles; that Au, As, Sb and Bi follow each other closely in areas of residual soil and bedrock lithologies.
-That three main stages of hypogene mineralization are represented on the property; and that the principal hypogene minerals are quartz, pyrite, arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite.
Diamond drilling by Stratagold in 2003 intersected two distinct styles of mineralization: 1) sheeted quartz arsenopyrite veinlets and fault/vein breccias with anomalous gold, arsenic, bismuth, antimony and tungsten values, and 2) stratabound silicified skarn horizons with anomalous gold, arsenic, bismuth, antimony and tungsten. Drilling targets included historic percussion-drilled areas and magnetic highs with coincident IP chargeability anomalies.
In 2007, Stratagold discovered a significant coincident silver-lead soil geochemical anomaly on Galena Hill. The soil anomaly assayed from 1.7 to 2.5 g/t Ag over 1200 x 100 m. The anomaly appears to be associated with the McLeod fault, which also crosscuts the historical Fisher Creek silver occurrence (MINFILE 105M 022), roughly 5 km west-southwest of Keno City.
References
AUREX EXPLORATION, Dec/92. Assessment Report #093051 by A.J. McFaull.
EXPATRIATE RESOURCES LTD, News Release, 25 Jan/99; 03 Nov/99.
EXPATRIATE RESOURCES LTD, Apr/2000. Assessment Report #094101 by W.A. Wengzynowski.
GEORGE CROSS NEWSLETTER, 14 May/93; 25 May/93; 10 May/94; 26 May/94; 2 Jun/94.
MURPHY, D.C., HUNT, J.A., ROOTS, C.F., AND POOLE, W.H., 1996. Geological map of Mount Haldane (105M/13), Central Yukon. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Geoscience Map 1996-4.
NEWMONT EXPLORATION OF CANADA LTD, Feb/2001. Assessment Report #094222 by N.M. Caira and M.A. Stammers.
STRATAGOLD CORPORATION LTD., News Release, 12 Jan/2004; 3 Apr/2008.
YKR INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES LTD, Oct/98. Assessment Report #093910 by A. Davis.
YUKON REVENUE MINES LTD, News Release, 21 May/93.
YUKON REVENUE MINES LTD, Jun/93. Assessment Report #093135 by A.J. McFaull.
YUKON EXPLORATION & GEOLOGY 1996, p. 26-27, 30, 32; 1998, p. 12; 1999, p. 9, 29; 2000, p. 18, 25.
