Work History
Staked as Revenue cl 1-22 (Y24021) by Yukon Revenue Mines Ltd in 1968 and optioned in 1970 by Kaiser Resources Ltd, which carried out bulldozer trenching and drilling of 5 percussion holes (428 m) and 4 core holes (639 m).
In 1980, the Nat Joint Venture (Armco Mineral Exploration Ltd. and Chevron Canada Ltd.) tied on Nucleus cl 1-34 (YA51189) to the northwest and carried out grid soil geochemical sampling, prospecting and geological mapping from 1980-1982; staked Nucleus cl 35-50 (YA60256) in 1981; magnetometer surveying in 1981; bulldozer trenching, geochemical sampling and geological mapping in 1983-1984; and drilled 3 holes (315.2 m) in 1984. The Joint Venture staked Nucleus cl 51-141 (YA82735) to the north and west of the existing claim block in 1984; ERL cl 1-268 (YA92344) to the south in 1985; and ERL cl 269-274 (YA93132) and MEC cl 1-8 (YA93679) also to the south in 1985. Geological mapping, prospecting and geochemical soil sampling was carried out during 1985 on the newly staked claims. In 1986, the joint venture carried out additional bulldozer trenching, geological mapping and geochemical sampling on the main showing.
The Big Creek Joint Venture optioned the Nucleus property in 1987 and carried out rotary drilling of 35 shallow holes (1 312 m) to prove up near surface reserves suitable for test heap leach mining. In 1989, Big Creek purchased Rexford's and Chevron's interests and carried out bulldozer trenching and drilled 6 holes (591.9 m) that year and a further five holes (738.5 m) in 1991.
In 1995, Nucleus cl 1-40 (YA51189) were sold to Amarc Resources Ltd., which sold them to W4 Joint Venture in 1997. In 1999, ATAC Resources purchased the claims from the joint venture group, optioned the adjoining Revenue claims from YKR International Resources Ltd. (formerly Yukon Revenue) and tied on Nuc cl 1-7 (YC09279) to the north later in 1999, consolidating a total of 151 claims in the area to form a single contiguous block, which they named the Golden Revenue property.
ATAC carried out geological mapping, prospecting, soil sampling, magnetometer surveying and hand trenching during 1999 and linecutting, road building and excavator trenching in 2000. In 2001, the company carried out IP and HLEM geophysical surveying, minor prospecting, excavator trenching and drilled 6 holes (1 202 m), all in the vicinity of the Nucleus zone.
In 2004, Yale Resources Ltd. optioned the Golden Revenue property and drilled 14 diamond drill holes (1 832 m) later that year, before dropping its option without earning any interest in 2005.
In 2006, Northern Freegold Resources Ltd. optioned the Nucleus claims from ATAC Resources. The company spent most of 2006 acquiring and consolidating a large land package measuring in excess of 166 square kilometers of claims, which they named the Freegold Mountain project. The company carried out prospecting, geologically mapping and sampling programs and flew extensive airborne geophysical surveys. The company also drilled 26 diamond drill holes (4 798 m) and completed extensive rotary blast drilling on the Nucleus zone. In 2007, the company drilled 27 diamond drill holes (6 313 m ) over 3 months on the Nucleus zone. In 2008, Northern Freegold drilled 53 diamond drill holes (13 287 m) on the Nucleus zone.
In 2009, the company announced a initial National Instrument (NI) 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Nucleus zone and drilled 44 holes for a total of 10 440 m in the Nucleus zone, as well as 1 241 m of rotary air blast drilling in 21 holes. They also performed stream sediment sampling, geological mapping, and ground magnetic and radiometric surveys.
An updated resource estimate was released for the Freegold Mountain project in a report by Campbell, Armitage and Barnes, dated April 19, 2010. Northern Freegold also drilled 11 diamond drill holes (3 105.92 m), 6 RC holes (862.59 m) and carried out rock and soil geochemistry and a TITAN IP ground survey.
A revised resource estimate on the Nucleus deposit was released in a report by GeoVector Management dated April 07, 2011. Work in 2012 at Nucleus consisted of 5 diamond drill holes (2 452 m) and preliminary metallurgical testing.
An updated resource estimate was released for both Nucleus and Revenue deposits by Northern Freegold in a February 22, 2013 report by GeoVector Management.
Northern Freegold then released the technical report for the Preliminary Economic Assessmment (NI 43-101 compliant) for both the Nucleus and Revenue deposits on April 09 2013. The resource estimate is based on a conceptual optimized open pit mining plan.
A revised resource estimate was released by Northern Freegold in a February 28, 2015 report by GeoVector Management Inc.
Triumph Gold acquired Northern Freegold Resources in 2015 and carried out a re-logging program in 2016 at Nucleus. Triumph carried out diamond drilling (16 holes, 5 258 m) and rock geochemistry in 2017 and 21 diamond drill holes (4 159 m) and rock sampling in 2018. In 2020, Triumph released an updated, NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate on March 27, 2020 prepared by R. Sim and B. Davis.
Regional & Property Geology
The occurrence is partly underlain by Yukon-Tanana Terrane (YTT). The rocks of the YTT in this region consist of Early Mississippian metamorphic rocks separated into meta-sedimentary and meta-igneous suites. The meta-sedimentary suite consists of micaceous quartz-feldspar gneiss, schist and quartzite. The meta-igneous package is composed of biotite-hornblende feldspar gneiss and coarse-grained granodiorite orthogneiss with lesser amphibolite.
The YTT basement rocks are cut by numerous plutonic and volcanic events from the Mesozoic (Allan & Friend, 2018), including:
1. Early Jurassic Long Lake monzonite to syenite plutonic suites;
2. Mid-Cretaceous Mount Nansen Suite andesite to diorite;
3. Mid-Cretaceous Whitehorse granodiorite, quartz monzonite and granite;
4. Late Cretaceous Casino quartz monzonite;
5. Late Cretaceous Prospector Mountain syenite; and,
6. Quartz feldspar and feldspar hornblende porphyry dykes and plugs.
The Nucleus deposit is hosted in the tightly-folded, sheared and brecciated Paleozoic schists and gneisses of the YTT basement rock Snowcap assemblage. Cutting them are east trending Late Cretaceous quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes. The dykes are directly associated with increased mineralization at the Nucleus deposit and are thought to represent rocks which have infilled zones of dilation and/or tension gashes resulting from brittle tectonism. The structural system containing the Nucleus deposit is dominated mainly by the steeply dipping, northwest-trending North and South faults (Davis & Sim, 2020).
Mineralization & Results
The Nucleus gold-silver-copper deposit consists of polyphase quartz-chalcopyrite-pyrite-arsenopyrite veins, infill breccia and semi- to massive-sulphide lenses consistent with multiple phases of skarn and epithermal gold mineralization. The host schists and gneisses (of greenschist origin) have been overprinted by dominantly phyllic alteration (especially near veins and structures) with local pervasive actinolite skarn. In places, the skarns have been replaced with sulphides. Mineralization at the contact between the gneisses and the granite is gold ± copper bearing pyrrhotite ± chalcopyrite ± pyrite lenses. (Davis & Sim, 2020).
The 1970 drilling cut minor chalcopyrite and traces of molybdenite associated with weakly pyritized quartz veining. The best intersection was 0.074% Cu from 30 to 67 m in percussion hole 70-9.
The Nat Joint Venture work was directed toward the gold potential of the property. The bulldozer trenching explored a 400 x 400 m area with erratic anomalous gold soil values and associated anomalous values in arsenic, copper, tungsten and silver. Minor sulphides, including tetrahedrite, are associated with the dykes.
The 1988 drilling identified a high grade zone with reserves of 211 925 tonnes grading 3.16 g/t Au (uncut) with a 4.6:1 waste: ore ratio. One drill hole intersected 34.9 g/t Au over 13.7 m, but this was not confirmed by nearby drill holes. This zone (formerly Anomaly #2) comprises the core of what is now referred to as the Nucleus zone.
The 1989 surface work showed that the highest grades are associated with gouge zones and quartz stockworks adjacent to porphyry dykes. Multi-element analysis showed a strong correlation between gold, silver, arsenic and bismuth. The best trench results came from the south side of the deposit, where samples of quartz-veined breccia and gouge in a series of NNW faults averaged 1.90 g/t Au across 20 m. The 1989 drilling confirmed the presence of a well defined, gold-bearing leached cap 60-100 m thick. Two holes that extended beneath the cap discovered a supergene sulphide zone containing copper and gold. Hole 89-1 intersected 38 m of supergene sulphide mineralization that averaged 0.87 g/t Au and 0.52% Cu.
Drilling in 1991 tested the Nucleus zone at depth below the leached cap. Hole DN91-2 returned 1.01 g/t Au and 0.04% Cu over 117 m in the leached cap and 0.86 g/t Au, 0.24% Cu over 28.7 m in the underlying supergene zone (AR 092995).
Interpretation of the 2001 drill data appears to indicate that gold distribution within the stockwork system comprising the core of the Nucleus zone is primarily controlled by proximity to a series of en echelon, moderately east dipping quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes and that most of the gold occurs in a series of broad bands approximately paralleling the trend of the dykes. The best intersection grades 1.32 g/t Au over 57.76 m from Hole DN01-03, which tested an area of chargeability highs identified northwest of the mineralized area previously outlined by trenching.
Trenching in 2001 tested targets on the periphery of the Nucleus zone and exposed an area, located 300 m south of the most recent drilling, which produced high grade assays from quartz veins. Channel sampling of the northernmost trench returned 8.89 g/t Au over 3.3 m, while sampling of a second trench located 120 m further south returned 3.63 g/t Au over 9.5 m (AR 094539).
Northern Freegold's 2006 through 2008 diamond drill programs were aimed at identifying a low grade bulk tonnage near surface gold target. In mid-2008 diamond drilling encountered high grade gold bearing ± chalcopyrite ± pyrite veins and gold bearing infill in breccias and gold -rich ± copper skarns that appear to follow the east-west orientation of the foliation within the metasediments. In addition, the company identified a set of gold bearing quartz + chalcopyrite +/- pyrite veins that also trend east-west in addition to the traditionally targeted north-south trending vein system.
Step-out drilling to the south of the calculated resource area in 2009 intersected 25.38 m of 1.25 g/t Au (DDH GRD-128) (Campbell et al., 2010).
Drilling in 2010 intersected porphyry style mineralization with long zones of copper mineralization that returned significant intervals of 0.86 g/t Au, 1.64 g/t Ag and 0.02% Cu over 204.6 m, including 29.6 m of 0.19% Cu in GRD10-64, and 0.12 g/t Au, 1.13 g/t Ag and 0.1% Cu over 81.03 m, including 15.0 m of 0.41 g/t Au, 2.24 g/t Ag and 0.2% Cu (AR 095374).
Results of the 2012 drilling program at Nucleus intersected high grade gold mineralization where moderately south dipping stratabound sulphides hosted in biotite schist are crosscut by feldspar porphyry dykes, breccia zones and shear zones. Drill holes intersected significant intervals of up to 0.95 g/t Au, 4.91 g/t Ag, and 0.26% Cu over 35.3 m in GRD12-175 and 0.4 g/t Au, 0.99 g/t Ag and 0.26% Cu over 45.55 m in GRD12-176 (Triumph Gold, MD&A, 26 Nov/2012).
The most significant intercepts encountered in 2017 drilling are from N17-10, which graded 2.09 g/t Au over 1.53 m within a larger zone grading 0.567 g/t Au over 21.53 m (Triumph Gold, MD&A, 27 Apr/2018). Further drilling by Triumph in 2019 intersected up significant intervals, including: 19.8 g/t Au over 0.84 m in N18-06; 15.93 g/t Au, 5.0 g/t Ag and 0.551% Cu over 1.0 m in N18-17; 13.67 g/t Au, 10.0 g/t Ag and 0.542% Cu over 1.67 m in N18-04; and 9.13 g/t Au over 2.0 m in N18-16 (Triumph Gold, MD&A, 23 Apr/2019).
