WORK HISTORY

     *Although this property is called the Moosehorn property, this occurrence was named Independence to distinguish it from the Moosehorn occurrence (Minfile Occurrence #115N 024), located approximately 5 km to the northwest

The Moosehorn Range region has seen placer and hardrock exploration since 1970 when high grade gold veins were discovered to the west. Although the area surrounding the occurrence has been staked in the past by various companies, only cursory exploration work in conjunction with larger regional programs was ever carried out (see Minfile Occurrence #115N 024 for past regional exploration work history).
 
Staked as CIT cl 1-24 (YD06167) in June/2009 by ATAC Resources which staked MHN cl 1-34 (YD06191) to the north at the same time. In Dec/2009 ATAC Resources optioned the claims to Silver Quest Resources Ltd for cash and shares.
 
In Jun/2010 Silver Quest carried out a one day regional soil, rock and silt sampling program on the southeast corner of the CIT claims. The company added CIT cl 25-44 (YD13184) in Nov/2010.
 
In Apr/2011 Silver Quest staked MHN cl 35-46 (YE27267) and in Aug/2011 collected 2 additional lines of soil samples.

On October 17, 2011 Silver Quest Resources and New Gold Inc announced a plan of arrangement whereby New Gold would acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Silver Quest, with shareholders of Silver Quest acquiring shares in New Gold. As part of the plan, Silver Quest’s Yukon based properties and other properties held by the company were spun out into a new company, Independence Gold Corp. The plan closed on December 23, 2011 and shares of Independence Gold commenced trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange - Venture Market on December 29, 2011.
 
In 2012 Independence Gold collected grid soil samples from two ridges located on the west side and central area of the CIT claim block. In Nov/2012 the company allowed MHN cl 1-8 (YD06191) which formed a northwest trending spur to expire.
 
In early Jun/2016 Independence Gold carried out follow-up soil sampling over the central area of the CIT claims. Later in the month the company used a Can-Dig excavator to dig 3 trenches over the center of a gold-in soil anomaly located within the area sampled earlier in the month.
 
In 2017 Independence Gold intends to complete a reconnaissance scale soil sampling program across the remainder of the property and to test the known gold-arsenic soil anomaly with a GeoProbe drill. 

GEOLOGY

The occurrence is located in the Moosehorn Mountain range of west-central Yukon, approximately 8 km east of the Yukon-Alaska border and approximately 135 km southwest of Dawson City. There are no regular access roads into the area. Access is generally by helicopter from one of the regional bases in the Yukon or using a fixed wing aircraft from Dawson City to the Moosehorn airstrip located approximately 6 km north of the property. Bulk fuel and heavy equipment is usually brought in by one of the many winter roads servicing the placer industry.
 
The area was remapped by Gordey, S.P. and Ryan, J.J (2005) as a component of the Ancient Pacific Margin NATMAP Project, a mapping  initiative launched by the Geological Survey of Canada, Yukon Geological Survey and the British Columbia Geological Survey Branch. The Stewart River component focused on the Yukon-Tanana terrane, comprising complexly deformed, mostly (?) Paleozoic meta-igneous and metasedimentary rocks.
 
The occurrence area is underlain by quartz-rich metaclastic rocks (quartzite, quartz-mica schist, schist psammite, conglomerate) deposited during the mid-Paleozoic. These rocks were intruded in the mid-Cretaceous by the Dawson Range batholith, which has been assigned to the Whitehorse Suite. Although no detailed mapping has been carried out by Independence Gold, it appears that the property is essentially covered by massive hornblende-biotite granodiorite. The intrusion is cut by numerous younger porphyritic dykes of diorite to granodiorite composition which are thought to belong to the Upper Cretaceous Carmacks Group.  Replacement of hornblende by biotite or chlorite +/- epidote is widespread in the Moosehorn range area.
 
Exploration in the area has historically been focused on gold bearing quartz veins which are genetically unrelated to the Dawson Range batholith. The veins occur in sub-parallel sets generally striking north-northwest, dipping shallowly (20 to 40 degrees) to the east. The veins generally occur to the west where the majority of exploration has been carried out.  Although the occurrence area has previously been staked, the property has only seen cursory exploration carried out as part of larger exploration programs to the west (see Minfile Occurrence #115N 024 for complete history). Independence Gold appears to be the first company to focus their efforts on the east side of the Moosehorn range.
 
The gold veins are dominantly quartz with minor calcite, tourmaline, muscovite and a variety of sulphide minerals including pyrite, galena, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, jamesonite, boulangerite and tetrahedrite. Fluid inclusion studies by Joyce (2002) indicate that the veins formed from an aqueous-carbonic fluid of the H2O-C02-CH4-NaCl +/- N2 system with moderate (~10% NaCl) salinity. It is on the basis of lead isotope work from the same study that it was concluded that the mineralizing fluids of the vein system are genetically unrelated to the Dawson Range batholith or related intrusions within the Yukon-Tanana terrane, and that the granodiorite and related intrusive rocks simply acted as a passive host for mineralization.
 
The 2010 soil sampling program consisted of one contour line of samples collected above an unnamed creek located in the southeast corner of the CIT claim block. The samples were collected to investigate an elevated antimony and arsenic silt sample collected from the creek and reported by the Geological Survey of Canada in its regional stream sediment and water geochemical survey released in 1987 (GSC Open File 1364). The soil survey returned three consecutive samples that returned anomalous gold values from 16 to 29 ppb gold coincident with anomalous arsenic. A second location located approximately 600 m to the northwest returned a single sample that assayed 184 ppb gold with coincident arsenic and antimony values. 

The 2011 and 2012 soil sampling programs expanded the size of the gold soil anomaly. Prior to the beginning of the 2016 exploration season Independence Gold reported that the anomaly measured approximately 1.2 km long by 100 m wide and strikes 345 degrees. The anomaly coincides with the 98^th percentile for gold (73 - 1 250 ppb) and arsenic and covers a topographic high that drains multiple placer mined creeks. The 2016 exploration program increased the length of the anomaly to 1.4 km.
 
The occurrence location marks the approximate center point of the anomaly. 


 

63.041650

-140.841840

Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence

Report Number	Year	Title	Worktypes	Holes Drilled	Meters Drilled
096948	2016	2016 Soil and Trenching Survey on the Moosehorn Property, Yukon	Soil - Geochemistry, Hydraulic - Trenching
096114	2012	2012 Soil Geochemical Survey on the Moosehorn Property	Soil - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry
095458	2011	2011 Soil Geochemical Survey on the Moosehorn Property, Yukon	Soil - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry
095271	2010	2010 Geochemical Report on the Moosehorn Property	Rock - Geochemistry, Silt - Geochemistry, Prospecting - Other
094188	2000	Geophysical Report on the Longline Property 2000	Magnetic - Airborne Geophysics
094027	1999	Summary of Geological Field Works-1999-Prospecting, Geochemical, Geophysical, Trenching and Drilling Report Volume 1	Diamond - Drilling, Drill Core - Geochemistry, Rock - Geochemistry, Silt - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, IP - Ground Geophysics, Line Cutting - Other, Prospecting - Other, Mechanical - Trenching	34	2648.35
090109	1975	Report on the Geochemical Survey on the Kid and Boy Mineral Claims	Soil - Geochemistry, Bedrock Mapping - Geology