Exploration History

Staked as Mim cl 1-112 (Y53268) in Jul/70 by Atlas Exploration Ltd, apparently based on the results of regional geochemical sampling carried out by the company. Atlas reportedly carried out grid geochemical soil sampling and geological mapping later that year.

In 1998, Kennecott Canada Exploration Inc carried out reconnaissnace soil and stream sediment sampling of the area in an attempt to locate the source of an anomalous gold value detected during regional stream sediment sampling by the Geological Survey of Canada.

Restaked as Severance cl 1-10 (YC19447) in Jan/2002 by 4763 NWT Inc, which carried out geological mapping, prospecting, geochemical rock and soil sampling and staked Severance cl 11-30 (YC19520) in Jun/2002.

In Fall/2002 Eagle Plains Resources Ltd optioned the Severance claims and the following year they carried out regional stream sediment sampling to the north and south of the property, re-sampled anomalous soil sample locations previously identified by 4763 NWT Inc and expanded the existing soil sampling coverage along two lines to the south. Eagle Plains carried out line cutting, geochemical soil sampling and geophysical I.P. and magnetometer surveying in 2004. Subsequently, ownership of the Severance property was transferred to Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd.

In 2011, Northern Freegold Resources Ltd. purchased the Severance property from Omineca Mining and Metals and conducted a short prospecting program. In 2012, Northern Freegold followed up with a ridge-and-spur soil geochemistry program. The claims were subsequently allowed to lapse.

In 2019, Strategic Metals Ltd re-staked the Sev 1-36 claims and conducted soil sampling and prospecting. Following the exploration program, an additional 18 claims were staked in order to cover prospective ground to the south and east of the claim block.

In 2020 and 2021, Strategic conducted more soil sampling and prospecting on the property.

Capsule Geology

Limited outcrop on ridge tops in the vicinity of the streams draining north into Somme Creek reveal the area to be underlain by coarse grained, biotite-hornblende granodiorite of the mid-Cretaceous Whitehorse Suite. Flows, dykes and possibly small plugs of Lower Eocene aged Skukum Volcanic Suite rocks consisting of quartz-feldspar porphyritic dacite have also been identified during regional and property scale mapping. In outcrop, both these units appear unaltered and contain little or no sulfide mineralization.

Atlas' regional sampling reportedly outlined anomalous copper and molybdenum values from an alaskite stock (?), possibly of the Early Tertiary Nisling Range Suite which has been mapped further to the west. No significant soil anomalies were identified and only traces of molybdenite were found in the occasional quartz vein.

Kennecott's work in the area, as described in later reports by 4763 NWT Ltd and Eagle Plains, outlined a 2+ km long gold anomaly that contained greater than 35 ppb Au which the company did not follow-up.

Prospecting in 2002 located numerous granodiorite boulders on the slopes of the southern part of the property. Analysis of a grab sample of one of these boulders, which are weakly to moderately silicified with quartz veins and up to 7% disseminated pyrite, returned 1.2 g/t Au and 0.35% Cu.

Soil sampling of this area, carried out by various operators during the period from 2002 to 2020, has identified a broad zone of multi-element (Au-Cu-Mo-As) geochemical response, which to date has been defined over an 1700 m by 4000 m area. Scattered, highly anomalous values up to 1 966 ppb Au, 1 036 ppm Cu and 54.3 ppm Mo are contained in the zone which lies within an area of low magnetic response underlain by an I.P. chargeability high that exhibits a resistivity signature typically associated with porphyry systems.