Work History

Staked as Lone Star, etc. cl (9) in November 1897 by Messrs. Chute, Corthay and Stewart, who completed a 15 m adit and 16 m shaft by 1903. In 1909, control was acquired by Dr Wm. Catto & Edgar Searle, who formed Lone Star Ltd. and developed the property with an open cut, 105 m long and up to 10 m deep, 225 m of drifting and 30 m of shafts, an 1100 m tramway and a 4 stamp mill (which treated 20 to 30 TPD) between 1909 and 1912 at a cost of $42,000. From 1912 to 1914, the mill treated 7650 tonnes of ore with a recoverable value of $25,000. The adjoining Robin, etc claims to the southwest were explored with a 15 m shaft and an open cut in 1912 by Eldorado Dome Quartz Mining Company Ltd.

The company reorganized as Consolidated Lone Star Ltd. in 1925 and drove a 195 m adit and 30 m raise below the old workings in 1929-1931. The property then lay idle until 1941 when Pioneer Mining Company Ltd. optioned the property and sent 27.2 tonnes to a mill for testing. After Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation Ltd. trenched, drilled 6 Keystone holes (205 m) and drifted 60 m in 1946, the property was acquired by F.G. Caley for taxes.

Klondike Lode Gold Mines Ltd added 185 Moon, etc. cl (78700) to the northeast and southeast in 1960 and explored with extensive bulldozer trenching and sampling in 1960 and 1961 and 180 m of core drilling and 84 m of churn drilling in 1961. L. Miller tied on Bon cl 1-8 (Y99819) in June, 1975.

In 1979, Caley sold the nine Crown Grants comprising the Lone Star property to a new company, Dawson Eldorado Gold Explorations Ltd., which optioned the adjoining DN cl 1-4 (YA32783) of Klondike Ken Ventures Incorporated, enlarged the property and explored with geochemical sampling, a resistivity survey and trenching in 1980-1981, geological mapping in 1983 and 1984 and geochemical sampling and rock sampling of nearby old workings in 1984. In 1985, Dawson Eldorado drilled 6 percussion holes (183 m).

In June 1986, Arbor Resources optioned the property, performed linecutting, magnetic, VLF and EM surveys and drilled 12 diamond holes (1,094 m) and 2 rotary holes (320 m). In 1987, Arbor performed an airborne magnetic and EM survey, grid geochemistry, ground EM and IP surveys, bulldozer trenching and drilled 1 rotary hole (121.92 m).

In 1990, Arbor performed further trenching and sampling and drilled 17 holes (882.4 m). All of this work was carried out in the immediate Boulder Lode area and forms a small part of Arbor's work on its entire Klondike property, which in August 1990, consisted of more than 3000 claims covering approximately 1200 square kilometres. Work on the entire property between 1986 and 1990 included trenching, airborne and ground geophysical surveys, geochemical surveys, 69 diamond drill holes (4,518.7 m) and 110 reverse circulation holes (9,919.7 m). Arbor performed more geochemical and geophysical work and trenching in 1991.
 
In August 1992, Kennecott Canada Inc. optioned the property and drilled 20 reverse circulation holes (1,212 m) on the south edge of the Lone Star zone and followed up with another 3,100 m of RC drilling (41 holes) in 1993.

Kennecott carried out a GPS survey of the entire Lone Star property at the beginning of the 1994 exploration season. The survey allowed the company to tie in all previous exploration work and allowed meaningful interpretation of all mapped features. Kennecott then carried out a reconnaissance assessment of the entire Lone Star property consisting of geological mapping, rock sampling, trenching and backpack soil augering. Soil samples were collected across the entire property. The soil auger was able to penetrate up to 1 m in depth and samples were collected every 25 m on approximately 1 km spaced lines. Two diamond drill holes (397.6 m) were drilled on the Buckland Shear zone located 3 km to the southwest (MINFILE occurrence 115O 077).

In January 1995, Kennecott terminated the option and in January 1996 Arbor changed its name to Klondike Gold Corp. Newmont Exploration Ltd. performed a study of the mineralogy and amenability to milling of bulk samples during this time to evaluate the property under option.

Klondike Gold Corp. optioned a 50% interest to Klondike Star Mineral Corp. (KSMC), which became a 50/50 joint venture in 2005. Klondike Star Mineral Corp held a 55% interest in the claims in 2005 and drilled 27 HQ infill holes totaling 4,128.11 m to test for extension and continuity of the Lone Star zone. The on-site bulk sampling gravity mill was also upgraded during this time and 18 mini-bulk samples were collected and processed. KSMC also dug 14 trenches at nine locations, including Lone Star, during the 2005 program. In 2006, KSMC drilled 17 HQ and NQ diamond drill holes (2331.93 m), as well as took 10 bulk samples up to 8.1 tonnes for gravity mill processing, performed trenching and ran a ground IP geophysics survey over the property. Work in 2007on Lone Star by KSMC consisted dominantly of bedrock mapping and gravity mill processing of 7 bulk samples up to 7.5 tonnes.

Klondike Gold Corp. resumed work in 2011 and purchased Klondike Star Mineral Corp. in 2015 to restore a 100% interest. In 2011, Klondike Gold and Klondike Star dug 2 trenches and performed channel sampling. Work performed in 2012 consisted of 4 NQ diamond drill holes (1381.1 m) between the Lone Star and Pioneer (MINFILE occurrence 115O 150) zones, regional surficial terrain mapping by AECOM Consulting based on 1996 1:25000 aerial photographs, and soil sampling.

Klondike Gold Corp. performed ground magnetics and orthophoto surveys over the Lone Star area in 2015 and drilled 17 NQ diamond drill holes to test the west, central and eastern portions of the zone in 2016. Work performed in 2017 consisted of 61 infill NQ diamond drill holes, 250 line kilometers of ground magnetics and VLF-EM surveys, 35 line kilometers of ground 3D-IP survey, and soil sampling. In 2018, Klondike Gold drilled 56 NQ diamond drill holes (6473.3 m), ran an airborne magnetics survey over the property and conducted detailed regional and structural mapping using SRK Consulting Inc. Klondike Gold also found, recorded and sampled 76 historical workings and shafts.

Regional & Property Geology

The Lone Star zone, similar to the Buckland occurrence (MINFILE occurrence 115O 077), is located within the Klondike region, which is underlain by the Permian Klondike Schist Assemblage of the Yukon-Tanana terrane (YTT). The Klondike Schist represents a transition from plutonism to arc volcanism that has undergone greenschist facies metamorphism and consists of metaplutonic Sulphur Creek orthogneiss in the west that transitions eastward to a package of metavolcanic and metasedimentary units including: felsic to mafic (quartz-mica ± chlorite) schist, graphitic schist, and quartz augen schist (PKf and PKs). Evidence of five deformation events (D1 to D5) are present in within the Klondike Schist Assemblage as a result of obduction and regional thrusting and faulting related to uplift, which have produced a visible S2 and S3 foliation fabric in the schist units.

The lithological units of the Klondike region commonly contain both large, foliaform quartz veins associated with D3 folding and thrusting and discordant quartz veins possibly associated with D4 brittle faulting. Mineralization is generally hosted in the discordant quartz veins, however, the exact mineralization age and timing in the Klondike region is currently unknown. A structural mapping program completed by SRK Consulting Inc. in 2018 on the Klondike claims in the Lone Star property area identified a newly defined “D4” fault system interpreted to be the primary conduit for gold mineralization fluids that suggests a younger mineralization age than previously assumed. The white to locally oxidized, discordant veins are generally mineralized with sulphides (pyrite, rare galena, chalcopyrite), as well as visible gold, and are rarely more than 2-3 metres thick. Where present, visible gold is commonly noted along the selvages of both fresh and oxidized pyrite grains and can also occur as free grains within the quartz veins.

The Lone Star zone currently encompasses three known mineral occurrences: Lone Star (MINFILE occurrence 115O 072) in the centre, Pioneer (MINFILE occurrence 115O 150) to the east and O’Neil (MINFILE occurrence 115O 182) to the west for a total strike length of approximately 4 kilometres. It also encompasses the Boulder Lode occurrence which produced 6,940 tonnes grading 5 g/t Au from underground workings in the early 1900's, and also a large low-grade, possibly syngenetic deposit, which contains estimated reserves of 907,200 tonnes grading 2.4 g/t Au.

Mineralization & Results

Mineralization at the Lone Star zone is commonly noted as pyrite associated visible gold contained in crosscutting, discordant quartz veins within more ductile intermediate to locally mafic (quartz-mica ± chlorite) schist units. In 2016, Klondike Gold Corp. and M. Grimshaw (2018) also noted the presence of finely disseminated gold within large intervals of these intermediate to mafic schist (quartz-mica ± chlorite schist) units in the Lone Star area above and directly adjacent to the “D3” Bonanza Fault. M. Grimshaw (2018) attributes disseminated gold deposition to porosity in the schist unit developed in pressure shadows around pyrite formed during greenschist metamorphism in the region. Disseminated gold mineralization and gold mineralization within veins can occur across widths of up to 130 meters and depths of 50 to 100 meters. Recent reporting from Klondike Gold Corp. (May, 2019) interprets the gold-bearing zone at Lone Star to dip 35° to 50° to the north-northeast and strike north-northwest.

Historical workings at the Boulder Lode include a small open pit, as well as extensive underground development. Ore was mined from a series of discordant quartz and pyrite-quartz veins and stringers hosted mainly in muscovite and quartz-muscovite schist. Veins in the Lone Star open cut trend north and dip vertically or shallowly northeast. The largest vein in the Boulder Lode strikes 120° and dips 40° NE. Visible gold occurs along the vein margins and in narrow pyrite veinlets. Muscovite schist alongside the vein is silicified. A second parallel vein 4.6 m west of the main vein was chip sampled in 1990 and assayed 51.4 g/t Au across 0.3 m. Unmineralized quartz also occurs as concordant foliaform lenses.

The Lone Star adit intersected the Boulder Lode at about 30 m, and drifted along it for about 100 m. The workings penetrated below the leached zone and showed clearly that the younger gold-quartz veins contain most of the gold. A large pocket of sulphide ore was found in the opencut, but this could not be treated with the amalgam method used in the mill. Production records show that 7,650 tonnes were milled with a recoverable grade of 5.1 g/t Au and an average gold to silver ratio of about 4:1. Farrell concluded that recovery by the amalgamation method was approximately 75% and that the quartz ore likely averaged approximately 6.9 g/t Au and would have been higher if the sulphide ore were included. A hand-picked sample of the sulphides weighing 844 kg was shipped in 1913 to the Selby Smelting Works, San Francisco and returned $2,009 in gold, a grade of about 368.6 g/t.

In 1930, a test sample of ten sacks of waste from the dump was shipped to the Trail smelter. It averaged 2.12 g/t Au with a recovery of 97%. Two selected sulphide specimens collected in 1925 from a shaft below the floor of the open cut returned assays of 11,725.4 g/t and 11,108.3 g/t Au and 2,648.4 g/t Au and 3,017.1 g/t Ag. Old records from the Lone Star property indicate that gold is erratically distributed and that the true grade is very difficult to determine. The various geologists who chip sampled this property over the years all obtained assays that averaged less than mill grade and each concluded that such sampling did not adequately account for the presence of occasional high-grade veinlets or sulphide patches. For example, chip samples of the 1929 adit averaged less than 0.34 g/t Au, but muck sampling of 24 drift rounds (about 32 m of drift) in 1930 gave average assays of 6.5 g/t. The following year, 38 rounds of muck sampling averaged 5.8 g/t Au, while 14 raise rounds below the floor of the open cut averaged 4.5 g/t Au.

Arbor's drilling and trenching between 1986 and 1990 outlined a concordant, rusty zone 200 m long and up to 31 m thick beneath the Lone Star workings. This zone has potential as a bulk tonnage oxide gold deposit. Trench samples taken in 1988 returned up to 150 g/t Au over 1.8 m. In drill holes, grades range from 2.1 g/t to 24.7 g/t Au over widths of 1 to 25 m. Following the 1990 drill program, the company estimated a potential deposit measuring 205 m long, 50.3 m wide and 45.7 m deep containing an estimated reserve of 1 million tonnes grading 2.47 g/t Au. This estimate does not meet National Instrument 43-101 standards and has never been verified. The best drill intersection from the 1990 program returned assays up to 27.0 g/t Au.

Kennecott's 1992 drilling was confined to an area of 150 m by 250 m in the area of the old mine. Twelve of the 20 drill holes intersected mineralization grading higher than 1.5 g/t Au over widths of more than 1.5 m. Hole 92LS20 intersected 19.8 m averaging 3.2 g/t Au and hole 92LS5 hit a high grade section grading 10.76 g/t Au over 4.6 m.

Kennecott's 1994 auger sampling program conducted over the main Boulder Lode showing yielded generally higher results than the 1982 soil sampling program. Direct comparisons are difficult because of differing sample depth and sample spacing. The auger soil gold anomalies are up slope of the 1982 gold anomalies and are closer to the surface showing. Geological mapping, rock sampling and remapping of previous trenches on the property failed to uncover new mineralized zones.

Kennecott completed a similar exhaustive exploration program on the adjoining MINFILE occurrences (115O 073, 077, 131, 146, 147, 148, and 150) which are part of the Lone Star property. The program's failure to outline any significant new mineralization resulted in Kennecott dropping the option.

Klondike Star Mineral Corp. (KSMC) drilled 27 HQ holes in 2005 which confirmed the presence of a broad, continuous zone of gold mineralization with narrow, high grade, less continuous intervals. Significant results from the program include: 1.14 g/t Au over 62.55 m, including a higher grade interval of 5.46 g/t Au over 6.0 m in hole 05-LS-02; 1.03 g/t Au over 57.24 m, including a higher grade interval of 10.45 g/t Au over 1.05 m in hole 05-LS-26; and 1.67 g/t Au over 61.74 m in hole 05-LS-27. Chip samples taken every 1.0 meter from trenches on Lone Star also returned anomalous gold values, including 3078.5 ppb Au over 1.0 m in trench 05-LS-B01-A and 6544.5 g/t Au over 1.0 m in trench 05-LS-B02-A2.

KSMC drilled 17 HQ and NQ holes in 2006 on Lone Star which returned less significant high grade intercepts than the 2005 program. The most significant intercepts include: 6.61 g/t over 1.0 m in hole 06-LS-04; 0.27 g/t Au over 111.0 m, including 7.5 g/t Au over 0.5 m in hole 06-LS-06; 0.26 g/t Au over 75.0 m, including 10.75 g/t Au over 1.0 m in hole 06-LS-10; and 0.46 g/t Au over 40.0 m, including 3.79 g/t Au over 2.2 m and 8.4 g/t Au over 0.8 m in hole 06-LS-23. Ten bulk samples weighing 1.9 to 13.6 tons were also collected from the Lone Star zone that varied in gold content from 0.054 g/t Au to 3.993 g/t Au, with an overall average gold grad of 0.85 g/t Au. The 2007 bulk sampling program had similar results, with the most significant sample (07-LS-B1) returning 3.5 g/t Au and 96% of gold returned in tailings after milling.

Trenching work performed in 2011 on the Lone Star zone by Klondike Gold Corp. returned anomalous gold values from channel samples taken in trench 87-16 that had an average grade of 0.89 g/t Au over the 19.62 m of sampled material, including up to 5.03 g/t Au over 0.42 m and 21.3 g/t Au over 0.13 m.

Klondike Gold Corp. drilled four NQ holes in 2012 to test the Lone Star and Pioneer area at greater depths below surfaces and to determine the existence of a thrust fault hypothesized to be present at 300 m depth in the target area. Two of the four holes returned significant gold values with 1.65 g/t Au over 11.6 m, including 2.10 g/t Au and 6.8 g/t Au over 1.5 m in hole 12DDH002 and 3.12 g/t Au over 1.5 m in hole 12DDH003. A regional surficial terrain mapping program by AECOM Consulting helped detail difficult terrain and determine soil sample grids for the 2012 program. Soil sampling on the north facing slope of the Lone Star zone helped further define the soil anomaly in the area and provided confidence in previous soil sample campaigns from 1984 and 1987.

Klondike Gold Corp. completed a ground magnetics survey in 2015 to image a WNW-trending dextral fault system interpreted in the Lone Star area in greater detail than previous geophysical surveys. Results of the 2015 magnetic survey suggest a series of “horse-tail” splays on both sides of the Eldorado Creek that terminate the regional dextral WNW fault. A series of NNW oriented pinnate extensional faults were also noted in the Lone Star area.

Seventeen NQ holes were drilled in 2016 by Klondike Gold Corp. across a 700 m strike length identified by prospecting, geophysics, soils and mapping to test the western, central and eastern zones of the Lone Star area. Twelve of the seventeen holes intersected near-surface gold mineralization across broad widths, including: 2.4 g/t Au over 37.0 m, including 9.4 g/t Au over 3.6 m and 6.6 g/t Au over 7.1 m in hole LS16-58; 1.5 g/t Au over 24.5 m in hole LS16-64; and 3.5 g/t Au over 11.3 m, including 7.9 g/t Au over 4.7 m in hole LS16-70.

The Lone Star zone was the main focus of the 2017 exploration program by Klondike Gold Corp. who drilled sixty-one NQ holes to provide infill drilling for correlation of geology and mineralization and to extend the mineralized zone to the east and west toward the Pioneer (MINFILE occurrence 115O 150) and O’Neil (MINFILE occurrence 115O 182) showings, respectively. Results of the infill drilling extended the mineralized zone to a total strike length of approximately 4 kilometers in close proximity and adjacent to the “D3” Bonanza Fault. Klondike Gold Corp. reported significant results in approximately forty-four of the sixty-one drill holes (Management Discussion & Analysis, 30 Nov/2017) with significant broad gold intercepts that include: 2.1 g/t Au over 41.1 m in hole LS17-81, 2.4 g/t Au over 40.9 m in hole LS17-82, and 1.6 g/t Au over 30.7 m in hole LS17-91. A detailed soil sampling survey was also completed across the Lone Star zone that showed a strong and continuous, broad northwest-trending gold soil anomaly 4 km long. The core of this soil anomaly coincides with the drilled gold mineralization above at Lone Star and a 500 x 100 m geophysical anomaly which appears to be located at the intersection of the Lone Star thrust fault and a north-striking vertical fault identified in earlier programs.

Klondike Gold Corp. drilled fifty-six NQ holes on the Lone Star zone in 2018 with a focus on systematically evaluating gold tenor, as well as geological and lithological relationships to mineralization, through 50 m spaced infill drilling along a 900 m long by 200 m wide area. A number of significant drill results with broad intervals of gold mineralization were reported (News Releases, 18 Jul/2018 to 24 Jan/2019), including: 1.4 g/t Au over 65.05 m, including 6.07 g/t Au over 8.45 m in hole LS18-156; 0.72 g/t Au over 92.3 m, including 10.0 g/t Au over 4.6 m in hole LS18-180; 1.32 g/t Au over 47.0 m in hole LS18-191; 1.02 g/t Au over 91.0 m in hole LS18-201; and 0.93 g/t Au over 90.6 m in hole LS18-204. A structural mapping study was also completed by SRK Consulting Inc. on the Klondike claims in the Lone Star property area that identified a newly defined “D4” fault system interpreted to be the primary conduit for gold mineralization fluids that suggests a younger mineralization age than previously assumed.