Fireweed Zinc Ltd (CVE:FWZ), the Yukon-based junior, said field work has begun on its Macmillan Pass zinc-lead-silver project, where it plans to complete an C$8mln exploration program on the project in 2018.
The group also said Eddy Yu had been hired as the new chief financial officer to replace Hang-Ying (Jessie) Lin who has left for personal reasons and resigned.
Sampling and permitting work has begun, while drills are expected to arrive in the coming weeks once the access road has been opened for traffic pending small post-winter repairs.
“Fireweed has made extraordinary progress since its IPO one year ago culminating in the recently published PEA economic study and with a healthy treasury to fund this aggressive exploration program, we are now taking the next big steps toward expanding and upgrading mineral resources and making new discoveries," said Brandon Macdonald, chief executive.
A 10,000m drill program is planned to start in coming weeks with three main goals:
- Expand known zones through step out drill holes to build tonnage beyond the already substantial Mineral Resources; all zones remain open for expansion
- Upgrade priority zones to Measured and Indicated categories to de-risk key parts of the Mineral Resources
- Drill new exploration targets toward discovery of entirely new deposits on the large land package.
Fireweed has acquired control of almost the entire Macmillan Pass zinc district, a 470 sq km land package. This is also the first time in more than 25 years that any large-scale exploration program has been carried out in the district.
Baseline environmental work is continuing and expansion of the project, including water sampling and monitoring, environmental fuel tank installations, and health and safety improvements to the camp and project living infrastructure.
Mr Yu is an accountant with over 20 years' experience in business and financial management.
Before joining Fireweed, Eddy has provided financial management and reporting services to many publicly-traded companies and to private companies intending to list on the TSX Venture Exchange.
"We would like to thank Jessie for her excellent work with the company through its initial phases and wish her all the best for the future. We are very glad to welcome Eddy to our team.
"His experience and knowledge will be valuable as we continue to grow Fireweed as a premier zinc exploration and development company," said George Gorzynski, the executive vice president.