Fireweed Zinc Ltd (CVE:FWZ) has kicked off the highly anticipated 2019 exploration program at the Macmillan Pass project in Yukon, where it expects further success this year.
Crews have been mobilized ahead of building drill sites at the first target at the Tom North area and general preparation of the camp, facilities and equipment for the summer program, said the explorer in a statement.
Planned is 2,000 metres of core drilling and 1000 metres of RC (reverse circulation) drilling, to include step-out targets with strong upside potential at Tom North, Tom East and Jason North.
READ: Fireweed Zinc poised to start drilling campaign at Yukon zinc project
"I am very excited about our 2019 exploration program," said CEO Brandon Macdonald. "We have step out holes planned to expand on our current resources, which are already among the largest undeveloped zinc resources in the world, and we have a number of excellent greenfield targets generated last year that we will drill this summer in search of new discoveries to further grow the project.
The first target to be core drilled this summer will be Tom North, where six shallow holes drilled at Tom North in the 1950s and a further hole in 1978 returned assays up to 5.05% zinc and 1.80% lead over 19.9 metres. Mapping and 2018 exploration data suggest that Tom North may be an extension of Tom West, which is separated by a fault.
After Tom North, the core drill will test the depth extension of Tom East, which is one of the highest grade zones on the property.
Last year, drilling extended the zone to depth with the deepest hole intersecting a high grade interval of 16.4 m grading 21.14% zinc, 13.55% lead and 243 g/t (grams per ton) silver.
Prospective greenfield targets
Also planned is drilling of prospective greenfield targets via RC drilling to test for new deposits on the large 544 sq km property with emphasis on the Fertile Corridor, to test newly defined targets.
The RC drill will also test Jason North -- a new target located immediately north of the Jason Main deposit.
It was defined through re-interpretation of historic data and confirmed by soil sampling in 2018.
An airborne survey of the entire property will also be completed this year to improve corrections applied to gravity data for exploration and new target definition as well as aid engineering and environmental studies.
Shares in Fireweed in Toronto slid around 6% to $0.60.
Contact Giles at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
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