Redstar Gold (RGC-V) June 24, '14 has initiated the field program at its flagship Unga project in southwestern Alaska. The phase 1 field program is designed to complete detailed field mapping and sampling of high-grade gold-silver vein systems in preparation for diamond drilling. The field program will examine the highest-priority targets, such as the Shumagin vein, where historic shallow drilling in the 1980s intersected significant high-grade mineralization which was confirmed by Redstar's 2011 drill program. The vein remains open at depth and along strike. Other high-priority targets include the Apollo-Sitka and Aquila vein systems. Veins will be mapped in detail and sampled with a focus on extending known mineralization along strike, determining the distribution of mineralization within vein systems and assessing the geologic structural controls to mineralization. Jacques Vaillancourt, chairman of Redstar Gold, stated: "The Unga project gives Redstar control of an emerging, high-grade epithermal gold-silver district which has been overlooked for the past 30 years. The Unga project represents tremendous exploration potential, as it's the first time the entire district has been consolidated under one operator for its integrated exploration and development."
Unga project summary
Redstar is the first company to consolidate land holdings at Unga, allowing for comprehensive district-scale exploration. The gold-silver vein systems at Unga are classified as volcanic-hosted, intermediate-sulfidation epithermal veins and show clear structural/geological similarities to other high-grade gold deposits around the world. Compilation of Unga data by Redstar indicates two distinct high-grade gold-silver trends totalling approximately 22 kilometres. These two trends are in addition to several other prospects on the project. The Shumagin trend, approximately nine km, covers the Shumagin and Apollo-Sitka gold-silver vein systems. The Shumagin vein contains a non-National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource of 254,000 tonnes grading 27.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 127 g/t silver (SRK Consulting, 2000) based on shallow drilling, within 150 metres of surface, in the 1980s. The vein, at least 1.3 km long, remains open along strike and at depth and lies approximately six km from the Aquila vein field. Aquila drilling in the early 1980s returned grades of up to 113 g/t gold over 0.45 metre at the end of a 49-metre drill hole below a trench yielding 11.5 g/t gold over 3.6 metres. There has been no follow-up work done in the area of the drilling. In addition, one step-out hole drilled in the 1980s 130 metres below the Shumagin vein intersected 5.5 metres grading 16.1 g/t gold, indicating a strong vertical extent to high-grade gold of at least 350 metres.
First phase drilling on the Shumagin vein by Redstar in 2011 intersected high-grade mineralization, including 738.0 g/t gold and 408.0 g/t silver over 0.55 metre and 43.9 g/t gold over one metre. The drilling indicates mineralization occurs within a northeast-trending steeply dipping vein stockwork zone typically 30 metres in width and one drill hole intersected 21 metres grading 4.02 g/t gold. The second major trend on the project lies about three kilometres to the south of the Shumagin trend. The parallel Apollo-Sitka vein system contains mineralization along at least seven km of an overall 11 km long structural zone. Historically reported shallow mining from 1891 to 1922 produced approximately 150,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 10.3 g/t gold, and mineralization is known to cover a vertical extent of at least 400 metres. There has been very limited modern exploration along the trend. Samples collected by Redstar in 2011 from outcrops of veining at the Sitka shaft assayed 13.2 g/t gold and 398 g/t silver over two metres with a separate vein returning 94.7 g/t gold and 1,840 g/t silver. A recent sample in 2013 of a quartz-sulfide vein from the surface at the Apollo mine yielded 42.3 g/t gold and 1,150 g/t silver. Gold-bearing veins with up to 147 g/t gold occur at the California prospect 1.5 km southwest of the Apollo mine. It was historically reported that the width of the veins at Apollo were up to 12 metres in the mined zones, and geological evidence at Sitka indicates a vein system that may be as wide as 50 metres. |
