SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
TerraX Minerals is amping up its surface exploration this summer after discovering previously unreported high-grade gold mineral deposits at its Yellowknife City Gold project location - part of an area known as the Yellowknife gold camp - last year.
A drilling rig, ATV and other equipment at the site of TerraX Minerals' Yellowknife City Gold Project on Sept. 15. - NNSL file photo |
In a company news release, Joe Campbell, president of TerraX Minerals, stated excellent drill results have proved the area's potential.
"After our success in 2015 discovering new zones of previously unreported high-grade gold mineralization with only a modest field exploration budget," Campbell stated.
"We have decided to increase our surface exploration expenditure four-fold this summer to fully understand the potential mineral endowment of the Yellowknife City Gold project area."
With the help of a Northwest Territories Mineral Incentive Program grant worth over $120,000, TerraX will explore new areas as well as map and sample the company's Southbelt property.
When the Giant Yellowknife gold mine closed in 1999 followed by the Con Mine in 2003, the once prolific Yellowknife gold camp went into hibernation.
But in 2013, TerraX purchased the property immediately around the historic mines with the intent of developing the land and hopefully discovering gold.
Tom Hoefer, executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Commerce, described fieldwork around mines that once produced high levels of gold is like "hunting elephants in elephant country," he said.
"The Yellowknife Volcanic Belt produced over 14 million ounces from the Con and Giant mines. So it is a known gold-rich piece of geology. There is good reason to believe that there are other hidden deposits still waiting to be discovered and developed into mines."
TerraX's Yellowknife City Gold project lies on the northern extension of the shear system that hosted the Con and Giant Gold mines. It encompasses approximately 99.3 square kilometres of land immediately north and south of Yellowknife.
Its close proximity to the city is an added benefit, Hoefer said.
"With TerraX's holdings located within a stone's throw of all of the infrastructure of Yellowknife, it also reduces their future mining costs, which helps increase the odds of them finding economically mineable deposits. It is very encouraging to see that they have over $600,000 to invest in this summer program to help them take their understanding of the geology to the next level and one step closer, we hope, to finding another mine."
