PolarX continues to grow its Zackly copper-gold discovery in Alaska with drilling outside the main resource area intersecting broad zones of gold-rich mineralisation including 24.5m at 1.24 g/t gold and 0.6 per cent copper which also hosts a higher-grade core of 11.2m at 2.45 g/t gold and 1.1 per cent copper from only 52.6m down-hole.
These new intercepts continue to build on the story at Zackly which already boasts an impressive resource of 3.4 million tonnes at a solid 2.0 g/t gold and 1.2 per cent copper in the main zone, with recent exploration having now identified a second eastern zone of sulphide mineralisation immediately along strike.
PolarX Managing Director, Dr Frazer Tabeart said:
“These latest results prove that thick zones of near-surface mineralisation continue further to the east, showing locally high-grade zones within a very broad mineralised envelope.”
“Our most recent drilling has been to the east and north of these results. This again revealed strong skarn alteration in structures associated with very strong magnetic gradients. The high-grade mineralisation at the Zackly Main skarn is also associated with a similar magnetic gradient so further growth in mineralised strike is expected on receiving those assays.”
“At least 2km of these newly identified structures remain untested to the north and east of current drilling these are now high priority drilling targets. “
PolarX’s Stellar copper-gold project is located in the Alaska Range in the central portion of the northern US state of Alaska. The project is situated approximately six hours drive north of Anchorage, utilising predominantly bitumen roads and is accessible for exploration throughout May and to the end of October each year.
The Stellar project covers a section of the mighty Pacific Copper-Gold porphyry belt with the company’s tenure extending over a 35km strike length of prospective copper-gold stratigraphy. The target mineralisation at Stellar includes massive porphyry copper-gold deposits through to the related skarn-style of mineralisation which is being drilled out at Zackly.
Skarn mineralisation is typically produced from high-temperature fluids transporting minerals into the rock strata, potentially from an underlying mineralised porphyry system.
Exploration at Stellar has, to date, delineated two resource positions, one at Caribou and the other at Zackly, and a plethora of copper-gold targets across the company’s tenure with the current focus on the evolving Zackly copper-gold discovery in the central tenement area.
PolarX’s program this season has concentrated on drilling the Zackly East target which appears to be of similar morphology and geology to the Main Lode resource, immediately to the west. The company has drilled 23 diamond drill holes at Zackly East, outlining anomalous copper-gold mineralisation along more than 900m of strike, with reconnaissance highlighting additional mineralisation along 2,000m of strike to the east, and north, that will require drill testing during the 2021 field season.
Logging and sampling of the 23 diamond holes has now been completed with skarn-style alteration observed in most drill holes and visual copper sulphides accompanying this alteration. The assay results for the first six holes of the program have now been received, with the remaining 17 holes still in the laboratory.
Initial results from the drilling indicate that the mineralisation at Zackly East is of a similar tenor to that of the nearby resource and is hosted within a broad envelope of copper mineralisation. Results have included the aforementioned drill hole in addition to 11.58m at 1.76 g/t gold and 0.38 per cent copper from 46.94m and 3.08m at 1.57 g/t gold and 0.20 per cent copper from only 8.49m down-hole.
In fact, according to the company there may be more good news around the corner with visual observations of the copper-gold mineralisation in the drill core suggesting the best intersections have yet to be reported by the lab.
Previous results from Zackly East have included some seriously impressive intersections including 54.6m at 2.80 g/t gold and 0.6 per cent copper, 46.7m at 3.1 g/t gold and 0.6 per cent copper and 15.0m at 2.2 g/t gold and 2.3 per cent copper, which investors will be hoping is a portent of things to come.
The deposit at Zackly already hosts 1.5 million ounces of silver 213,000 ounces of gold and a princely 41,000 tonnes of copper, leaving PolarX sitting pretty in the mountains of Alaska.
However, with the company now drilling out a second zone of mineralisation at the project, and more than a sniff of sulphides lurking in the mountains along strike, these numbers could begin to build rapidly. With a swag of samples still sitting in the lab, expectations are growing that PolarX could be heading down the path to a serious resource upgrade in the coming months.
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