Uncle Sam
Status: Joint Venture
Target: The Uncle Sam property is located in the Big Delta B-5 and Big Delta C-5 USGS Quadrangles in east central Alaska, within the Yukon-Tanana Terrane of east-central interior Alaska, 20 km north of the Richardson Highway and 75 km southeast of Fairbanks, and 60 km to the west of the Pogo Gold Mine. The Uncle Sam property and the surrounding Goodpaster and Fairbanks Mining District offer potential for discovery of intrusive-related gold deposits. The target may be a vein-style deposit similar in nature to the Pogo Mine (+ 5 million ounces), located 60 kilometers to the east of the Uncle Sam property, or may be more similar to the disseminated style of mineralization at the Fort Knox Mine (+5 million ounces) located approximately 90 kilometers to the north.
Location and Setting: The Uncle Sam claim group is comprised of 194 unpatented 40 acre Alaska State mining claims, totaling 3,140 ha. Neighboring claims are owned by On-Line Exploration, Great American Exploration (Gamex) and Stoneboy (a subsidiary of Sumitomo).
Agreement and Terms: In November 2009, Millrock Resources Inc. executed an option agreement with Geoinformatics Alaska Exploration Inc. and Kiska Metals Corporation pertaining to the Uncle Sam property and controls the Uncle Sam to this present day. Millrock has the option to earn a 100% interest in the project by paying a total of US$200,000, spending $US 2.7 million on exploration, and issuing one million Millrock shares. The purchase may be accelerated at any point by making any remaining cash payment, share issuance and a bonus share issuance of 500,000 Millrock shares. A 2% over-riding royalty is payable to International Royalty Corporation.
In December 2010, Millrock granted an option agreement to Crescent Resources Corp. to purchase an undivided 100% interest in the property. Crescent can achieve this by paying Millrock a total of $275,000, issuing 18% of their shares to Millrock, by paying Kiska $120,000 pursuant to the Millrock Option Agreement, and by spending a total of $2,500,000 on exploration..
Geology and Mineralization: At Uncle Sam, a large gold-bearing system is present. The system is characterized by a geochemical signature of Au, As, Sb, Ag, Pb, Cd and Zn with local Mo, Bi, U, and W. Three key target areas, Wolf, Christmas, and Lone Tree, have been identified on the property as having great potential for additional discovery. Systematic variability between the temperature sensitive elements that share a clear correlation with Au (As, Sb, Ag, Bi) indicates that the core of the system is centered near the Lone Wolf target.
Nearly all of the gold mineralization observed to date is associated with shears or fault zones and the most significant mineralized zones are hosted within brittle-ductile shears that appear to be largely low angle. Most of the structures in which orientations are available show strikes that are dominantly east-west with gentle to moderate northward dips.
The property is blanketed by overburden, primarily loess and weathered bedrock. There is little outcrop and the area has not been glaciated. Sillimanite-grade migmatitic schists and migmatitic gneiss of the Salcha River Dome are intruded by felsic magmatic rocks. The rocks are thought to be of similar age and chemistry to that of Pogo. Airborne magnetic surveys clearly define intrusive bodies and structural zones. There is a prominent northwest - trending deformation zone striking across the northeastern portion of the property. Northeast-trending and east-west trending structures are also apparent. At least two intrusive bodies are known and there is gold mineralization associated with each. Soil sampling has identified a gold anomaly of exceptional proportion. It covers an area measuring six kilometers by nine kilometers. The gold soil anomaly occurs within a much larger regional Bi-As-Sb stream sediment anomaly. Drilling to date has resulted in a total of 19 individual drill intersections of greater than 1.0 g/t gold over drilled widths ranging from three meters to 12 meters with a highlight drill intersection of 6.1 meters averaging 10.6 g/t gold. The better drill intercepts are listed in the attached table.
LONE TREE
At Lone Tree, the gold soil anomaly has an east-west trend and transects the northwest trending deformation zone (Figure 1). A pronounced magnetic low is evident. The soil anomaly is over two kilometers in length and locally quite strong, with many portions exceeding 500 ppb Au.
Potential ore-grade intercepts from the 2000 and 2001 drilling programs conducted by Kennecott Exploration came from the Lone Tree area with intervals of 15.93 m (USC-001), 19.22 m (USC-011) and 14 m (USC-013) that averaged 1.1 g/t, 2.03 g/t and 1.65 g/t, respectively (Franklin, 2001). These two intersections came from what appears to be the same brittle-ductile shear zone that strikes roughly east-west with moderate to gentle northward dips. This ductile shear zone is present over a strike length of about 375 m and is likely to be up to 700 m long based on soil geochemistry (Franklin, 2001). A similar zone was intersected in USC-010 located between Lone Tree and Christmas Tree where 10 m averaged 1.55 g/t (Franklin, 2001). Broad low-grade mineralization occurs within the hanging wall of the Lone Tree shear zone with several tens of meters averaging a few hundred ppb gold.
Nearly all of the mineralization at Lone Tree is strongly shear or fault controlled with the lone exception of a relatively deep intersection in USC-001 (184-199.93 m) that has planar to anastamosing sulfide veins hosted within granitoid and pegmatite (Franklin, 2001). Thin veinlets are present throughout the interval but the thickest and highest density of veins occurs from 194-197.3 m and averages 2.52 g/t Au (5.93 m). These veins consist of arsenopyrite, pyrite, stibnite, sphalerite, galena, and jamesonite that range up to 5 mm thick and have Au grades of 3.22 g/t and 5.14 g/t over 1.3 and 2 m intervals, respectively (Franklin, 2001).
Figure 1: Lone Tree target area. Map showing soil Au geochemistry of Kennecott Exploration’s sampling programs and drill holes of Kennecott Exploration’s drilling programs over an airborne magnetic survey. (Enlarge)
WOLF
The Wolf target is a magnetic high thought to represent a buried felsic intrusion (Figure 2 and Figure 3). Weak to moderate gold soil anomalies are present. Modeling by Geoinformatics Exploration suggests an inverted cone shape. The geological setting, geophysical and structural evidence together with strongly anomalous trace element values (bismuth, tellurium, tungsten, arsenic and copper) are indicative of a intrusion-related gold system.
Geophysical interpretation of magnetic data indicates the presence of at least three prospective granitoid intrusive bodies at depth adjacent to the target areas (Midas Resources, 2006). The 2006 drilling program conducted by Midas Resources returned gold anomalous results from a zone of quartz stockwork, sericite altered quartz-mica schist accompanied by pyrite-arsenopyrite-stibnite and pyrrhotite sulphide development. The mineralized alteration zone is coincident with a shallow (40 degree) southwest dipping structure which has been intersected in five holes drilled by Midas Resources in 2006. This structure and its associated alteration zone, located up-dip of drill holes USR-052 to USR-054, was first drilled in 2001 by Kennecott Exploration and revealed 6.1 meters grading at 10.6 g/t gold (USRC-022). Alteration and shearing form a cohesive zone which has been intersected over a strike extent of 110 m and to a vertical depth of 100 m (Midas Resources, 2006). Altered but only weakly gold anomalous granite dykes/sills were intersected by the drilling in 2006 and lend support to the geophysical interpretation of larger granite stocks at depth. These smaller intrusives are likely to be marginal manifestations of a more extensive granite stock (Midas Resources, 2006).
The mineralized shear zone intersected by the 2006 drill program at Wolf is coincident with one of several interpreted northwest trending structural lineaments as interpreted from magnetic imagery. The most significant mineralization was intersected in USRC-022 from 24.38 – 30.48 m (6.1 m @ 10.61 g/t Au) and in USR-055 from 51.8 - 64 m (12.2 m @ 1.47 g/t Au).
There is potential for an intrusion-hosted, disseminated gold deposit similar in style to Fort Knox, especially where structures meet the intrusive contact. The magnetic anomaly and the periphery zones have not been drill tested.
Figure 2: Christmas Tree and Lone Wolf target area. Map showing soil Au geochemistry of Kennecott Exploration’s sampling programs and drill holes of Kennecott Exploration and Midas Resources’ drilling programs over an airborne magnetic survey. (Enlarge)
Figure 3: Lone Wolf target area. Map showing soil Au geochemistry of Kennecott Exploration’s sampling programs and drill holes of Kennecott Exploration and Midas Resources’ drilling programs over an airborne magnetic survey conducted by Kennecott Exploration. (Enlarge)
CHRISTMAS
The Christmas target is a gold soil geochemical anomaly over four kilometers long that parallels a northeast - trending structure interpreted from airborne magnetics. Some very interesting drill intersections have come from this target area including 5.5meters @ 4.94 g/t gold. Much of the structure and anomaly remain untested by drilling. Weaker portions of the geochemical anomaly may be a function of terrain, overburden and associated sampling problems. These areas have not been drilled.
Exploration Program: The Uncle Sam project warrants an aggressive exploration program in 2011 to determine if an economic near-surface deposit of sufficient grade is present on the property. The recommended exploration program consists of a spring-time soil sampling program using a track mounted auger, 2850 meters of core drilling and further soil sampling in during the summer drill program. The exploration budget of approximately US $2.5 million is planned.
Uncle Sam Figure 4: Project Map (Enlarge)
Uncle Sam Figure 5: Looking South (Enlarge)
Uncle Sam Figure 6: Soils (Enlarge)
Uncle Sam Figure 7: Holes (Enlarge)
Related News Releases:
January 6, 2012
Millrock Reports Amendment of Terms of Option to Earn 100% Interest in Uncle Sam Gold Project, Alaska
September 13, 2011
Millrock Provides Update of Exploration Activities and Results
September 1, 2011
Millrock Announces Additional Drilling Results at Uncle Sam Gold Project, Alaska
July 28, 2011
Millrock Announces Drilling Results at Uncle Sam Gold Project, Alaska
May 17, 2011
Millrock and Crescent Commence Drilling at Uncle Sam Gold Project, Alaska
January 7, 2011
Millrock Signs Definitive Agreement with Crescent Resources for Uncle Sam Gold Property, Alaska
October 13, 2010
Millrock Signs Letter of Intent for an Agreement with Crescent Resources for Uncle Sam Gold Property, Alaska
May 12, 2010
Millrock Provides Corporate Update
November 3, 2009
Millrock Options “Uncle Sam” Gold Property in Alaska from Kiska
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