More Tyhee In Print: Junior Chases Gold Near Yellowknife.
posted on
Nov 10, 2009 07:08PM
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This article was reprinted in the Whitehorse Star - October 23, 2009
"Junior Chases Gold Near Yellowknife"
Tyhee Development Corp.'s diligent pursuit of resources in historic mining
camp is paying off with increasingly attractive project
Rose Ragsdale
After seven years of looking for gold to produce economically in the
Yellowknife Gold Camp in Northwest Territories, Tyhee Development Corp. is
closing in on a potentially lucrative payday.
The Vancouver, B.C.-based junior has grown into the largest property holder
in the historic gold camp with four properties encompassing 6,625 hectares,
or 15,481 acres, in its Yellowknife Gold Project located 90 kilometers, or
56 miles, north of Yellowknife, NWT. In all, Tyhee controls more than 16,300
hectares, or 39,283 acres, in the region.
Tyhee is also conducting the largest exploration and development program
currently underway in Northwest Territories, where miners have searched more
intently in recent years for diamonds, uranium and rare earth metals than
for gold.
But the Yellowknife Gold Camp was a prolific gold producer for decades and
not surprisingly, it is yielding substantial new potential for Tyhee.
Decades of gold production
Gold was discovered near Yellowknife in the late 1800s, but miners did not
rush to the area in great numbers until the 1930s.
In the summer of 1944, prospector A.V. (Fred) Giauque staked claims near the
west shore of the since-named Giauque Lake following his discovery of
visible gold in quartz veins in rusty mafic volcanic rocks (now known as the
Bruce Lake Zone). Subsequent prospecting and exploration in 1945 discovered
more spectacular visible gold in a folded, thick quartz vein hosted by
metasedimentary rocks about 100 meters northeast of the Bruce Lake Zone, in
what came to be known as the North Vein of the Main Zone. Giauque and sons
optioned the claims to Discovery Yellowknife Mines Ltd. in 1945. In 1944,
they also had discovered gold mineralization (now termed the Ormsby Zone)
about 2 kilometers to the southwest of the Main Zone. The Giauques
subsequently sold the claims to LaSalle Yellowknife Gold Mines Ltd.
Sufficient high-grade ore had been indicated in the property's Main Zone to
warrant initiation of shaft sinking and underground development in November
1946. Surface exploration and underground development continued in 1948 and
1949 while surface buildings, including a 90-ton-per-day mill with
amalgamation and cyanide circuits, were installed.
Production began in January 1950 from the 112-meter (365-foot) deep shaft.
Discovery Yellowknife Gold Mines was renamed Consolidated Discovery
Yellowknife Gold Mines Ltd. in 1952. In 1953, a power line was installed
from the Bluefish hydroelectric complex near Yellowknife to serve the
expanding mine operation. With the discovery of deeper ores below the North
Vein (No. 4 and No. 16 Veins) in the Main Zone, the mill capacity was
increased incrementally to 225 tons per day and the shaft ultimately
deepened to 1,237 meters (4025 feet) by 1960. The mine produced continuously
until the mill was destroyed by fire in 1968. Ore was trucked to Yellowknife
for milling on a winter road the following year, but the mine closed later
in 1969.
The Discovery Mine produced an estimated 1.023 million troy ounces of gold
from 937,000 metric tons of ore. An average production grade of slightly
more than 1 ounce per metric ton gold is generally considered the highest
average grade of produced gold in the Yellowknife gold district.
Tyhee acquires properties
In recent years, the federal government funded cleanup and reclamation of
the area's abandoned mines and even removed buildings from some mine sites.
A number of mining companies have explored the gold claims in the years
since, but it was Tyhee that took up the quest in earnest in 2001.
"We moved in and picked up the Discovery Mine site, which includes the past
gold producer," Tyhee President and CEO D.R. "Dave" Webb told Canada's BTV
in a recent interview. The junior also acquired a sizable database and
archived samples from earlier exploration of the area.
Tyhee started out with two properties, Discovery Mine, which includes the
Ormsby and Bruce Lake zones, and Nicholas Lake (13 kilometers, or 8 miles,
south of the Ormsby Zone), and added two more properties, Goodwin Lake (13
kilometers, or 8 miles, south of the Ormsby Zone), and Clan Lake (27
kilometers, or 17 miles, south of the Ormsby Zone) in 2006. Over the years,
the company has identified and steadily increased the project's gold
resources.
Today, the junior boasts at least 2.1 million ounces of gold in measured and
indicated resources, plus another 300,000 ounces in inferred resource on the
properties. Not only has the project's resources estimate continued to grow
at an annual rate of about 200,000 ounces, but recent results also suggest
that more growth lies ahead.
Junior discovers more gold
Webb said Tyhee has already demonstrated that the gold resources it has
discovered are somewhat economic. Among the project's advantages is its
relatively close proximity to Yellowknife, land access by a winter road and
a good possibility of hydroelectric power being extended to the mine's site.
Add to that gold prices recently hitting record highs greater than US$1,000
per ounce, and Tyhee's future appears golden.
"When we did the preliminary assessment in July 2008, the price of oil was
$140US and the Canadian dollar was at par. Everything has improved - the
price of oil, the Canadian dollar exchange rate and the cost of capital.
We've had many things going in our favor, plus the expansion of resources,"
he said.
Recently exploration crews completed full reconnaissance on the
less-explored Clan Lake property and discovered seven new gold zones that
occur across 2,800 hectares, or 6,748 acres, with showings ranging up to 100
meters-plus in length. Tyhee conducted a high-resolution airborne
aeromagnetic survey on the Clan Lake property in 2008.
In September Tyhee reported initial exploration results from 2009 diamond
drilling and updated assays from a summer sampling program on the Clan Lake
property. Grab samples exceeding 100 grams of gold per metric ton (final
assays pending) helped to identify these new showings.
In addition, seven showings previously identified were mapped and sampled in
greater detail, resulting in three of the zones, Main, Pond and Cranberry,
now being recognized as a single large zone, the Main zone. The original
Main zone, which hosts an NI 43-101-compliant resource of 254,000 ounces of
indicated gold, is four times larger, extending for 1,300 meters in strike
length and up to 220 meters in width in an arcuate northwest to
east-southeast domain. Archival diamond drill holes west and east of the
Main zone have been sampled and assays are pending.
More than 200 meters of trenches have been blasted and sampling over a
450-meter length of the eastern extension of the Main zone was completed,
exposing extensive domains of quartz veining with significant pyrrhotite.
In October Tyhee reported that the three grab samples from the Cub and Morel
zones that it described in September as being greater than 100 g/t gold,
actually assayed at 250.83 g/t, 266.28 g/t and 169.54 g/t gold. Diamond
drill core from 16 archival holes that had not been sampled in their
entirety were obtained, re-logged and sampled (appended) for gold
mineralization, and returned 2.34 g/t over 38.0 meters in CL01, including
2.96 g/t over 15.0 meters and 4.18 g/t over 7.5 meters; and 1.55 g/t over
45.0 meters in CL029, including 4.70 g/t over 7.5 meters and 2.53 g/t over
10.5 meters.
Webb said the Cub and Morel zones have large surface expressions of
quartz-veined and sulphide -mineralized volcanic rocks (300 meters by 20
meters and 800 meters by 70 meters, respectively).
"So we see tremendous tonnage potential," Webb said Oct. 14.
He also noted that the diamond drill results provided new information on the
Main zone to the northwest and extended it to the east by at least 30
meters.
"We will incorporate these drill holes (results) into our resource database
to facilitate a revised resource calculation on the Main zone before the end
of this year," he said.
Tyhee also said it expects to receive assay results from another four
diamond drill holes and from more than 200 meters of trenching on the Main
zone extensions, 400 meters east of any existing drill holes, over the next
few weeks.
Prefeasibility work progresses
Elsewhere on the Yellowknife Gold Project, the field work portion of a
preliminary feasibility study is nearing completion for 2009. Drilling at
Nicholas Lake and on the Ormsby Zone, where Tyhee has completed extensive
exploration work prior to 2009 and on infrastructure sites are complete, and
crews and equipment have demobilized for the season. Metallurgical samples
are being shipped for processing and environmental studies, and hydrology
and power studies are ongoing.
"Instead of re-doing the preliminary assessment, which was tempting, we
opted to move for a full prefeasibility study, which will include an
engineering component. So rather than estimating what groundwater quantity
and quality might be, we will have it measured," Webb explained.
The company is currently pursuing two phases of development - permitting and
prefeasibility.
"We are drilling holes where we intend to put foundations for the mill.
We're drilling holes for the tailings dam sites, and we're drilling seven
new holes to pump water to determine the quality and quantity of water that
will be discharged," Webb said.
Tyhee is pursuing a strategy of cautious spending on development with a 2009
budget of about C$160,000, though it has about C$3 million in the bank.
"We're sufficiently funded for our current program fully financed for the
short term," said Webb.
The money should cover the cost of financing the balance of the
prefeasibility study and taking permitting to the full environmental
assessment stage, he said. "If we do an expanded drill program, we may have
to go back to the markets then," Webb added.
While some juniors are focused on bringing their projects expeditiously to
the attention of a major investor, Tyhee is advancing development of the
Yellowknife project on its own. Among steps the company has taken to protect
its future prospects was adoption of a shareholder rights plan March 31.
Though it did not anticipate a takeover bid, Tyhee said it adopted the
rights plan to ensure the fair treatment of shareholders in connection with
any bid for common shares of the company, should one occur. The junior said
the plan seeks to provide shareholders with adequate time to properly assess
a takeover bid without undue pressure and provides the Tyhee's board of
directors with more time to fully consider an unsolicited takeover bid and,
if applicable, to explore other alternatives to maximize shareholder value.
Go Tyhee!
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