Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Skeena cuts deal for historic Eskay Creek

Shane Lasley

Skeena Resources Ltd. Dec. 18 cut a deal with Barrick Gold Corp. to acquire all of the major’s interest in the Eskay Creek gold mine property in the Golden Triangle region of northwest British Columbia. Barrick has also agreed to make a C$1 million strategic investment in Skeena. Discovered in 1988, the former Eskay Creek mine produced roughly 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160 million oz of silver at average grades of 45 grams per metric ton gold and 2,224 g/t, which at the time made it the world’s highest-grade gold mine and fifth-largest silver mine by volume. “Eskay Creek was a remarkable discovery that became an extraordinary mine,” said Skeena CEO Walter Coles Jr. “It produced 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160 million oz of silver from 2.2 million tonnes (metric tons) of ore from 1994 until closure in 2008. We are honored that Barrick has given us an opportunity to investigate and potentially revitalize one of Canada’s highest-grade past-producing mines.” To acquire Barrick’s ownership of Eskay Creek, Skeena has agreed to: invest C$3.5 million in exploration on the property over the next three years; pay Barrick C$10 million once the exploration requirement has been met, all regulatory approvals have been received, and all permit transfers and underlying agreement consents have been obtained; and reimburse Barrick for reclamation expenditures incurred during the option period and assume the bond amount on the property, collectively up to a maximum amount of C$7.7 million. Anything over the C$7.7 million in reclamation and bond costs would be subtracted from the C$10 million purchase price. Barrick will retain a 1 percent net smelter return royalty on all parts of the property not already subject to royalties. In addition, Barrick will maintain a back-in right to purchase a 51 percent interest in Eskay Creek for a 12-month period following Skeena’s completion of an NI 43-101 resource of at least 1.5 million oz gold-equivalent. To exercise the back-in right, Barrick will pay Skeena up to three times its cumulative expense on the property. As part of the back-in Barrick would also reimburse to Skeena the purchase price and assume any bonding requirement for its proportionate interest, following which the parties will form a joint venture. The C$1 million strategic investment will involve Skeena issuing 1.25 million flow-through shares at a price of C80 cents per share. The net proceeds of the financing will be used to incur Canadian exploration expenses. Canarc Resource Corp. retains a 33.3 percent carried interest in certain mining claims adjacent to the past-producing Eskay Creek Mine. Canarc said it is pleased to see the renewed interest in this property and will benefit from any future exploration success and development that may occur on these claims. In addition to Eskay Creek, Skeena owns the historic Snip gold mine property, another historic gold mine property acquired from Barrick; and Spectrum-GJ, a large gold-copper property the company is exploring. All three properties are located in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle.

Millrock identifies new Todd Creek prospects

gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, and pathfinder elements cadmium, antimony, tungsten, sulfur and phosphorous. Millrock also noted strong nickel anomalism encountered in this area. A Versatile Time Domain Electro Magnetics (VTEM) survey and magnetic survey completed by a previous operator in 2011 were examined by Millrock. The company said several conductive zones with a strong magnetic disruption response were noted in the vicinity of the Surveyor geochemical anomaly, and are potentially indicative of porphyry-style mineralization. The coincident VTEM, magnetic and stream sediment anomalies that comprise the Surveyor prospect will be a priority for follow-up exploration in 2018. MJ is anomalous in gold, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, and pathfinder elements barium, germanium, tellurium, tungsten, uranium, and niobium. Millrock said geophysical surveys also indicate possible porphyry-style mineralization at MJ. Millrock consultants familiar with historic work on the Todd Creek project report that this valley was filled with snow and ice in 2008, the last time which exploration crews were active on this project. This portion of the project is largely covered by the Todd Icefield. Millrock said the MJ area will also be a high priority for follow up in 2018. Situated about midway between the Brucejack gold mine and the town of Stewart, Todd Creek is one of three large projects Millrock owns in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle. Highway 37A passes through the property.

Golden Predator eyes new 3 Aces gold target

results include: 1.5 meters of 36.33 grams per metric ton gold from a depth of 32 meters in hole 3A17-175, drilled in the North-Central Spades (formerly known as the Queen of Spades) zone; 14.5 meters of 1.06 g/t gold from a depth 16.8 meters in hole 3A17-266, drilled in the Southern Spades (formerly Nine of Spades) zone; 14.5 meters of 3.4 g/t gold from a depth of 40.4 meters in hole 3A17-275, drilled in the Southern Spades zone; and 47.3 meters of 1.11 g/t gold from a depth of 5.3 meters in hole 3A17-144, also at Southern Spades. Golden Predator said the latest batch of results extend the Spades zone by more than 20 meters to the south and confirm the high-grade gold mineralization and near surface bulk tonnage type mineralization. Drilling on the northern extent of the

Spades zone, roughly 1,000 meters northwest of the step-out drilling, has encountered significant near surface bulk type mineralization. Gold grades in the northern and northcentral portions of the Spades Zone are thought to represent leakage into the hanging wall from a major northwest trending shear zone that controls mineralization in the Spades, Clubs and Hearts zones. This mineralization is in the form of higher angle, higher grade gold in quartz veins typical of the central Spades Zone, as well as potentially bulk minable grades. Based on the evolving geological model, Golden Predator said the holes along the northern and north-central Spades trend should be extended 50 to 150 meter to reach and properly test this identified northwest trending shear zone target which appears

to underlie most of the Spades Zone. This interpretation opens up a new target for exploration. The company also believes the shear zone accounting for the Spades Zone may be one of several such structures controlling gold deposition at 3 Aces. “This drilling has opened our eyes to the very significant potential for disseminated mineralization in tandem with high grade veins in specific, repeating structures,” said Golden Predator CEO Janet Lee-Sheriff. “With these new results from the southern end of the Spades which contain significant gold, you can see that we have successfully increased the known mineralization footprint by over 200 meters along strike to the south. The total strike of the Spades Zone is now approximately one kilometer.”