GOLD – Daulton Capital Corp. Feb. 23 said it acquired the Balarat project, a key gold project located in the newly recognized White Gold District of Yukon Territory. Daulton Capital has the option to earn 100 percent interest in the Balarat property from Dawson City prospector, Shawn Ryan by making staged cash payments and issuing common shares of the company on or before Aug. 20, 2013. Shawn Ryan will retain a 2 percent net smelter return interest that requires an advance royalty payment in the amount of C$30,000 starting Aug 20, 2014. At the option of Daulton Capital, the net smelter return interest may be reduced to 1 percent upon making a C$2 million payment to Shawn Ryan. The Balarat Project consists of 38 Yukon Quartz Mining Claims located in the Dawson Mining District, Yukon Territory. The claim block is situated 3 miles southeast of Underworld Resources’ Black Fox property. The claim block covers 1,900 acres, or 7.6 square kilometers, and straddles Balarat Creek, one of the main placer gold producing creeks in the Thistle area of the White Gold District. Daulton said the Balarat Project’s geology is very similar to that of the White Gold property. According to the Geological Survey of Canada and the Yukon Geological Survey geology maps, the Balarat Project is covering mainly augen gneiss with minor amphibolites and quartz-mica schist. The Underworld principal gold host is found in the same augen gneiss unit. The GSC regional magnetic data is indicating the Balarat Project is straddling a regional north east trending magnetic high similar to Underworld’s White Gold, Golden Saddle Zone. Additional comparable evidence can be derived from GSC silt sample data. The GSC has collected samples from many creeks in the area for gold and other elements. According to GSC sample data, Underworld’s White Gold project’s GSC silt sample results were 12 parts-per-billion gold, whereas the Balarat Project silt values came in at almost three times that amount with 32 ppb gold. The high silt data found on the Balarat Project represent one of the highest silt sample anomalies in the area. The historic Klondike Gold District has recorded placer production of over 13 million ounces of gold and according to Associated Press, “The sources of that gold were never found. But Maurice Copron of the Yukon Geological Survey says the White Gold find could be one of them. ‘The mother lode is still out there ...’ ” Daulton Capital’s exploration plans for the Balarat Project are to establish a soil and ground magnetic survey over the GSC anomalous silt drainage. The soil sampling program will be followed up with a portable excavator trenching program that the company believes will generate numerous quality drill targets.

GOLD – Castillian Resources Corp. Feb. 23 said it acquired by staking a 100 percent interest in 46 mineral claims totaling about 961 hectares, or 389 acres, located in the historic Klondike gold fields of central Yukon Territory, known as the Pure Gold Property. The property is at the headwaters of Pure Gold Gulch, nine kilometers, or 5 miles, southeast of Dawson City and is readily accessible via a number of well maintained ATV trails south from the Klondike Highway and the Bonanza Creek road just south of Dawson. Pure Gold lies within the Tintina Gold Belt that hosts a number of world class gold deposits including Donlin Creek, Nixon Fork, Fort Knox, Pogo, Brewery Creek and Dublin Gulch. The property occupies the ground immediately south of the Klondike River and immediately to the east of Bonanza Creek, the most productive placer gold creek in the Klondike district. Castillian said it anticipates that the primary target on the property will be “White” style gold mineralization, which has been the focus of extensive exploration over the past two years in the Klondike region. The property is located about 95 kilometers, 59 miles, north of the White Gold property and is underlain by a similar geological environment. Mineralization at the White Gold property is hosted in carbonate-sericite-pyrite altered and quartz veined rocks separating hanging wall ophiolitic rocks of the Dawson assemblage and footwall Klondike schist. The claims are subject to the payment of a finder’s fee in the amount of C$20,000 and a 1 percent net smelter return royalty to an arm’s length consultant of the company. The NSR may be purchased by the company at any time for C$250,000. “We are excited to acquire a land position in the highly prospective Tintina Gold Belt,” said Bill Pearson, president and CEO of Castillian. “We believe the property is well-situated both geologically and logistically. We expect the initial exploration programs will commence at the beginning of the coming field season and plan to pursue other opportunities in Yukon and elsewhere as we build Castillian into a strong, gold-focused junior exploration and development company.” In addition, Castillian said it successfully reached a settlement agreement with a creditor to restructure US$89,895.62 in outstanding net debt as of Feb. 22. Subject to regulatory approval, the company will settle the outstanding amount by issuing some 1,201,997 common shares of the company.

INFRASTRUCTURE – A mold problem at the Minto Mine in west central Yukon Territory has forced the company to adjust accommodations and its shift schedules, the Whitehorse Daily Star reported Feb. 22. Capstone Mining President Stephen Quin said 46 employees and contract workers were bussed out a day earlier because of the loss of 78 beds in the 194-bed camp. Generally, however, there will be minimal or no disruption to the work force or production at the open-pit operation, Quin said. He said 32 of the workers who’ve been put on temporary layoff will be brought back as soon as possible. Quin said an exploration drilling crew of 14 is now being housed in Carmacks. A number of construction workers, he added, were already scheduled to leave the site because the new water treatment plant is essentially finished. Shift scheduling, he added, will be tweaked to ensure there is no overlap temporarily requiring two beds for one job as the cross shifts come and go. Randall Thompson, general manager for the mine, said the issue was raised during a recent town hall staff meeting when an employee asked for assurances the mold in the washrooms did not pose a health risk. The mine safety committee met and reviewed the situation Feb. 20 and it was decided to vacate the two staff wings. Quin said Capstone Mining has hired an environmental expert to make a full assessment and determine the extent of the mold situation and what needs to be done to fix the problem. Government of Yukon health officials also have been notified of the problem. Quin said the two affected bunkhouses are the older trailers on site, one going back to the mid-1990s, and the other was among those moved in after the company took ownership of the property in 2005. Capstone began an effort to enhance the accommodations with 48 new units last fall and is currently awaiting another 48 new units to be delivered before the ice bridge goes out at the beginning of April, Quin told the newspaper.