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MINING NEWS: Search for lode continues at Little Squaw; report 7.5 million cubic yards of gold bearing gravel
Little Squaw Mining Co. reported encouraging assay results from 68 of 99 holes drilled this year at Little Squaw Creek in the Chandalar Mining District, about 190 miles north of Fairbanks.
The Spokane, Wash.-based company controls 14,993 acres in mining claims covering most of the Chandalar district on the southern slope of the Brooks Range. This includes 22 patent claims.
A 15,500 foot drilling program at Little Squaw Creek in 2007 was designed to delineate a placer gold deposit that contains more than 7.5 million cubic yards of gold bearing gravel, the company said. Little Squaw Creek is still open in two directions running the length of the creek.
Little Squaw Mining drilled lines every 500 feet across the deposit with holes spaced every 50 to 100 feet on each line. Sixty of the holes intersected the pay horizon, a layer of gravel with enough significant gold mineralization to be considered feasible for placer mining. The pay horizon averaged 84 feet in depth at a cost of $15.94 per cubic yard and recovered gold sold for $600 an ounce, the company said.
Little Squaw Mining plans to drill another 300 holes to further determine the size of the placer deposit in both total yards and overall value.
The company said an additional 30 million cubic yards of mineralized gravel remains in Little Squaw Creek and the adjacent Big Squaw Creek.
Looking for the lode source In addition to placer exploration, Little Squaw Mining is exploring its claims for hardrock potential. The company trenched the Summit Prospect this summer and intersected a 20-foot wide structure that assayed at 0.309 ounce per ton of gold.
The Summit structure is a west-trending shear zone that runs through the middle of the company’s Chandalar claims. Gold mineralization has been discovered in more than 1,800 feet along the strike length and is open in both directions.
Soil sampling and ground magnetic surveys suggest that gold mineralization continues another 1,500 feet to the east. Little Squaw Mining plans further trenching of the area, and said it intends to conduct diamond core drilling in the entire Summit structure.
—Shane Lasley
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