Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Summer success prompts fall drill program at North Rackla

Cantex Mine Development Corp. Oct. 11 reported plans for a late season drill program at its North Rackla project in the Yukon Territory. This summer, the company completed trenching, rock sampling and geologic mapping in an area of anomalous gold-zinc-lead-silver in the northern portion of the North Rackla claim block. Trenching in this area encountered 1.5 meters grading 1.28 grams per metric ton gold and 10 g/t silver; two meters of 41 g/t silver and 2.85 percent zinc; and one meter of 66 g/t silver and 4.8 percent lead. Prospecting outlined highly anomalous float topographically higher than the mineralized trench interval, indicating the presence of an undiscovered mineralized zone. This float sample returned 15.75 g/t gold, 989 g/t silver, 56.74 percent lead and 21.7 percent zinc. The contact zone where this sample is believed to have originated is not amenable to trenching. As such, the company plans to test it with core drilling. Prospecting of areas in the eastern area of North Rackla has identified a new in-situ gold bearing zone. Three samples collected from over a 200-meter length of a mineralized structure returned 5.62, 3.13 and 1.36 g/t gold. A float sample collected from talus about 600 meters directly down slope returned 39.6 g/t gold and 16.4 g/t silver. Cantex also completed trenching sampling and mapping of massive sulfide occurrence in the eastern portion of the claim block. This work revealed these massive sulfides are covered by varying amounts of talus over a strike length of 600 meters within the initial discovery area. Prospecting discovered a 1,300-meter southwestern extension to the zone. Due to thick talus cover only the northeastern end of this 1,900-meter massive sulfide zone could be trenched. The most northeastern of three trenches completed in this area returned a 5.6-meter interval averaging 54 g/t silver, 0.48 percent copper and 1.95 percent zinc and a second 15.7-meter interval averaging 36 g/t silver, 7.04 percent lead and 1.85 percent zinc. Trench 2, dug 56 meters southwest of trench 1, intersected 3.1 meters averaging 31 g/t silver, 0.17 percent copper, 2.15 percent lead and 2.86 percent zinc. Trench 3, dug 213 meters further southwest, crossed 2.8 meters averaging 46 g/t silver, 0.22 percent copper and 1.14 percent zinc. Composite sub-outcrop gossan samples collected further southwest returned grades of up to 314 g/t silver, 13.85 percent lead, 18.7 percent zinc and 1.97 percent copper. Cantex plans to target both the northern gold-zinc-lead-silver area and the newly discovered eastern silver-lead-zinc-copper massive sulfide zones with a large core rig being delivered to North Rackla.

-Shane Lasley