Mining News: Endurance explores, expands Interior Alaska gold properties

Endurance Gold Corp. June 5 reported the start of this year’s exploration program at its Elephant gold property in Interior Alaska. This work will start with an induced polarization and magnetic ground geophysical survey. The geophysical crew is expected to mobilize to Elephant before the end of June. Endurance will also carry out additional prospecting, trenching, and soil and rock sampling at Elephant, Trout and Wolverine, the three properties that make up the Elephant project. Results from the ground geophysical program will be used to plan a drill program, which the company hopes to carry out this fall. "This survey will provide information required to efficiently plan the drilling on three of the six known targets. We are confident in planning step-out holes at the South zone target but the IP will be critical to planning drill holes to test for higher-grade gold bearing feeder structures at the Central and North zones,” said Endurance President and CEO Robert Boyd. Elephant Mountain is near the all-weather Elliott Highway about 76 miles northwest of Fairbanks within the Rampart-Eureka-Manley Hot Springs mining district. Additionally, Endurance reported the expansion of its McCord gold property in the Livengood Mining District of Interior Alaska. The company said it has entered into an agreement to option nine claims adjacent to McCord and staked another 11 claims in the area. Located adjacent to the east side of International Tower Hill's Livengood gold project, McCord is accessible from the Elliott Highway. The optioned claims have only been evaluated by the vendor for their placer gold potential. An auger drill program completed in March discovered fine gold, gold-in-quartz, gold-in-oxide wad, and significant quantities of cinnabar, a mercury sulfide mineral, in an area of the McCord Creek valley. Endurance said the gold has low abrasion characteristics suggesting proximity to source. Endurance plans to evaluate concentrate samples collected by the vendor and conduct a soil sampling program on the expanded portions of the McCord Gold project. Results from the soil sampling program will assist in determining a follow-up program of geophysics and drilling.

–SHANE LASLEY