Resolution starts post-Spring thaw drilling in Alaska to test Pogo-style mineralisation

Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) is about to begin its new drilling program at its 64North project in Alaska following the Spring thaw.

This follows assay results released last month that confirmed mineralisation typical of the nearby large Pogo gold system owned by Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST).

The first Resolution Minerals drill hole at the 64North project struck 11 gold-mineralised zones from near surface to the end of hole at a depth of 462m.

The drilling rig is to arrive at the Aurora project on 2 June and final road works will take a further few days. The full drill crew will arrive after site works are completed to avoid potentially costly crew standby time.

Resolution Minerals has targeted the 2km by 5km Aurora prospect which has never been drilled.

Aurora has been a priority target zone with host rocks, surface geochemistry, structures and geophysical signature that, in the company’s view, make it a lookalike not only to Pogo but Northern Star’s Goodpaster discovery just 450m from Resolution’s tenement boundary.

The exploration drilling will continue through June and July and is fully funded. The location of the first drill hole at Aurora was chosen for reasons of access: the roadwork being still under way and this hole site was close to that road.

Geophysical surveys will target other gold prospects

The 64North project lies within the Tintina gold province, Alaska, which hosts more than 80 million ounces in gold, including Novagold’s 45Moz Donlin Creek deposit.

The 64North project surrounds Northern Star’s Pogo mine which has so far produced 4Moz of gold at an average grade of 13.6 grams per tonne. Pogo has a total endowment of 10Moz of gold and is currently producing at a rate of 300,000oz per annum.

Resolution will also use the post-Spring thaw to conduct geophysical surveys at the Echo and West Pogo prospects in an effort to define new drill targets. The Echo prospect is directly down dip from the Goodpaster deposit.

The fieldwork will also collect comparison data over Resolution Minerals’ Echo and Aurora prospects with the neighbouring Goodpaster ground.

Rock chip sampling will be carried out along the new drill access road and across Aurora and the Anglo Trench prospects.

Resolution says it is continuing to assess regional prospectivity and will prioritise a “pipeline” of drill-ready targets across its large 660sq km land package in Alaska.