Tectonic Metals Kicks Off Drilling in Alaska with Back to Back Drill Programs Focused on Discovery
Tectonic Metals Kicks Off Drilling in Alaska with Back to Back Drill
Programs Focused on Discovery
VANCOUVER, BC
,
July 20, 2020
/CNW/ -
Tectonic Metals Inc.
(TSXV: TECT) (the "Company" or "Tectonic") today announced that Rotary Air Blast
("RAB") drilling commenced on the Company's Tibbs Gold Project ("Tibbs"), less than 35 kilometres ("km") from Northern Star Resources Ltd.'s high-grade
Pogo Gold Mine
in
Alaska's
Goodpaster Mining District. Initial drilling at Tibbs is targeting expansion of the Company's 2019 drill discovery of 6.03 grams
per tonne gold ("g/t Au") over 28.95 metres ("m") at the Michigan Zone. Immediately following the Tibbs drill campaign, Tectonic will launch the first drill
program in over 20 years on the Company's Seventymile Gold Project, which covers a >40 km long, underexplored greenstone belt in eastern Alaska. Each
drill program is projected to consist of approximately
2,500m
of RAB drilling, with an average hole length of
100m
.
Tony Reda
, President & CEO, states, "Drilling creates value, yet it can also destroy value. As part of our business model, we assess the risk versus the
reward versus the cost of capital to execute a drill program before making any decision. Given our strong treasury in conjunction with the compelling
targets and the untapped potential at our Tibbs and Seventymile projects, the Tectonic team has unanimously concluded that we must move forward with
two drill programs this summer. The truth machine is currently hard at work at our Tibbs Project following up on last year's drill intercept of roughly 6.0 g/t
Au over
29.0m
. It will work through at least three exciting discovery-stage targets at Tibbs before moving to our Seventymile Project for our first-ever drill
program on this underexplored greenstone belt. Health and safety are always at the forefront of our minds, and even more so now. We have a robust,
COVID-19 mitigation plan in place to protect our employees, contractors, and the communities in which we work, and are excited to provide our
shareholders exposure to two potentially game-changing drill programs."
Tibbs Gold Project – Stepping Out on 2019 Drill Success
The Tibbs Gold Project is located less than 35km from Northern Star Resources' operating Pogo Mine in the Goodpaster Mining District of Alaska.
Tectonic's first drill campaign at Tibbs in 2019 (view press release here:
https://www.tectonicmetals.com/news/tectonic-metals-drills-603-gt-au-over-2895-metres-discovering-new-mineralized-structure-at-tibbs-property
),
encountered 6.03 g/t Au over
28.95m
at the Michigan Zone, one of twenty-one gold targets presently known at Tibbs that have the potential for near-
surface, high-grade, lode gold mineralization. Drilling in 2020 will focus on stepping out from this highlight drill intercept at
Michigan
, while also testing for
additional Michigan-style structures along a 3km long prospective corridor.
Michigan Zone
: Drilling will test the strike extent of the
Michigan
corridor by stepping out on regular intervals to the northeast and southwest from the
2019 RAB drill fence, where all four drill holes intersected gold mineralization. Mineralization is hosted by a northeast-trending structure, newly
interpreted by Tectonic to dip steeply to the northwest. The structure has not been adequately tested along strike to date. Strongly sericite altered
granodiorite hosts quartz-stibnite-arsenopyrite vein mineralization and rare visible gold. To view the Michigan Plan Map with proposed drill collar
locations, click here:
https://www.tectonicmetals.com/_resources/news/TBS-Michigan-DrillMapNR-20200715v4.pdf
Upper and Lower Trench Zone
: Drilling is planned to test "Michigan-style" mineralization observed at surface, in historic drill core and in RAB drilling
completed by Tectonic in 2019 at the Upper and Lower Trench zones. At Upper and Lower Trench, a
1,000m
x
600m
gold-in-soil anomaly hosts rock
grab samples, some with visible gold, from trace to 135 g/t Au within a set of prominent, northeast-trending air photo lineaments.
Wolverine Zone:
The Wolverine zone is located 2.3km northwest of
Michigan
and is the site of the most robust soil anomaly at the Tibbs Property, with
soil values ranging from trace to 1.385 g/t Au. Wolverine exhibits an identical geochemical signature to
Michigan
and was historically drilled in 1997 with
three holes (one hole abandoned) from the same set up without returning significant gold mineralization to explain the large, robust soil anomaly.
Tectonic believes the historic drill holes were collared in an area of significant down-slope soil transport, and the source of the geochemical anomaly
was not tested. All three zones are interpreted to have been connected prior to post-mineralization faulting and offset.
To view Plan Maps with proposed drill target locations for the Upper Trench, Lower Trench and Wolverine Zones click here:
https://www.tectonicmetals.com/_resources/news/TBS_MichWolv_DrillMapNR_20200715v3.pdf
Seventymile Gold Project – Underexplored 40 km Long Greenstone Belt
The Seventymile Project is comprised of approximately 149,900 acres of land owned by Doyon, Limited ("Doyon"), a top tier Alaska Native Regional
Corporation with more than 12.5 million acres of land in
Alaska
and over 20,000 shareholders. Tectonic and Doyon signed a milestone exploration and
production lease agreement on Seventymile in the summer of 2018. In
April 2020
, Tectonic welcomed Doyon via a strategic equity financing, becoming the
Company's single, largest shareholder and further solidifying the relationship between the two entities.
The highly prospective, 8km Flume orogenic gold trend is located in the northwestern region of the underexplored 40km long late Paleozoic greenstone belt,
which constitutes the Seventymile Property. Tectonic's 2020 RAB drilling at Seventymile will test up to six highly prospective top-of-bedrock gold targets that
coincide with gold-in-soil and geophysical anomalies within the Flume trend. The six main targets are the
Flanders
,
East Flanders
, Deep Creek, Bonanza
Creek, Flume-Bonanza Link, and Flume prospects. In each case, drilling will test prospective shear structures occurring at major lithologic contacts and
directly beneath high-tenor gold anomalies from 2019 top-of-bedrock sampling.
Seventymile Drill Targets
To view the Seventymile Plan Maps with proposed drill target locations, click here:
https://www.tectonicmetals.com/_resources/news/SVM_Plan_Maps.pdf
Flanders
: The Flanders Prospect consists of shallowly north-dipping, stacked quartz-carbonate-arsenopyrite veins localized in en-echelon tension gashes
formed within basaltic rocks. Historic exploration work conducted by Central Alaska Gold Corporation ("CAGC") in 1990 returned drill core intercepts of
up to 187.9 g/t Au over
1.10m
and bulldozer trench intercepts of up to 112 g/t Au over
1.07m
. Drilling was restricted entirely to the basalt rock type.
In 2019, Tectonic's Geoprobe top-of bedrock sampling program defined a new
465m
long, highly anomalous top-of-bedrock gold trend located
immediately southwest of the
Flanders
prospect. This trend is situated entirely outside of the basalt, where historic surface shovel soil sampling failed
to recover anomalous gold values due to
+3m
thick permafrost and organic soil cover. The new gold trend, open to the east and west, contains 14
Geoprobe assays exceeding 0.15 g/t Au, four exceeding 0.30 g/t Au, and a peak value of 2.47 g/t Au. The zone also includes a 5 to
10m
wide,
350m
long high-grade corridor, which is supported by 2018 power auger soil sampling results in its western and extreme eastern areas. The
Company interprets this newly defined gold trend as a previously unrecognized, steeply south-dipping shear zone, which may represent the feeder
structure to the historically drilled tension gash quartz veins.
East Flanders
: Limited historic shovel soil sampling and 2019 follow-up Geoprobe top-of-bedrock sampling indicate that gold occurrences, similar to
those at the
Flanders
prospect, continue along trend 1.5km to the east across Deep Creek. Six highly anomalous 2019 Geoprobe samples returned
values from 0.148 to 0.946 g/t Au. The anomalous geochemistry appears to be restricted to the major structural-lithologic contacts that bracket the
crystal lithic tuff unit. These structural contacts will be drilled this summer.
Deep Creek:
Tectonic's 2019 Geoprobe program defined a new,
75m
long gold anomaly carrying gold from trace to 0.106 g/t Au,
500m
south of the
Flanders
prospect. The interval is hosted by terrigenous clastic rocks in contact with monzonite in the north and intermediate volcanic rocks in the south.
Associated mercury anomalism suggests the prospect may be related to known epithermal mineralization within the Seventymile terrane. The prospect
has never been drilled.
Bonanza Creek
: The Bonanza Prospect is comprised of three types of mineralization associated with a fault-controlled stockwork vein system, which
occurs at a mafic to ultramafic rock contact. These are sulfide-poor quartz stockwork veins with visible gold, arsenopyrite-quartz stockwork veins, and
quartz veins with local pyrite. Diamond drilling by CAGC in 1990 returned values from trace to 11.49 g/t Au over
2.28m
in drill hole FC1990-01 and 1.34
g/t Au over
44.2m
in hole FC1990-04.
Step-out drilling
150m
to the east of FC1990-04 this summer will test the volcaniclastic-serpentinite high-angle fault contact beneath a 0.102 g/t Au top-
of-bedrock Geoprobe sample. This new gold trend occurs at the contact between volcaniclastic and ultramafic rocks and suggests that the structure is
significantly mineralized. This structure has not been previously drilled.
Flume Bonanza Link
: Located
600m
to the west of the Bonanza Creek prospect, a robust top-of-bedrock gold anomaly was defined during last
summer's Geoprobe program. Probe sampling through extensive permafrost terrain resulted in 5 highly anomalous Geoprobe samples returning values
from 0.118 to 0.372 g/t Au along the interpreted basalt-serpentinite fault contact. This contact will be drill-tested this summer.
Qualified Person
Tectonic's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this press release has been reviewed, verified and approved by
Eric Buitenhuis
, M.Sc., P.Geo.,
Tectonic's Vice President Exploration, who serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101.
About Tectonic
Tectonic Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company created and operated by an experienced and well-respected technical and financial team with a track
record of wealth creation for shareholders. Key members of the Tectonic team were involved with Kaminak Gold Corporation, the company that raised
C$165 million
to fund the acquisition, discovery and advancement of the Coffee Gold Project in the
Yukon Territory
through to the completion of a bankable
feasibility study before selling the multi-million ounce gold project to Goldcorp Inc. (now Newmont Goldcorp) for
C$520 million
in 2016.
Tectonic is focused on the acquisition, exploration, discovery and development of mineral resources from district-scale projects in politically stable
jurisdictions that have the potential to host world-class orebodies.
Tectonic believes that responsible mineral exploration and development can positively impact the communities in which the company lives and operates and is
committed to early and ongoing community engagement, best practices in environmental stewardship and the development of a strong safety culture.
Whether at home or at work, the Tectonic team is grounded on the following core values: passion, integrity, patience, focus, perseverance, honesty,
fairness, accountability, respect and a play big mindset. The company works for its shareholders and is committed to creating value for them.
On behalf of Tectonic Metals Inc.,
Tony Reda
President and Chief Executive Officer
For further information about Tectonic Metals Inc. or this news release, please visit our website at
www.tectonicmetals.com
or contact
Tony Reda
, President
& CEO of Tectonic, at toll-free 1.888.858.9887 or by email at
.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TectonicMetals/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TectonicMetals
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tectonicmetals/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonic-metals
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Historical Information
Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking information and statements under applicable securities law. Any statements that are
contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions and include, but are not limited to, statements
with respect to the potential for mineralization at Tectonic's projects, planned exploration programs, and results of any future exploration activities.
The
Company makes no representation or warranty regarding the accuracy or completeness of any historical data from prior exploration undertaken by others
other than the company and has not taken any steps to verify, the adequacy, accuracy or completeness of the information provided herein and, under no
circumstances, will be liable for any inaccuracies or omissions in any such information or data, any delays or errors in the transmission thereof, or any
loss or direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages caused by reliance on this information or the risks arising from the stock market.
Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the
date the statements are made including, among others, assumptions about future prices of gold and other metal prices, currency exchange rates and
interest rates, favourable operating conditions, political stability, obtaining governmental and other approvals and financing on time, obtaining required
licenses and permits, labour stability, stability in market conditions, availability of equipment, accuracy of any mineral resources, successful resolution of
disputes and anticipated costs and expenditures. Many assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Tectonic, and there
is no assurance they will prove to be correct.
Although Tectonic considers these beliefs and assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect,
and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks,
including, without limitation: the Company's ability to implement its business strategies; risks associated with mineral exploration and production; risks
associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; marketing and transportation costs; loss of markets; volatility of commodity prices;
inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; industry and
government regulation; changes in legislation, income tax and regulatory matters; competition; currency and interest rate fluctuations; and other risks.
Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or
expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may
prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are
expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Although Tectonic has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Tectonic does not undertake to
update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
[Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it's Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.]
View original content to download multimedia:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tectonic-metals-kicks-off-drilling-in-alaska-with-back-to-back-drill-programs-focused-on-discovery-301095932.html
SOURCE
Tectonic Metals Inc.
View original content to download multimedia:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2020/20/c6124.html
%SEDAR: 00045228E
CO: Tectonic Metals Inc.
CNW 08:30e 20-JUL-20