Work History
Staked as the GS cl 1-42 (Y49925) in Feb/70 by London Pride Silver Mines Ltd which likely staked the claims to explore for porphyry mineralization similar to that found at the Casino deposit (Minfile Occurrence #115J 028) located approximately 40 km to the northwest.
Restaked within Sam cl 1-86 (YA3869) in Oct/75 by Anglo-American Corporation of Canada Exploration Ltd, which conducted mapping and geochemical surveys in 1976 in conjunction with a larger exploration program focused on the neighbouring Sonora Gulch property (Minfile Occurrence 115J 008) located 4 km to the east. The company carried out follow-up geochemical sampling in 1977, after which no further work was completed on this occurrence. The Sam claims continued to be held in good standing but all exploration work focused on the adjoining Sonora Gulch property.
In 1999 the area surrounding the occurrence was sampled as part of a regional exploration program conducted by Deltango Gold Ltd on the Straw occurrence (Minfile Occurrence #115J 009) located 3 km to the south.
Restaked as Strauss cl 1-84 (YC59834) in Feb/2007 by Firestone Ventures Inc. The staking was carried out as part of the westward expansion of the Sonora Gulch property. During the 2007 exploration season Firestone Ventures carried out reconnaissance geological mapping and soil sampling over the area surrounding this occurrence.
In Dec/2007 Firestone Ventures signed an agreement with the underlying vendors to purchase the remaining 20% interest in the Sonora Gulch property plus 1% of the underlying Net Smelter Returns Royalty. Upon completion of the agreement Firestone acquired a 100% interest (including the Strauss claims) in the Sonora Gulch property. The vendors retained a 1% Net Smelter Returns Royalty.
In Jun/2008 Firestone Ventures spun off its Sonora Gulch and other Canadian exploration properties to a new company, Northern Tiger Resources Inc. In addition Firestone Ventures signed a Memoranda of Understanding with Sherwood Copper Corp and their wholly owned subsidiary Minto Explorations Ltd whereby Sherwood Copper vended a 100% interest in four Yukon (Dawson Range) exploration properties and an extensive historical exploration database to Northern Tiger Resources. Sherwood Copper and Northern Tiger also entered into a Regional Exploration Alliance Agreement whereby the companies would provide input and cooperation on planning and executing exploration projects and long term strategies in the area. In return for this assistance Sherwood Copper retained back-in rights to acquire a 65% interest in any of Northern Tigers projects located within a 50 km radius of Sherwood Copper's Minto Mine facilities (Minfile Occurrence 115I 021 & 022) located approximately 30 km to the east.
Since 2007 Firestone Ventures/Northern Tiger Resources have carried out limited exploration work on this part of the Sonora Gulch property (i.e. the western portion). All data and maps publicly released by the companies extend only as far west as Peter's Gulch located approximately 2 km to the east.
In 2009 Northern Tiger carried out airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys over the entire property including the area surrounding this occurrence.
In Mar/2011 Northern Tiger released an updated National Instrument 43-101 compliant Technical Report on the entire Sonora Gulch Property. In Jun/2011 the company staked Bach cl 1-36 (YD63606) on the southwest side of the Sonora Gulch property. No work appears to have been performed on these claims and the company allowed them to lapse the following year. On July 27, 2011 the company announced that they had reached agreement with Capstone Mining Corp’s (formerly Sherwood Copper Corp) wholly owned subsidiary Minto Explorations Ltd to extinguish the back-in rights Minto Explorations holds on the Sonora Gulch property.
Capsule Geology
The claims are located in the Dawson Range, a metamorphic and magmatic welt which trends northwest across the north-central portion of the Yukon-Tanana Terrane. The area is located in an un-glaciated area of the Yukon, thus outcrop is very limited. Geological mapping is restricted to ridge tops, rock chips in residual soils and numerous frost heaved blocks of rocks. The area was re-mapped by Payne et al., in 1987 under an economic agreement funded by the Canada-Yukon Economic Development Agreement. In 1995, S. Johnston employed by the Yukon Geology Program (now known as the Yukon Geological Survey) used results reported in a 1994 Geological Survey of Canada Airborne Geophysical Survey to further refine the mapping.
Geological mapping shows that the occurrence is located near the boundary where mid-Cretaceous coarse-grained biotite-hornblende granodiorite belonging to the Dawson Range Batholith intrudes Devonian to Mississippian metamorphic rocks assigned to the Wolverine Creek metamorphic suite. The metasediments consists of mainly carbonaceous quartzite and micaceous quartzite with subordinate mica schist and rare marble. The metavolcanic unit is mainly composed of medium- to coarse-grained leucocratic, equigranular hornblende-biotite quartz diorite to granodiorite gneiss. These rocks are inferred to be metamorphosed igneous rocks, including both metavolcanic and metaplutonic varieties. Numerous small dykes of varying composition are known to intrude the area. In addition an ultramafic body/horizon of uncertain age, mapped on the central and eastern portions of the Sonora Gulch property (Minfile Occurrences 115J 008 and 115I 029) may extend into this area.
There is no record of results obtained by London Pride Silver Mines, however Payne's 1987 geological map records a small intrusive dyke in the vicinity of the occurrence. It's likely the dyke returned minor amounts of gold and/or sulphides.
Anglo-America appears to have explored for gold-bearing sulphide veins similar to that discovered in the neighbouring Sonora Gulch property in 1975. The company does not appeared to have found anything in the vicinity of this occurrence but kept the claims in good standing to protect their Sonora Gulch claims.
Deltango Gold Ltd reported elevated gold, bismuth, arsenic and tin values in the vicinity of the occurrence but none of the values were considered anomalous and the program was terminated before any follow-up exploration could be undertaken.
Firestone Ventures/Northern Tiger Resources did not publicly release any geological information or results for the western portion of their Sonora Gulch property until the release of their Mar/2011 updated NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report. A geology map published in this report shows that the occurrence is underlain by Devonian to Mississippian Wolverine Creek undifferentiated granite gneiss and meta-igneous felsic to mafic-schist and gneiss that has been intruded by a small Late Cretaceous ultramafic intrusion.
Reconnaissance soil sampling completed in 2007 outlined the Bear Hill gold-arsenic-molybdenum soil anomaly approximately 1 km to the west. Reconnaissance geological shows that the anomaly appears to be related to chalcedonic quartz veining in granite gneiss and skarn in limestone lenses. The anomaly measures approximately 1 km long by 0.75 km wide. No geochemical results have been publicly released.
The 2007 reconnaissance scale soil sampling program outlined a second geochemical anomaly, the Requiem anomaly 4 km to the northwest. The anomaly is underlain by Wolverine Creek gneiss and is the least defined anomaly on the Sonora Gulch property. The anomaly measures approximately 500 m squared and is defined by 4 closely spaced soil samples which assayed 100 ppb (+) gold. Both anomalies require additional geological mapping and sampling to determine if drilling is warranted.
The 2011 Technical Report summarized and commented on the work completed to date by Firestone Ventures/Northern Tiger Resources on the Sonora Gulch property. The report concluded that Sonora Gulch remains underexplored considering the scale of mineralized system and its location in a prospective gold belt. Potential for discovery of structurally or lithologically controlled gold-silver mineralization is considered highest. In addition, there is also potential for discovery of bulk tonnage porphyry mineralization. The report recommended a drill program totaling 16 400 m to test for both types of targets.
References
ANGLO-AMERICAN CORPORATION OF CANADA EXPLORATION LTD, Nov/76. Assessment Report #090148 by J.S. McKinney.
ANGLO-AMERICAN CORPORATION OF CANADA EXPLORATION LTD, Oct/77. Assessment Report #090223 by A.A. Walker.
DELTANGO GOLD LTD, Dec/2000. Assessment Report #094172 by G. Jilson.
EVERS, K.G., ET AL., An alpine peridotite in the Dawson Range, Yukon-Tanana Terrane: Preliminary results and interpretations. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2000, D.S. Emond and L.H. Weston (eds.), Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 137-146.
FIRESTONE VENTURES INC, May/2008. Assessment Report #094987 by C. M. Schulze.
FIRESTONE VENTURES INC, New Releases, 17 Jul/2007, 10 Sep/2007, 27 Sep/2007, 10 Oct/2007, 16 Nov/2007, 20 Nov/2007, 5 Dec/2007, 3 Mar/2008, 23 Jun/2008.
FIRESTONE VENTURES INC, Jul/2004, Website: www.firestoneventures.com
MINERAL INDUSTRY REPORT 1976, p. 178-179; 1977 p. 72.
NORTHERN TIGER RESOURCES INC, Apr/2009. Assessment Report #095084 by C. M. Schulze.
NORTHERN TIGER RESOURCES INC, Mar/2010. Assessment Report #095179 by C. M. Schulze.
NORTHERN TIGER RESOURCES INC, Feb/2011. Technical Report on the Sonora Gulch Project, Yukon Territory. Prepared by Watts, Griffis and McQuat, February 3, 2011 by R. H. Page. (available on SEDAR).
NORTHERN TIGER RESOURCES INC., News Release, 23 Jun/2008, 22 Jul/2008, 18 Sep/2008, 24 Nov/2008, 16 Jul/2009, 1 Oct/2009, 25 Feb/2010, 2 Mar/2010, 15 Jul/2010, 28 Oct/2010, 1 Mar/2011, 27 Jul/2011, 7 Nov/2011.
NORTHERN TIGER RESOURCES INC., Jul/2012. Web Site: www.northerntiger.com.
YUKON EXPLORATION AND GEOLOGY 2007, p.10-11, 36, 42; 2008, p. 9-10, 31, 37.
YUKON EXPLORATION AND GEOLOGY OVERVIEW 2009, p. 30, 55, 58; 2010, p. 40-41, 61, 65; 2011 p. 51, 67, 73.
