Work History

Canex Placer Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Placer Development Ltd, carried out extensive regional reconnaissance and grid geochemical and geological mapping programs in the Howard’s Pass area in 1968, 1971 and 1972 before discovering lead-zinc mineralization on the adjoining X claims (XY Central and West deposits). The company staked Don cl 1-8 (Y64845), cl 10-135 (Y64911) and cl 136-164 (Y70201) between September and Oct/72. The claims became part of the company’s larger Howard’s Pass property. The announcement of widespread mineralization on the Howard’s Pass property prompted a staking rush and the recording of some 4,400 claims by various other companies from Oct/1972 to Apr/1973.

Canex Placer conducted limited bulldozer trenching and sampling in late 1972, built a winter road, an airstrip and extensive tote roads on the Howard’s Pass property, and carried out extensive trenching, mapping, grid soil sampling, test geophysical work and claim surveys and drilled 26 diamond drill holes (4,267.2 m) in 1973, and 12 holes (1,981.2 m) in 1974. Based on historical records it appears none of drilling tested the area around the Don or Don East deposits.

In 1975, Canex entered a joint venture with Essex Minerals Company (a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Steel Corporation). The joint venture continued exploring the Howard’s Pass property with diamond drilling, road building, camp construction and underground mining through the late 1970s and early 1980s. Essex's Minerals interest in the property was transferred to Cygnus Mines Ltd in Apr/1982.

Placer Development and Cygnus Mines completed an economic analysis of the Howard’s Pass property at the end of 1982. The study concluded that mining the various deposits identified on the property was not economically viable at that time. Placer Development Ltd was amalgamated into Placer Dome Inc in Aug/87. Placer Dome performed cleanup work on the Howard’s Pass property in 1991.

In Oct/94 W4 Joint Venture restaked the occurrences within Nod cl 1-66 (YB49365). In Dec/95 the claims were sold to NDU Resources Ltd which merged with United Keno Hill Mines Ltd in Mar/98. Expatriate Resources Ltd purchased the claims from United Keno in the fall of 1998. Expatriate carried out soil and silt sampling programs in 1999 and prospecting and additional soil sampling in 2004. In Nov/94 Expatriate Resources re-organized, with the company's Finlayson Lake properties being spun off to a new company; Yukon Zinc Corporation and the Nod claims and all other non-Finlayson Lake claims being transferred to a new company called Pacifica Resources Ltd.

In May/2005 Pacifica Resources Ltd entered into a Letter of Intent to purchase a 100% interest in the Howard's Pass property for the sum of $10,000,000 spread over 7 years and a commitment to spend a minimum of $3,500,000 in exploration expenditures. The agreement was signed between Pacifica and Placer Dome (CLA) a wholly owned subsidiary of Placer Dome Inc (51% owner) and Cygnus Mines Ltd (49% owner). The agreement was formally approved in Aug/2005 and the Nod claims (this occurrence) were added to the project.

In 2005, Pacifica carried out an extensive regional exploration program on the Howard's Pass project which included geological mapping, geochemical sampling, camp construction and metallurgical testing. The company also collared 53 diamond drill holes (8,286.9 m) on the property. Eight of the holes (1,814 m) targeted the Don East deposit.

In Mar/2006 Barrick Gold Corporation acquired Placer Dome Inc. In May 2006, Barrick sold Placer Dome's 51% interest and other mines and exploration properties to Goldcorp Inc. In Jul/2006 Goldcorp sold Placer Dome's 51% interest in the Howard's Pass property to Terrane Metals Corp. During 2006 Pacifica completed 191 diamond drill holes (131,550.2 m) on the property. Eleven hole tested the Don deposit and ten holes tested the Don East deposit.

In Jan/2007 Pacifica released a preliminary assessment report for the development of the larger Howard's Pass project. The report indicated excellent potential for a long life mine, having large-scale, low cost zinc and lead production. The company used the results to help plan future exploration and engineering work.

On January 29, 2007 Pacifica announced a plan of re-organization in which the Howard's Pass project would be spun off to a new company, Selwyn Resources Ltd and the company's remaining properties would be transferred to a new company Savant Exploration Ltd. Pacifica shareholders received shares in Savant Exploration as compensation for the transfer of assets from Pacifica to Savant. The agreement was approved on May 31, 2007 and completed on June 6, 2007 at which time control of the Howard's Pass property, commonly referred to as the Selwyn Project was transferred to Selwyn Resources.

In Apr/2007 Selwyn announced an initial National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimates for the newly designated Don East and Don deposits. During the year the company drilled 106 diamond drill holes (37,208.6 m) on the Howard’s Pass property. Thirty-six dill holes (7,968.3 m) targeted the open pit portion of the Don East deposit while fourteen drill holes (7,463.5 m) targeted a higher grade “deep” or potential underground portion of the deposit. A total of twenty drill holes (9,217.1 m) targeted the higher grade “deep” or potential underground portion of the Don deposit. The company continued environmental and engineering studies, opened a new camp in the Don Valley and closed the XY camp located to the southeast.

In Jan/2008 the company released updated 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimates for the Don East and Don deposits based on the 2007 drill results (March 2008 report by Pearson and O'Donnell). In addition the company reported a high-grade subset for both the Don East and Don deposits. These subsets are part of each deposit’s overall mineral resource and represent a potential underground mining resource. The INFERRED resource for the Don EAST deposit was revised in the 2009 technical report by O'Donnell.

Selwyn completed 13 diamond drill holes (3,856.9 m) in 2008. Four drill holes (1,518.5 m) targeted the Don East deposit. In 2009 the company drilled 10 diamond drill holes (4,214 m) on the entire Selwyn project (Howard’s Pass) but none of the holes targeted either of the Don deposits. In mid-2009 Selwyn opened discussions with various companies regarding the formation of a possible strategic partnership. In Dec/2009 Selwyn Resources announced that they had signed a binding Framework Agreement with Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Company Ltd (China), whereby both companies would form a joint venture company to hold all assets associated with the Selwyn project. In return for a 50% interest in the joint venture Yunnan Chihong contributed 100 million dollars to the project. As part of the agreement Yunnan Chihong agreed to fund all of Selwyn Resources direct costs incurred from July 1, 2009 on the Selwyn project.

On January 5, 2010 Selwyn Resources announced that they had engaged Wardrop Engineering Inc to start a Phase 1 work program leading to the completion of a National Instrument 43-101 compliant feasibility study on the Selwyn project. The company hopes to complete the study by the end of 2010.

On August 18, 2010 Selwyn announced the completion of the joint venture with Yunnan Chihong and the formation of a new company Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd. Selwyn Resources transferred all Selwyn Project claims, equipment, permits and licenses to the new company. At the same time the joint management committee approved in principal a predevelopment budget of 89 million dollars for 2010 and 2011. The money will be directed to the advancement of permitting, completion of the feasibility study and related engineering and resource definition drilling from both surface and underground.

In September 2012 Kirkham Geosystems completed an updated global resource for the Selwyn Project.

In 2014, Selwyn Chihong completed 55 000 m of drilling on a number of the deposits making up the project, upgraded the Howard’s Pass access Road (HPAR), conducted baseline environmental studies and completed an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA).

In 2015, the company completed a Prefeasibility Study (PFS), secured a permit to widen the HPAR, continued the environmental baseline studies, drilled 10 000 m and completed a Socio-economic Participation Agreement (SEPA) with the Kaska First Nation.

From 2016 to 2022, the company conducted reclamation on many of the exploration and camp sites and completed road and camp upgrades.

Capsule Geology

The project is located in Selwyn Basin, a region of deep-water offshelf sedimentation that persisted from Late Precambrian to Middle Devonian time. Its basal deposits consist of late Precambrian rift-related clastic sediments. These are overlain by rift clastics of late Devonian age. On the north-eastern side of the project are time-equivalent shallow shelf strata of Mackenzie Platform. Along its southwestern margin is a Silurian to Devonian carbonate-clastic shelf of the Cassiar Platform. Its southwestern limit is essentially the limit of the miogeocline as presently preserved in the Yukon.

Regionally, Selwyn Basin stratigraphy overlies a basement of Upper Proterozoic to Lower Cambrian maroon to dark blue-grey weathering shale assigned to the Narchilla Formation of the Hyland Group. This unit is conformably overlain by the Upper Cambrian to Lower Ordovician Rabbitkettle Formation. The Rabbitkettle Formation is comprised of an Upper member consisting of grey weathering fine crystalline nodular limestone and a Lower member consisting of grey orange weathering, argillaceous to silty limestones usually limited to beds of less than 10 cm.

Pacifica/Selwyn Resources report the presence of a Transition Formation between the Rabbitkettle Formation and the overlying Duo Formation. This unit, identified in drill core, consists of thin interlaminations of grey limestone and buff coloured shale and is generally well cleaved.

The Transition Formation is overlain by the Ordovician to Middle Silurian Road River Group which is divided into the Duo Lake and Steel Formations. Various operators working in the area have locally renamed the Duo Formation the Howard’s Pass Formation and have subdivided it into various units. The local operators have divided the Dou Formation into five member units measuring 300 m thick. The lowest member is a pyritic siliceous shale member, which is overlain by a calcareous mudstone member and a lower cherty mudstone member. These members are overlain by the Active member, a heterogeneous mudstone, limestone, chert that hosts the region’s abundant sulphide mineralization in lamella within a poorly preserved graptolite horizon. An upper siliceous mudstone member tops the formation. The Steel Formation which measures approximately 140 m thick and consisting of a flaggy mudstone containing orange weathered siliceous argillite in beds 10-80 cm thick overlies the Howard’s Pass Formation.

The Road River Group is overlain by the Lower to Upper Devonian Portrait Lake Formation of the Lower Earn Group. The Portrait Lake Formation is comprised of a Lower, Middle and Upper member. The Lower Member consists of a dark brown weathering, silty shale and shale in beds up to 420 m thick. The Middle member consists of a black weathering, massive pebble conglomerate up to 195 m thick and the Upper Member consists of a gun-blue weathering black platy siltstone up to 260 m thick.

The Portrait Lake Formation is overlain by the Upper Devonian to Middle Mississippian Prevost Formation of the Upper Earn Group. It also divided into Lower, Middle and Upper members. The Lower member consists of a grey weathering, dark grey, medium to coarse-grained chert-quartz sandstone up to 160 m thick. The Middle member consists of brown weathering, dark grey, thin bedded shale and siltstone measuring up to 90 m thick and an Upper member consisting of coarse-grained, poorly sorted, chert-quartz sandstone and conglomerate in beds up to 300 m thick. The entire sequence is intruded by various Middle to Late Cretaceous stocks and batholiths ranging in composition from intermediate to granitic assigned to the Selwyn plutonic suite.

Historical drilling and geological mapping carried out by Placer Development suggested that the Anniv and the XY (Minfile Occurrences 105I 037 and 012) sedimentary-exhalative deposits occurred in separate sub-basins along the base of a paleo-slope of the eastern Selwyn Basin. Later geological mapping and diamond drilling carried by Pacifica/Selwyn Resources indicated the lead-zinc mineralization hosted by the Selwyn project was part of a long-lived, single mineralizing event. As proof of this theory the companies reported that the sulphide textures, mineralogy and thickness are similar in each of the 15 deposits identified to date. The hydrothermal fluids that formed the different deposits are also isotopically identical throughout the property. The companies believe the strataform and tabular Active Member was affected by post-depositional structural deformation which likely accounts for the thickening and thinning of the Active Member across the property. Understanding the timing of the faults with respect to each other will aid future exploration programs in locating extensions of the known deposits and locating new resources.

Zinc and lead mineralization at the Selwyn project is hosted in the Active Member and consists of alternating layers of carbonaceous mudstone, limestone and chert, interlayered with stratabound laminated sulphide rich bands. The sulphides are fine grained and dominantly sphalerite and galena with minor pyrite. The mineralized horizon is generally 20 to 30 m thick and is texturally and mineralogically consistent throughout the property.

Metallurgical test work has confirmed that high-grade zinc and lead concentrate can be achieved. These concentrates have low levels of deleterious elements. Floatation test work indicates that a zinc concentrate grading 55 to 57% can be produced with an overall recovery of about 80% and a lead concentrate grading 65 to 70% lead with a recovery of approximately 70%. The ore will require fine grinding and floatation processing which will include the removal of carbon prior to producing high grade concentrates. Test work completed to date on the application of dense media separation indicates that simple gravity processing could provide an effective means of upgrading run-of-mine ores.

Canex Placer and others carried out a cursory examination of the Don east and Don deposit areas historically, but later did allow the Don claims to lapse. Expatriate Resources appears to have been the first company to carry out any substantial exploration work in the area. Soil sampling carried out in 1999 and 2004 outlined high zinc and lead values in soil and silt samples collected in the vicinity of the Don deposit and weak to strong lead, zinc and nickel values in soil surrounding the Don East deposit. Although various exploration companies knew that the Active Member unit was mineralized it was difficult to raise funds in the 1990s and early 2000’s for exploration in the Howard’s Pass area given its isolated location.

The formation of Pacifica Resources and the consolidation of the entire Howard’s Pass property into one property allowed for the systematic exploration of the property. In 2005, Pacifica carried out extensive soil sampling, geological mapping and prospecting programs over the Don Valley which highlighted numerous potential drill targets. The company followed up this work with 8 widely spaced drill holes in the Don Valley. Only hole Don-04, the discovery hole on the Don occurrence intersected mineralization, the other holes were either abandoned in hanging wall stratigraphy or intercepted bedrock strata, immediately underlying the Active Member. Hole Don-04 returned 34.10 m grading 3.64% zinc and 0.99% lead. The company used the 2005 drilling results to fine tune their attempt to locate mineralization within the Don Valley.

Pacifica carried an extensive diamond drill program in 2006. The large number of holes combined with the corresponding large number of assay samples caused a large backlog (3 months +) in assay results. The delay in results ran well into 2007. Adding to the confusion was that some holes labelled “Don” were actually drilled on the HC deposits (Minfile Occurrence 105I 067) located to the southeast. The Don East occurrence was discovered by hole Don-36 which intersected 18.62 m grading 5.26% zinc and 1.45% lead. Additional drilling was carried out on the Don occurrence and deep drilling of the occurrence led to the discovery of a potential high-grade core which might be amenable to under ground mining. Diamond drill hole Don-42 intersected 26.60 m grading 5.18% zinc and 1.86% lead at a depth of between 242.2 m to 282.5 m. Diamond drilling completed in late 2006 confirmed the existence of the Don East zone and provided a preliminary outline of the deposit.

On Apr 2, 2007 Pacifica announced a initial 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the Don East and Don deposits. The Don East deposit was calculated to host an INFERRED mineral resource of 24 710 000 tonnes grading 5.54% zinc and 1.43% lead. The Don deposit was calculated to host an INDICATED mineral resource of 2 360 000 tonnes grading 5.15% zinc and 1.15% lead and an INFERRED mineral resource of 14 680 000 tonnes grading 4.70% zinc and 1.17% lead (employing a 2% zinc grade cut-off).

The 2007 diamond drilling program on the Don deposits was focused on additional infill drilling for mineral resource definition and to test for potential high-grade mineralization (greater than 3% zinc) at depth. Twenty diamond drill holes (9,217.1 m) tested the Don deposit with the majority of the holes designed to test for high grade mineralization at depth. A total of 14 diamond drill holes (7,463.5 m) tested the open pit potential of the Don East deposit while 36 diamond drill holes (7,968.3 m) tested high grade underground potential of the deposit. The 2007 drill program was successful in expanding both the open pit and underground potential of both deposits.

On Jan 29, 2008 Selwyn Resources announced updated mineral resource estimates for the Don East and Don deposits. The Don East deposit was estimated to host an INDICATED mineral resource of 35 490 000 tonnes grading 5.37% zinc and 1.63% lead and an inferred mineral resource of 41 070 000 tonnes grading 5.23% zinc and 1.61% lead (Pearson and O'Donnell, March 2008). The Don deposit was estimated to host an INDICATED resource of 11 230 000 tonnes grading 5.99% zinc and 2.17% lead and an inferred resource of 16 290 000 tonnes grading 5.62% zinc and 1.99% lead (employing a 2% zinc grade cut-off).

In addition Selwyn released a preliminary mineral resource calculation for the deeper high grade mineralized core situated beneath each deposit. These resource estimates were extracted from the overall mineral resource calculated for each deposit and represents a potential underground mining resource. The Don East underground deposit is estimated to host an inferred mineral resource of 11 976 000 tonnes grading 8.59% zinc and 2.30% lead. The Don underground deposit is estimated to host an indicated resource of 5 325 000 tonnes grading 9.98% zinc and 3.86% lead and an inferred resource of 5 335 000 tonnes grading 7.94% zinc and 2.95% lead. Both deposits employ a 2% zinc cut-off and the company stressed that these were only potential resources as no formal feasibility study has yet been undertaken to verify that these resources were economic.

In 2008 Selwyn collared 4 diamond drill holes (1,518.5 m) on the Don East deposit (from April 2009 Sedar report). Although few results were released it appears the holes were drilled to increase the potential resources in the underground portion of the deposit.

On Feb 26, 2009 the company released an updated mineral resource for the high grade underground portion of the Don East deposit.

The high-grade portion of the deposit was estimated to host an inferred mineral resource of 13 607 000 tonnes grading 8.48% zinc and 2.44% lead. The resource estimate also increased the inferred mineral resource of the whole Don East deposit: Inferred resources increased to 41 770 000 tonnes grading 5.22% zinc and 1.59% lead (O'Donnell, 2009). Both calculations employ a 2% zinc cut-off. All other resource figures for the Don East and Don deposits remained unchanged.

The Don East deposit, currently the largest of the two deposits, is orientated at 280 to 290° azimuth and dips to the north, with surface dips 40 to 50° that flatten to 10° at depth suggesting a possible synclinal feature. It has been traced for 1.7 km and has been tested to 600 m from surface. The deposit resource has been defined by 40 diamond drill holes The Don East high-grade underground deposit lies 250 m easterly from the Don East open pit deposit and is located directly adjacent to the Don high-grade underground deposit thereby possibly providing engineering synergies for conceptional mine planning (Selwyn Resources, News Release Jan 29/2008).

The Don deposit strikes 104° azimuth and dips steeply to the south 85 to 90°. The deposit’s orientation is thought to be related to steep structures associated with drag folding. The deposit has a defined length of 800 m and has been tested to 700 m below surface. The western extent of the deposit is cut-off but the eastern extent and down dip directions are still considered unconstrained. A total of thirty-two diamond drill holes define the three lenses associated with the Don deposit.

An updated resource estimate for the Don deposit was produced by Kirkham Geosystems for Selwyn Resources in a report dated Sept 27 2012, with an effective date of Aug 13 2012.Using a 2% Zn cut-off grade, the INDICATED resource for the Don deposit (61 and 63 zones) is listed at 41 788 700 tonnes grading 5.35% Zn and 1.87% Pb. The INFERRED resource calculated for the 63 zone is listed at 10 980 000 tonnes grading 5.07% Zn and 1.57% Pb.

In the same report, the estimate  Global INDICATED Mineral Resource for the Selwyn Project (at a 2% Zn cut-off grade) is calculated (Calculated at a 2% Zn cut-off grade),  at 185 570 000 tonnes grading 5.2% Zn and 1.79% Pb for a contained total of 21.26B lbs(9.64B kg) Zn and 7.3Blbs (3.3B kg) Pb. The Global INFERRED resource is listed at 237 860 000 tonnes grading 4.47% Zn and 1.38% Pb for a contained total of 23.45B lbs (10.63B kg) Zn and 7.22Blbs (3.27B kg) Pb.

Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence