Work History


Note: The Big Swifty mineral occurrence was discovered as part of exploration efforts on the Justin property. Refer to MINFILE 105H 045 for the detailed work history on the Justin property prior to 2012 when Aben Resources Ltd. discovered the Big Swifty.

In Mar/2012 Aben optioned the adjoining VF gold project (MINFILE 105H 034) from Bearing Resources Ltd. In 2012 Aben collared 9 diamond drill holes (1,994 m) on the POW (MINFILE 105H 107) zone. The company also completed ground magnetic surveys, detailed geological mapping, prospecting and rock, soil and silt sampling programs on both the Justin and VF properties. During this time the Big Swifty zone was located and geochemically (channel) sampled.

No work was reported by Aben for 2013. In 2014, Aben’s exploration program included the collection of 60 channel samples from 4 trenches (all in the POW zone), 24 rock samples, re-analysis of 230 drill core samples, 4 silt samples and 151 soil samples with coverage totaling 7.2 line kilometers. The program was focused on two areas, the POW Zone and the Big Swifty zone. Aben’s 2014 geochemical sampling is the only recorded work on the Big Swifty zone outside of sampling completed in 2012 when it was first discovered. 

In 2014 Aben completed core resampling (previously 2011 and 2012 drillcore), for W specific analysis. Review indicated that anomalous concentrations of tungsten (> 200 ppm W) were reported in the multi-element ICP analysis from several intervals within the POW zone skarn. A total of 230 samples from 7 of 9 previously drilled POW zone holes, were selected for tungsten specific analysis to provide a preliminary assessment of the potential for economic tungsten mineralization.

No work was completed on the property over 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Aben completed trenching, silt and soil sampling focusing on the Lost Ace (MINFILE 105H 108) and Confluence (MINFILE 105H 106) zones. In 2018, they continued trenching, silt and soil sampling again focusing on the Lost Ace zone. The Lost Ace is located 2 kilometers west of Aben’s POW zone where past drill results indicate potential for bulk-tonnage gold mineralization.


Capsule Geology


The actual occurrence lies approximately 11 km east of the Nahanni Range Road which services North American Tungsten Corporation Ltd’s Cantung tungsten mine which is located approximately 30 km to the north. The area lies within the Selwyn Mountains and is underlain by a sequence of Selwyn Basin stratigraphy composed primarily of shallow marine shelf and off-shelf sedimentary rock derived from the ancient North American Platform.
 
The occurrence area is underlain by a broad package of west-northwest trending, north-northeast dipping coarse grained clastic sediments, siltstones, pyllitic shale, limestone and calcareous siltstone and shale of the Upper Proterozoic to Lower Cambrian Hyland Group. Eagle Plains Resources/Aben Resources have broken the Hyland Group rocks into three subunits, which based on previous work are tentatively assign to the Neoproterozoic Yusezyu Formation. To the north, a northwest-southeast trending fault separates the Hyland Group rocks from a thin to medium bedded limestone unit assigned to the Cambrian to Ordovician Rabbitkettle Formation. Two periods of compressional deformation are recorded in the rocks and the package is bounded to the north and south by inferred lateral to oblique-slip faults in the Sprogge and Dayo Creek valleys. Mid-Cretaceous age quartz monzonite and quartz-biotite monzonite dykes and related veining associated with stocks of the Tombstone Plutonic suite have intruded tensional features related to the inferred faulting.
 
 
The Norquest Joint Venture originally discovered copper mineralization consisting of sparsely disseminated chalcopyrite accompanied by fine-grained pyrrhotite in several irregular pods of pyroxene skarn. This discovery area was later named the Main (Justin) zone. Grab samples assayed up to 0.46% copper and 0.34 g/t gold.
In 2012, initial prospecting and geochemical sampling identified a new hard rock massive sulphide showing which was named Big Swifty. The showing outcrops over 10 metres along the northern margin of a stream bed located in the southeastern portion of Aben’s Justin project area. Altered quartz-feldspar pebble conglomerate and shear hosted quartz-pyrite veins occur across the 10 metres wide outcrop. The quartz-pyrite mineralization is hosted in N-S trending structures which dip steeply to the east at 076 degrees. Highlights from 2012 sampling include: 1.25 m grading 0.14 g/t Au, 1.00 m grading 0.09 g/t Au and 2.50 m grading 0.03 g/t Au.
In 2014 Aben completed additional prospecting, geochemical surveys (channel sampling) over the target, however no results are available at this time.
 

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Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence

Report Number	Year	Title	Worktypes	Holes Drilled	Meters Drilled
096714	2014	2014 Assessment Report for the Justin Property	Historical Drill Core - Geochemistry, Rock - Geochemistry, Silt - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Detailed Bedrock Mapping - Geology, Hand - Trenching, Mechanical - Trenching
096319	2012	2012 Diamond Drilling, Geological, Geophysics and Geochemical Report for the Justin Property and VF Property	Diamond - Drilling, Rock - Geochemistry, Silt - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Detailed Bedrock Mapping - Geology, Magnetics - Ground Geophysics, Metallurgical Tests - Lab Work/Physical Studies	9	1994
093783	1997	1997 Geological, Geochemical and Trenching Report on the Sprogge 1-74 and Justin 1-25 Claims	Rock - Geochemistry, Silt - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Detailed Bedrock Mapping - Geology, Prospecting - Other, Hand - Trenching