Work History

Staked as Lee cl 1-32 (YB04486) by Noranda Exploration Company Ltd in Oct/1987. In 1988, Noranda substantially enlarged the property by adding Lee cl 33-82 (YB17700) and Eel cl 1-52 (YB23313), and performed 48 line-km of soil geochemistry and preliminary trenching. Between June and November, 1989, Noranda added the Ele cl 1-80 (YB23541) and Flee cl 1-104 (YB23923), prepared orthophotos and conducted mapping, 17 line-km of IP surveys, 70 km of geochemical sampling, 6 km of trenching, diamond drilling (9 holes - 1097 m) and percussion drilling (14 holes - 1646 m).

Loki Gold Corporation funded Noranda's exploration program in 1990 and 1991 to earn a 49% interest in the property, but Noranda continued as operator. The 1990 program included 6.3 km of excavator trenching, 309 percussion drillholes totaling 14 838 m and 21 diamond drill holes totaling 1290 m. Bulk samples from three zones were also shipped for metallurgical testing. Noranda enlarged the property with more Eel claims in Nov/1990, Jan/1991, Sep/1991 and Apr/1992 and more Flee claims in Sep/1991.

In 1991, Noranda sold its gold exploration properties to Hemlo Gold Mining Ltd, but continued to operate the Brewery Creek project on Hemlo's behalf. Work included 348 reverse circulation holes totaling 18 140 m, 21 excavator trenches (3 km) and 34 diamond drillholes totaling 1645 m). The soil grid was expanded and outlined three new zones. After the expenditure of $4 million, Loki became vested in Aug/1991.

L. Gatenby tied on Linz cl 1-4 (YB39983), and 11-14 (YB39983) to the south in May/91 and performed soil and chip sampling.
During the 1992 field season Noranda completed 614 test pits, 34.2 km of IP-resistivity and 10.7 km of magnetic surveys, geological mapping and 15 reverse circulation drillholes (1 223.5 m). Baseline environmental studies also continued.

In Jun/1993, Loki purchased a 100% interest in the property, and Noranda continued a program of test pitting. The Lee, Eel, Ele and Flee cl were transferred to Hemlo Gold Mines Inc in July/1993, and back to Loki Gold Corp in Sept/1993. In Oct/1993, Loki completed the acquisition of Hemlo's share in the property and became the project's sole owner.

Loki's 1994 exploration program consisted of soil geochemistry surveys, trenching, and 235 reverse circulation holes totaling 11 000 m. In addition the company initiated a feasibility study, filed for various environmental and governmental permits, carried out negotiations for financing and held discussions regarding economic development with the Yukon Territorial Government and the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation. In September and Oct/1994 Loki staked the BDM cl 1-4 (YB52721) in the southwest corner of the property, near the old dam on Lee Creek.

In May 1995, Loki reached agreement with the Yukon Territorial Government and the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation in regard to various economic issues. On Aug 10, 1995 Loki received a water license from the Government of Canada, which allowed it to begin mine construction. At the same time Loki announced that it had secured the financing required to put the property into production. Exploration work in 1995 included drilling the Big Rock Zone and the West Canadian Zone, both of which were discovered in 1994.

In Mar/1996 Loki Gold and Baja Gold Inc announced a merger with Viceroy Resources Corp and the resulting transfer of 100% interest in the Brewery Creek deposit to Viceroy. In May/1996 Viceroy announced that they had arranged with various brokerage houses sufficient funding to bring the deposit into production. Viceroy spent the bulk of 1996 building the mine site, stripping, constructing haul roads and heap leach pads and generally moving the deposit towards production. In Aug/1996 the company started loading ore onto heap-leach pads. The first gold was poured in Nov/1996 and production to the end of 1996 totalled 316 478 grams (10 175 oz) at an estimated cost of $6.43/gm U.S. ($ 200.00/oz).

The 1996 field program included soil sampling and mapping to better define anomalous trends east of known reserves, trenching (300 m) and reverse circulation drilling (53 holes, 3472 m) to expand on mineable oxide reserves outside deposit areas and diamond drilling (16 holes, 2528 m) to test for higher down dip sulphide mineralization. In the fall of 1996 and throughout 1997, International Kodiak Resources Ltd staked numerous claims along the northern boundary of the Brewery Creek property. In Jul/1997 Viceroy staked additional Eel claims in the southeast corner of their claim block.

The Brewery Creek Mine reached commercial production in May, 1997. During 1997, a total of 72 387 ounces of gold were produced from the Kokanee and Golden zones at a cash cost of US$ 184 per ounce. Exploration activities included 142 reverse circulation drill holes (10 253m), 33 trenches (2606m) 145 line km of soil sampling (2457 samples) and collecting 151 rock samples. In 1998 total production from the Kokanee and Golden zones totaled 79,396 ounces at a cash cost of US $177 per ounce. Exploration in 1998 consisted of 82 reverse circulation drill holes (6008.5 m), 94 trenches (15 395.5 m) and 81 rock samples. The purpose of the work was to increase the oxide resource within a feasible haul from the leach pad and to develop higher grade structural targets across the property.

Production in 1999 fell to 48 164 ounces while operating costs rose to a cash cost of US$ 288 per ounce. Viceroy suspended seasonal mining operations earlier than planned and hired an independent consulting company to study recovery processes in an effort to improve recoveries and reduce production costs. The company also conductive extensive exploration on the mine site to identify additional reserves. In 2000 Viceroy concentrated on selectively mining those ore bodies which contained the highest grade and were the most oxidized. Production fell to 48,048 ounces of gold at a cash operating cost of US$ 243 per ounce. No mining occurred at Brewery Creek in 2001, but heap leaching continued with production of 18,542 ounces of gold in the first six months of 2001 at a cash operating cost of US$ 222. Viceroy continues to monitor world gold prices and technological advances in ore recovery in hopes of re-starting mining production.

In 2002 Viceroy began reclaiming and revegetating various pits, dumps and mine site roads and detoxifying and stabilizing the heap leach piles. A rise in gold prices later in the year lead the company to re-examine the viability of the property and undertake a complete structural re-mapping program aimed at identifying further oxide reserves and the possibility of the property hosting significant sulfide reserves.

In May/2003 Viceroy provided SpectrumGold Inc an option to purchase the mineral properties comprising the Brewery Creek Gold Mine. In Jun/2003 Viceroy merged with Quest Investment Corporation, Quest Management Corp., and Avatar Petroleum Inc to form Quest Capital Corp. The new company will focus on the merchant banking business.

In Mar/2004 NovaGold Resources Inc announced a plan of arrangement with SpectrumGold to acquire all of that companies publically held common shares. Subsequent to this NovaGold drilled 5 holes (800 m), mostly at depth, by the Blue and Pacific deposits. No results of this drilling were released.

In 2006, Alexco released results of its nine-hole, 1184 m diamond drilling program.

Golden Predator Royalty & Development Corp. optioned the property in 2009 and performed diamond drilling (30 holes) on several targets. Drilling on the Pacific pit was undertaken to test for extensions of mineralization at depth. Several holes tested an area south of the Pacific pit where reverse circulation holes were drilled in 1993 and 1994. Further diamond drilling was completed on the North Slope (to test deep sulphide mineralization hosted in non-intrusive rocks) and the Blue zone (to test a northwest-trending fault and an area south of the pit).

The results of two assessent reports (Galambos, 2009 and Bourne, 2011) are  still closed (as of January 2014).

In 2012, Golden Predator Corp released a Technical report and resource estimate.

In Februrary 2013, Golden Predator Corp. changed its name to Americas Bullion Royalty Corp (AMB).

In October 2013, Americas  Bullion Royalty Corp released an updated resource estimate (Gustavson Associates, 2013) which included indicated and inferred categories. See below and resource tables for details.

Capsule Geology

This is a large, low grade oxide gold deposit hosted by Cretaceous quartz monzonite and interbedded shale and siltstone of the Devonian to Mississippian Earn Group. The property is located in unglaciated terrain on the west edge of the Selwyn Basin, adjacent to the Tintina Fault. Oxide reserves prior to start of mining and based on trenching and drilling results reported in Mar/97, were 17 145 988 tonnes grading 1.36 g/t Au, using a cutoff grade of 0.5 g/t and a specific gravity of 2.6.
The reserves were distributed in eight zones over a strike length of more than 6 km. Individual zones are about 100 m wide and 20 m thick. Most of the reserves lie within 60 m of surface on a south-facing dip slope, and are amenable to open pit mining with a stripping ratio of 1.3:1. 54-day column leach tests on oxide material gave an average recovery of 84%. Metallurgical test work completed in 1993 predicated an 81 percent gold recovery from run-of-mine material in a two-cycle heap leach operation, each cycle consisting of 45 days.

Noranda discovered the Brewery Creek deposit in a previously unexplored area, while following up a weak GSC regional silt anomaly. Soil samples on the ridge above the creek contained 2 000 ppb Au. Subsequent work outlined an east-west soil anomaly 3.3 km long, with 25-2 000 ppb Au and a uniform As:Au ratio of 1 000:1, along with Sb and widely dispersed Hg anomalies. Trenching uncovered a south-dipping slab of altered and brecciated intrusive rock with one chip sample averaging 3.1 g/t Au over 40 m.

The deposit is structurally controlled by several imbricated low-angle listric normal faults and sets of vertical shears which run northwest, northeast and east-west. The main thrust fault separates a sill-like slab of quartz monzonite from underlying graphitic argillite. It strikes 090-120 , dips 10 to 20 to the south and has been traced over a strike length of 10 km between the Pacific and Bohemian zones. Earn Group graphitic argillite beneath the fault is sheared and shows no evidence of hornfelsing. Lenses and slivers of sheared, altered argillite and sheared, bleached intrusive rock are common along the fault zone.

Mineralization consists of submicroscopic gold particles, sub-micron in size, associated with pyrite and fine-grained arsenopyrite. The gold appears to be associated with a fine quartz stockwork in areas of strong phyllic alteration in areas where the intrusive slabs are cut by a close-spaced fracture cleavage. Low-temperature quartz-stibnite veins appear to postdate the gold deposition. High grade pockets of oxide material occur locally, for instance in the Kokanee zone where a chip sample across 6 m assayed 17.1 g/t Au, and a 6 m drill intersection in hole DDH 91-42 graded 14.69 g/t Au.

In 1991, gold was discovered in siliclastic rocks in the Blue zone. Hole 91-328 encountered 5.667 g/t Au over 32 m of siltstone. This includes 4.935 g/t Au over 16 m and 9.822 g/t Au over 10 m. Another 1991 drill hole in the Blue zone (RC91-457) intersected 14 m averaging 4.7 g/t Au, including a 2 m high grade intersection of 19.98 g/t Au over 2 m.
Geochemistry in 1991 outlined a number of new zones including the Bohemian, Schooner, Sleemans and Classic zones which were explored by trenching and drilling. Soil sampling outlined several other anomalous areas, and demonstrated that geochemical response on parts of the property is masked by permafrost underlying north facing slopes and by thick loess deposits in gullies.

The 1992 exploration focused on the Schooner and Sleemans zones at the east end of the property. At the Schooner zone, the gold is hosted by Steel Formation siltstone which forms the lower most unit on the property. Chip samples assayed 2.03 g/t across 28 m in Trench 91-S6. A 1992 drill hole in the Schooner zone intersected 3.3 g/t Au over 4 m.
Drilling in 1993 concentrated on reserve definition in the Canadian and Fosters zones, as well as drill-testing of the Classic, Bohemian, Pacific and Schooner zones. A new zone was delineated downslope of the Fosters zone. This near-surface zone is gently-dipping and has a strike length of 240 metres. The average grade of the mineralized sections is 2.3 g/t Au over 11 metres with higher grade intersections.

The 1994 field program resulted in the complete definition of the Canadian, Lower Fosters and Blue zones for final detailed pit design. Loki also completed the final location selections for the leach pad, pond recovery plant, mine operations and waste dump sites. Stripping of the leach pad, pond recovery plant and construction camp sites began, as well as upgrading the access road within the property boundaries to required standards for a drive-to mining facility. Final environmental data collection for a production permit application was also completed.

A limited exploration drilling program of reverse circulation drilling, discovered two new areas of significant mineralization. The first area located 1.5 km grid east of the Moosehead zone returned values up to 3.2 g/t Au over 10 m. The second area (Big Rock Zone) located 2.0 km northwest of the Pacific zone Pit, returned values of 1.29 g/t Au over 24 m. In Jul/94 mineable oxide reserves stood at 16 487 000 tonnes averaging 1.483 gram of gold per tonne.

In 1996, 1.9 million tonnes of ore were placed on the heap leach pad with roughly 500 000 tonnes of ore under leach. The drip emitters on the pad are placed under a 4 m layer of ore to protect them from freezing. Cyanide solutions are heated to 12 degrees C by waste heat from on-site diesel generators and from a waste oil burner.
Reverse circulation drilling carried out in 1996 on the East and West Big Rock zones increased reserves of the two zones to 1 833 200 tonnes grading 0.95 g/t. The Big Rock zones consist of quartz monzonite intrusions in argillite similar to the other zones currently hosting the reserves on the property. These zones are the westernmost mineralized occurrences on the property and are located closest to the leach pad.

Drilling in 1997 and 1998 on the North Slope zone confirmed continuity of mineralization along a 300 m strike length in the calcareous Steel Formation. Mineralized sill thickness remained extensive in the Kokanee zone (10-15 m) but appears to steepen and narrow at depth in the Canadian zone. No significant mineralization was intersected in the South Canadian zone. Soil sampling and mapping between the Lucky and Sleemans zones defined a broad, southeasterly trending, 5 km anomalous trend. Soil results ranging from 20 to 15 800 ppb Au correlate with intercalated quartz monzonite sills, graphitic argillite and calcareous Steel Formation siltstone.

The 1999 drop in production and the resulting rise in costs was attributed to a combination of longer leach cycles for sediment-hosted ore and lower recoveries. Following consultations with various recovery experts, Viceroy determined that recoveries in the less-weathered material (that is, in the transitional zone) were much lower than anticipated and that leaching characteristics in the oxidized material already loaded on the pads were much better in the first half of the year than later on.

In 2001 low gold prices and poor heap leach recoveries from the less oxidized portions of the deposit forced Viceroy to suspend mining operations, however heap leaching continued. Reclamation and re-vegetation efforts begun in 2002 targeted the Blue, Canadian, Upper Fosters, Golden, Kokanee, Lucky, Moosehead and Pacific zones thus essentially eliminating any remaining reserves located within these deposits.

As of May 2003 the property hosts an Indicated Resource of 3 095 900 tonnes grading 1.135 g/t Au (0.5 g/t Au cutoff) in the Big Rock, Bohemian and Lower Foster zones. The company estimated that recovery grade would be approximately 58% (0.652 g/t Au). The property also hosts an Inferred Resource of 2 214 000 tonnes grading 2.01 g/t Au in the North Slope area. An estimated recoverable grade has not been calculated for this figure. SpectrumGold examined the sulphide gold potential of the property and also studied a small barite deposit located on the property.

In 2006, Alexco targeted drilling at the Bohemian zone near three 1998 RC drill holes and encountered high-grade mineralization in several intervals. Drilling in the Classic Zone returned thick intersections of low-grade oxide gold mineralization. Three untested IP anomalies were also targeted but only encountered weak sulphide mineralization. A single drillhole in the mined-out Blue pit encountered sulphide mineralization in a stibnite, silica-bearing breccia zone.

Golden Predator's technical report on the Brewery Creek property (August 13, 2009 news release), stated that current drilling depths were inadequate to assess sulphide potential along the main resrve trend. The report also observed that oxide-sulphide exploration targets such as the North Slope, Classic and Bohemian-Sleemans trend have not been fully drilled and remain open-ended.

The 2009-2013 work has not ben updated yet..

In October 2013, Americas  Bullion Royalty Corp released an updated resource estimate (Gustavson Associates, 2013) which included indicated and inferred categories. The resource was calculated over fourteen deposits plus the historical heap leach pad, each with their own cut-off grade which ranged between 0.45 to 0.54 g/t Au for the 14 deposits, and which was set at 0.3g/t Au for the historical heap leach pad.

A detailed breakdown of each individual deposit is outlined in the report.  Resources are reported for both oxide and sulfide material. The resource summary is listed as follows:

Indicated oxide resources (including historical heap leach pad): 14,152,000 tonnes at 1.27 g/t Au for total 17,947 kg (577,000 troy ounces) of contained gold .

Inferred oxide resources (including historical heap leach pad): 9,309,000 tonnes at 0.93 g/t Au, for total 8,6778 kg ( 279,000 troy ounces) of contained gold.

Indicated sulfide resources: 3,459,000 tonnes at 1.28 g/t Au for total 4,416.7 kg (142,000 troy ounces) of contained gold.

Inferred sulfide resource: 12,408,000 tonnes at 1.37 g/t Au, for a total of 16,982 kg (546,000 troy ounces) of contained gold.