The South Kitikmeot Gold Project
The Project has occurrences of iron-formation-hosted gold mineralisation, located in a prospective belt of permissive metasedimentary rocks which hosts the Lupin Gold Mine and the Goose Lake & George Lake Deposits.
In August 2021, Viridis entered into an agreement with Silver Range Resources to acquire the exclusive rights to earn-in 100% of the South Kitikmeot Gold Project.
In July 2023, Viridis announced that it had formally met the Stage 1 expenditure commitment of $1.5m, resulting in the earning of a 51% equity interest in the project well ahead of the Stage 1 completion date of 31 December 2024.
Conditions Precedent
Following the satisfaction or waiver of all Conditions Precedent, the Company may earn up to a 90% interest in the South Kitikmeot Project as follows:
- the Company earned an initial 51% interest in the South Kitikmeot Project by spending A$1,500,000 on the South Kitikmeot Project before 31 December 2024 (Stage 1 Interest);
- the Company may earn an additional 15% interest (for a total interest of 66%) by spending an additional A$2,000,000 on the South Kitikmeot Project on or before 31 December 2027 (Stage 2 Interest); and
- the Company may earn an additional 24% interest (which would take it to an aggregate 90% interest) by completing a preliminary feasibility study on any of the claims making up the South Kitikmeot Project (PFS) on or before 31 December 2037 (Stage 3 Interest)
- Upon completion of the PFS, the Company has an irrevocable option to acquire the remaining 10% interest in the South Kitikmeot Project (Buy Out Option), at the fair market value of such interest, to be determined by an independent qualified valuator in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum CIMVAL Code.
Project Sections
The South Kitikmeot Project is divided into four separate sections, being:
Park Place Claims
The Park Place Gold Property hosts an iron-formation-hosted gold target. The property consists of the Bling, Gold Bugs and Esker Lake prospects. In total, the Park Place Gold Property covers 4,388 hectares.
They are characterised by large tonnage and relatively high grades for deposits of their size. Gold in iron-formation-hosted gold deposits is hosted in sulphide facies iron formation dominated by pyrite and pyrrhotite.
Mineralisation at Bling consists of a series of locally stacked sulphide lenses exposed over a length of approximately 400m at the regional contact between metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.
The Bling property hosts a 700m long conductor which has returned grab sample assays up to 47g/t Au and trench sampling results up to 2.0m @16g/t Au.
At Gold Bugs, the magnetic anomalies associated with the iron formation suggest that bands of iron formation over a thickness of at least 100m may be present. Three gold-bearing zones have been identified within an iron formation horizon that has been traced for 7km by airborne mag.
Mapping, both airborne and ground total magnetic field and VLF-EM surveys, trenching, and diamond drilling have been performed on Esker Lake between 1988 and 1990 by Argus Resources and Equity Silver Mines.
Preliminary shallow drilling at the Esker Lake property has returned 3m @11.7g/t Au from 33.4m and 4m @4.8g/t Au from 37m.
Esker Lake Significant Drilling Results
Uist
The Uist property covers an area of 2,752 hectares, located 20-25 km south-southwest of the the Back River Project being operated by Sabina.
The Uist area is associated with an NW striking iron visible in the aeromagnetic data. Sulphide iron formation consisting of pyrite, pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite occurs within altered silicate facies iron formation and is intermittently exposed over a strike length of about 1.6 km.
Grab Samples have returned gold values up to 156.28 g/t Au in Wally Zone and 64.3g/t Au in Holliday Zone.
Sources
[1] https://www.b2gold.com/projects/development/back-river/
[2] Viridis Mining And Minerals Prospectus – Pages 114–129