Ahead of a renewed prospecting campaign, a junior miner has quadrupled its holdings on a potentially gold-rich property near Creighton.
Canyon Copper Corp. recently acquired through staking a total of 2,851 hectares of land contiguous to its Bootleg Lake Gold Project.
That brought the total size of the project to 3,718 hectares – four times the original size.
“The staking went as planned with Canyon successfully acquiring all the open ground we had targetted, and more,” Stephen Wallace, president and CEO of Canyon, said in a news release.
Wallace said Hudbay was at the same time also staking to the immediate south of Canyon’s new claims. Hudbay declined to comment on its land acquisition activities.
Last month, the Saskatchewan government reopened the Creighton area for staking after an extended period of closure. Canyon staked 13 new claims connected to its initial four claims at the project.
Canyon’s initial four claims host three long-idle gold mines: the Bootleg/Rio Mine, the Henning Maloney Mine and the Newcor Gold Mine.
Canyon said it plans to adjust its previously planned exploration program to factor in the new claims.
The company said a detailed compilation of historical exploration data is underway. This will be followed by prospecting and geological mapping during the 2017 summer field season.
Canyon also plans a detailed geophysical survey for the Bootleg/Rio Mine area to determine the shape and plunge of mineralization. If results warrant, the company will outline a follow-up drill program.
In addition to known deposits, the property boasts a number of gold and copper occurrences, including possibly mineralized tailings from previous gold production at the Bootleg/Rio Mine, according to the company.
The three idle gold mine sites have historical estimates calculated by Vista Mines Inc. in the 1980s, but these estimates do not meet today’s reporting standards.
The Bootleg / Rio Mine claim hosted a gold mine in 1940 and 1941, and again for three months in 1984, at which time it closed due to low recovery rates.
The Henning-Maloney Deposit hosted a mine in 1940 and 1941, with several shipments sent to the Flin Flon smelter then operated by HBM&S, now part of Hudbay.
The Newcor Gold Mine operated for part of 1947, though its development dates back to the 1930s. It is not known how much gold the mine produced.
Earlier this year, the Vancouver-based Canyon entered into an option agreement with New Moon Minerals Corp. regarding the Bootleg Lake Gold Project.
Wallace has called the property “a high-quality prospect with low-cost exploration,” citing “multiple high-grade gold targets” and the property’s proximity to the established mining centre of Flin Flon.
The property is located outside Creighton, five km southwest of Flin Flon.
