Gold Recovery
Gold Recovery What investments protect against inflation? I'm concerned that U.S. deficit spending and the enormous national debt obligation will trigger hyperinflation worse than the 1970s. My guess ...
Gold Recovery
Kodiak Forges Ahead On Two Main Fronts: Gold And Uranium
Kodiak Exploration Ltd. is focusing on exploring for and developing gold and uranium resources in two of the areas of Canada which have the greatest potential for world-class discoveries. Kodiak's Hercules gold project, in the Beardmore-Geraldton gold camp of western Ontario is the site of an important new gold discovery where the Golden Mile, along with multiple parallel vein systems are being drilled to determine the ultimate resource potential of this very large gold system. On the uranium front, Kodiak's West Millennium project in the rich Athabasca basin of northern Saskatchewan has outlined a large uranium mineralized system located only 3 kilometres west of the 50 million pound Millennium deposit. We spoke with Kodiak's President and COO, Brian Maher, who filled us in on where his company is headed with its exciting prospects.
Resource Intelligence: Kodiak certainly appears to have an excellent position in its Beardmore-Geraldton gold camp. Can you fill us in with some more details on those properties and your plans there?
Brian Maher: The Beardmore-Geraldton gold camp has produced over 4.1 million ounces of gold to date and Kodiak has established itself as the dominant land holder in this underexplored greenstone belt, which is located between the prolific Red Lake (19.7 million ounce) and Timmins (65 million ounce) gold camps. We have a large land package of more than 2000 sq kilometres spanning a range of 175 kilometres from Milestone on the east to Beardmore on the west. These properties comprise a mixture of Kodiak 100% owned claims and option agreements, and include the Hercules, Brenbar, West Geraldton, Kaby Lake, Milestone, Sturgeon Bridge, East Leitch and other properties. Magnetic-gradiometer-VLF surveys have been flown over the Hercules property as well as a large part of Kodiak's regional claim block; and VTEM surveys have been flown over selected blocks, with radiometric surveys to identify alteration patterns. We are currently evaluating nine of approximately 30 gold prospects, including the seven I just mentioned. Kodiak is exploring over ten additional target areas, where we are seeking additional gold resources to complement the Golden Mile discovery. We are excited about the economic potential of the project when we consider the excellent results obtained from preliminary metallurgical studies, the proximity to infrastructure and the presence of shallow, high-grade gold mineralization.
RI: And the key part of this is the Hercules Property?
BM: Yes it is. Our Hercules Property is located approximately 120 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay and is road accessible and close to infrastructure. High-grade gold has been found there in multiple quartz-carbonate veins that cut through the 31 square kilometre Elmhirst Lake Intrusion and adjacent metavolcanic rocks. Since 2006, surface stripping has exposed several massive gold-bearing structures consisting of vein and stockwork systems that have a combined strike length of more than 6 kilometres. Some individual veins are up to 3 kilometres long and 9 metres wide, enclosed within a wide envelope of intensely sheared and altered wall rock. These gold-mineralized structures are open in all directions, and have many of the same characteristics as other Archean gold deposits that together, have accounted for two thirds of Canada's gold production.
I think it's important to remember that the large productive gold camps in Canada are composed of multiple deposits, each contributing to the ultimate size of district. In our case at Beardmore-Geraldton, we have multiple high quality stand-alone gold projects, each providing an opportunity for discovery and for expanding gold resources. So we now have drilling, either planned or in progress, at West Geraldton, Kaby Lake, Wildgoose, Brenbar and Milestone.
RI: At what stages are these various projects?
BM: We are exploring multiple projects which are at various stages of exploration. In what we consider the Target Generation Stage are the Milestone, Sturgeon Bridge, Kaby Lake, West Geraldton-Portage Shear, Wild Goose, and Brenbar. In the Mineralized Zone Definition Stage we have the WLGZ, 7 of 9, Marino and Bobby Ore; and in the Resource Delineation Stage are the Golden Mile and Lucky Strike. The Golden Mile structural corridor is very promising since we have discovered significant gold mineralization on six veins there: the Golden Mile, Lucky Strike, WLGZ, Marino, 7 of 9 and Bobby Ore. The mineralization on the Golden Mile extends at least 3000 metres along strike and to depths of at least 1000 metres. Preliminary metallurgical testing shows very high gold recoveries; over 99% from cyanide and gravity. A 43-101 Technical Assessment has been completed, which lays the groundwork for a resource estimate.
RI: Kodiak's other main focus is uranium. What's the story on that?
BM: We have an energy division which is exploring for uranium in the rich Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. The key element in that is the West Millennium project, where Kodiak has discovered a large uranium mineralized system located only 3 kilometres west of Cameco's 50 million pound Millennium deposit. Our initial drilling has intercepted up to 0.13% U3O8 that has helped to define multiple targets for additional exploration drilling.
RI: It sounds like this project has the potential for a significant uranium discovery. Can you give us some details on it?
BM: Well, we certainly think it does. Kodiak has an option from Geomode Minerals Ltd. to acquire the West Millenium property in the Athabasca Basin, an area which contains the world's richest high-grade uranium deposits and accounts for nearly one third of global uranium supply. Giant deposits like Millenium, as well as past-producer Key Lake (183 million lb U3O8 grading 1.98%) 30 kilometres southeast of Kodiak's property, and Cameco's McArthur River mine (367.0 million lb U3O8 grading 20.6%), located 40 km to the north, are called unconformity-type uranium deposits. They are generally found at or below the sediment-basement contact and at the intersection of faults with conductive graphitic horizons and are known to be some of the largest and richest in the world.
The presence of extensive conductors on Kodiak's property have been confirmed by airborne geophysical surveys. These replicate the geometry seen at Cameco's Millenium property located on a similar conductive trend only 3,000 metres to the east. Ground geophysics used to follow-up these anomalies were instrumental in defining the specific drill targets which ultimately lead to the Millenium discovery. UTEM ground EM surveys conducted in the 1980s outlined four large basement conductive trends extending over 14 kilometres, and an additional 60 line-kilometres of clay-altered resistivity low features identified within the overlying sandstone. Anomalies of this type have been clearly identified at Cameco's Millenium Deposit.
There has only been one recorded hole drilled to test the basement unconformity on Kodiak's property, so it remains virtually unexplored. That hole was drilled by Cameco in 1988 on the D-1 conductive trend and intersected a 35 m wide radioactive structural zone characterized by anomalous uranium mineralization within a strong graphite-pyrite conductive unit. This contained grey clay alteration with abundant slickensides hosted within a highly prospective pelitic unit. This setting strongly resembles the lithologic and structural features commonly associated with the world class unconformity-type uranium deposits found in the Athabasca Basin. In a 1989 project summary report Cameco recommended further drill testing of the favourable D-1 conductor trend which is now located on Kodiak's property.
We also have another large uranium property in Quebec's Otish Basin, which is often compared to the Athabasca Basin. Kodiak's extensive land package there covers 428.7 square kilometres and includes a wide range of geological settings, target types, showings, and geochemical anomalies. Much of the ground formerly belonged to Uranerz, a large European uranium company that explored here in the 1970s, but allowed its claims to lapse after uranium prices collapsed in the early 1980s. In the fall of 2008, Kodiak made a new and very exciting uranium discovery known as the Big Bang. We have already identified more than 15 priority targets in the Big Bang discovery area, and more than 90 km of prospective magnetic structures remain to be explored on the property.
RI: With so much to talk about, what should investors focus on when looking at Kodiak?
BM: Probably the foremost point is our strong project portfolio where we feel that we are bound to come up with several viable projects which could eventually go into production. We have experienced management, strong institutional support, and over $28 million in working capital to support continued exploration and development work on our key properties. And we have a highly liquid market in our stock averaging around 500,000 shares per day and now selling at less than 10% of its high of about two years ago.
Milestones:
* Complete drilling on the Golden Mile and adjacent veins to prepare initial 43-101 resource estimate
* Begin scoping study for Golden Mile
* Identify new veins at Hercules to augment and grow resource
* Add new projects for resource delineation in the B-G land package
* Advance West Millennium and Mines Point Projects
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