Categories: General Market Commentary / Precious Metals
Topics: General Market Commentary / General Precious Metals

Is K2 Gold the Next Kaminak? by Gerardo Del Real

       

 

K2 Gold (TSX-V: KTO)(OTC: KTGDF) Chairman, John Robins, was the founder of Kaminak Gold. Kaminak sold the Coffee deposit; a multi-million ounce gold resource to Goldcorp for $520M in 2016. It will be the largest hard rock mine in the Yukon since gold was discovered in the Territory in 1896.

 

John Robins, and the K2 team, are looking to duplicate success in the Yukon and will explore four gold projects in 2017 totaling 20,500 ha (205km2) in the South Klondike district: Wels, Flume, Storck and Ladue.

 

K2 is directed and managed by experienced and recognized people in the mining industry. Directors  include John Robins (Chairman), Steve Swatton (CEO), Gary Freeman, Craig Roberts and Freddie Leigh.

 

Senior Management  also includes Allison Rippin (Head of CSR), a well respected First Nations mediator / negotiator and Al Doherty (Geologist) who has 36 years of Yukon exploration experience.

 

The flagship Wels Property is located in west-central Yukon Territory in the Traditional Territory of White River First Nation ("WFRN”), approximately 45 kilometers east of Beaver Creek and 185 kilometers south of Dawson City. 

 

On May 25, 2017, K2 announced that a diamond drilling program is anticipated to begin on or around June 6, 2017.

 

The company describes the property as a new gold discovery within the highly prolific ‘Tintina Gold Belt’ and exhibits characteristics of a reduced ‘Intrusion Related Gold System’ ("IRGS”) similar to the multi-million ounce Fort Knox (Kinross) and Dublin Creek deposits (Victoria Gold). Please click here to view an exploration program map of the Wels Property.

 

In August 2016, the company entered into an agreement with Gorilla Minerals Corp. which provides the company with the option to acquire a 90% interest (subject to an existing 3% NSR) in the Wels Property. 

 

The Wels Property (total area 47.5km2) was staked in 2011 and to date only approximately 1km2 of the prospective area has undergone any significant exploration (soil, trench-rock sampling and diamond drilling). No work was undertaken at the Wels Property during 2016.

 

Highlights of previous work between 2011 and 2015 at the Wels Property include:

 

        Drilling - A five-hole 442 meter diamond drill program in 2015 returned gold mineralization in all holes.  Hole DDH01 recorded 0.76 g/t Au over 97.5m, including 19.50 m of 3.11 g/t Au starting at 31.5m. The holes were drilled at 90 degrees to the mineralized structure in the Saddle Zone area and the true width is estimated at 80% of intersected intervals. K2 describes the drilling of those five holes as drilling in an extremely limited area of approximately 100m x 100m.

 

The holes were drilled only test the depth extent of high grade rock samples seen at surface in trenches and by no means tested the full extent of the Au-As soil anomaly which currently measures approximately 1,800m east-west by 400m north-south.

 

        Trenching – 155 meters of trenching including T14-01 4.53 g/t Au over 11.00m, T14-02 8.8 g/t Au over 45.00m  and  T14-03 3.04 g/t over 10.50m.

 

        Soil Sampling - 1,658 soil samples have been collected over a limited area of approximately 12km2 and were the most useful exploration tool in identifying 3 prospective areas for further follow up in 2017.  The most useful geochemical identifier elements besides gold were arsenic, antimony and bismuth.

 

        Rock Sampling – 28 ‘rock grab’ samples from the Saddle zone have been taken from the property to date. One sample from Trench A ran 149.5 g/t Au and a composite of nine samples from the same hand-dug trench ran 32.8 g/t Au.

 

Allan Doherty, P.Geo, who has 36 years experience managing exploration projects in the Yukon, will lead the exploration crew. A comprehensive and systematic program is planned; comprised of drilling, trenching, soil sampling, and prospecting. 

 

Here’s a brief breakdown of the work K2 is undertaking:

 

        Drilling - 1200m of core drilling will be completed in 5-8 holes with the goal of extending the Saddle Zone mineralization, currently open in all directions. 

 

Trenching - Additional trenching will be completed on the Southwest Spur zone and the North Ridge zones which are located 1.0 km south and 1.5 km north respectively of the Saddle Zone, the site of the drilling in 2015

 

        Soil Sampling - Up to 2,000 new grid auger soil samples will be collected on new claims added to the west of the original claim block.  Soil sampling has proven effective on the Wels Property and led directly to the high grade sampling interval of 8.8 gm/t Au over 45.00m in Trench 2.  Soil samples will be collected over the unglaciated areas primarily above the 750m elevation level contour elevation.

 

        Prospecting - Additional prospecting and mapping will be completed over the entire property.

 

Exploration programs will soon be announced at its other projects located in the Yukon Territory, including the Flume, Storck and Ladue Properties.

 

The company currently has 22 million fully-diluted shares outstanding with over 60% of those shares owned by management, insiders or people known to the company. 

 

The bottom line is there aren’t many — if any — juniors with management of this caliber, exploring in a prolific area— that the management intimately understands — with a sub $7 million market cap.

 

K2 Gold checks all the boxes you want checked when looking to speculate on a grassroots gold exploration play.