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Gladstone Creek Orogenic Au Grassroots Prospect
478 claims ~9680 ha Southwest Yukon Minfile: N/A |
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Gladstone, Fourth of July and neighbouring placer creeks draining the Ruby Range have been in operation since the early 20th century, with continued production of over 1,000 ounces of gold annually in recent decades. A few high-grade gold occurrences have been located in the area, but the hard-rock source of this rich placer district has yet to be determined. |
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One explanation, posited by geologist Craig Hart, is that a pronounced metamorphic gradient through the Mesozoic Kluane Schists of the Ruby Range may be responsible for the placer. Mineralized, gold-bearing fluids originating from the Ruby Range batholith would have been forced to drop gold from solution as they crossed this pressure-temperature boundary, leaving it behind in the hosting schists. |
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The first detailed map of this metamorphic gradient was released in the Fall of 2010, and 18526 Yukon Inc. responded quickly, covering the trend for over 30 km through the heart of the placer district, as well as picking up additional prospects in the area based on stream sediment geochemistry, bedrock lithologies and past prospecting results. |
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| *Update: A first-pass geochemical sampling program conducted on parts of the property in the summer of 2011 shows encouraging results, with multiple gold-in-soil anomalies returning up to 244.9 ppb Au. One zone returned anomalous gold values in soils across a 2 kilometer by 0.6 kilometer sampling area, to 198.6 ppb Au, with associated arsenic anomalies. Historic silt samples from primary streams on the property have run as high as 480 ppb Au. | ||
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The Gladstone property lies 23 km from the Alaska Highway, 27 km from the village of Destruction Bay, and 55 km from Haines Junction. Parts of the property are road-accessible. A 30 MW hydroelectric facility is located ~50 km east of the property, near Aishihik Lake. |
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