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Manson Creek Resources announced Tuesday it has entered into an option with Panarc Resources to acquire a 100% interest in the Up Town Gold project located adjacent to the historic Giant mine in the Northwest Territories.
Shares in the tiny TSX-V listed explorer shot up 15% to 7.5c on the news with almost ten times the usual number of shares changing hands. The stock, worth $5.6 million has been listed for more than a decade and in 2005 reached a high of 24c.
Manson Creek says the 3,388 hectare property has five known gold bearing zones adjacent to the Yellowknife greenstone belt which boasts over 12 million ounces of gold production from the nearby Giant and Con mines.
The Giant nine entered production in 1948 and ceased operations in 2004. It produced over 7,000,000 oz gold.
The Giant Mine has a chequered history: In 1992 during a bitter 18-month labour dispute an underground explosion killed nine strikebreakers riding a rail car. An employee of the mine was later convicted of placing the bomb that killed the workers.
Full press release:
CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwire – Jan. 24, 2012) – Manson Creek Resources Ltd. (‘Manson Creek’) (TSX VENTURE:MCK) is pleased to report that it has entered into an option with Panarc Resources to acquire a 100% interest in the Up Town Gold project located adjacent to the historic Giant mine in the Northwest Territories.
The 3,388 hectare property has 5 known gold bearing zones hosted in an Archean granodiorite adjacent to the Yellowknife greenstone belt which boasts over 12 million ounces of gold production from the nearby Giant and Con mines. Historic work on the Up Town Gold property, done primarily in the 1960’s, focused on the narrow quartz filled shears and associated quartz veins while largely ignoring the larger zones of hydrothermally altered host granodiorite. The shear zones, associated fractures and quartz veins vary from millimeter widths to well over 3.0 meters and they commonly are surrounded by a broader alteration halo. Alteration consists of silicification and sericitization with hematite alteration present as well. Mineralization is exposed at surface with exposures of tens of meters common with many stretching for hundreds of meters.
Until recently, gold exploration has focused primarily on volcano-sedimentary greenstone belts, seeking structurally controlled mesothermal lode-gold deposits while the adjacent granitoid rocks have been largely ignored as hosts for gold mineralization. A growing number of significant bulk minable lode-gold deposits have been found in Archean granitic rocks and there is a growing awareness that they constitute a separate deposit class – referred to as Granitoid Hosted Lode Gold deposits.
Several of the gold bearing zones on the Up Town Gold property had historical estimates completed in the 1960’s with over 2,500 meters of diamond drilling completed. In many of the historic assessment reports there is mention of hydrothermally altered host rock but no systematic sampling was ever conducted on these altered zones.
Table 1. Historic Gold Zones – Selected Significant Results
Zone Historic Work Gold Grades(i
grams/tonne (g/t)
)Rod Multiple trenches 28.0 g/t to 93.9 g/t greater than 2,300 m diamond drilling J Group Multiple trenches 2.0 g/t – 61.0 g/t Minor diamond drilling C4 Multiple trenches 53.0 g/t to 77.0 g/t Fox South Multiple trenches 0.5 g/t – 3.94 g/t Rose Multiple trenches 17.1 g/t (i) NOTE: Historical reported assays submitted in assessment reports
A due diligence visit conducted by Company personnel in December located many of the historical areas of trenching. Shovelling of snow allowed for limited exposure of the located Rod and J Group trenches and thirteen rock samples were collected from silicified shear and vein material as well as altered wall rock. Nine grab samples were taken at various trenches in the Rod zone and four samples were taken from a trench in the J Group zone with the results summarized below. The Rod samples returned an average of 11.2 g/t gold with two of the grab samples returning high grade gold grades of 49.6 g/t and 19.2 g/t gold. The J Group samples averaged 0.13 g/t gold with trace silver in the limited sampling. The assays show high grade zones occur within broader halos of lower grade mineralization and are consistent with the Granitoid Hosted Lode Gold deposit exploration model.
Table 2. Due Diligence Sampling Summary
Zone Number of Samples Collected and Type Gold
grams/tonneSilver
grams/tonneRod 9 Grab Samples 0.008 g/t to 46.6 g/t <0.1 g/t to >100 g/t J Group 4 Grab Samples 0.004 g/t to 0.45 g/t <0.1 g/t to 0.3 g/t Samples were forwarded to Acme Labs in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories for analysis with all of the rock samples analyzed using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) together with mass spectrometry (MS) finish. Gold was analyzed by a fire assay preparation with an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish.
Manson Creek may acquire a 100% interest in the Up Town Gold property over a four-year period by expending $500,000 in exploration and making staged cash payments and common share issuances totaling $300,000 and 400,000 common shares of the Company respectively. Panarc Resources will retain a 2.5% NSR (Net Smelter Royalty), of which 60% (1.5% NSR) may be purchased at Manson Creek’s election for $1,500,000. An advance payment on royalties totaling $120,000 would be payable monthly in $20,000 increments upon acceptance by Manson Creek or its successors of a bankable feasibility study.
The President of Manson Creek Resources Ltd., Regan Chernish P.Geol., is the Qualified Person responsible for the preparation of this news release.
Regan Chernish, P. Geol., President and Director
Except for the historical and present factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release, including words such as “expects”, “projects”, “plans”, “anticipates” and similar expressions, are forward-looking information that represents management of Manson Creek’s internal projections, expectations or beliefs concerning, among other things, future operating results and various components thereof or the economic performance of Manson Creek. The projections, estimates and beliefs contained in such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Manson Creek’s actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, those described in Manson Creek’s filings with the Canadian securities authorities. Accordingly, holders of Manson Creek shares and potential investors are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted. Manson Creek disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements.
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.
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