Sonora Gulch Gold/Copper

Sporadic exploration was conducted from 1965 to 2001 including surface work and 1,589 metres of drilling in 20 holes.  From 2003 to 2011 Sonora Gulch saw comprehensive exploration including soil geochemical, geophysical, mapping and prospecting surveys, and drilling.  This work was done mostly by Northern Tiger Resources Inc. which was merged into Golden Predator in 2014.  In 2011 Northern Tiger shifted its entire exploration effort to the 3 Aces gold property located on the Nahanni Range Road in southeastern Yukon.  The 3 Aces property is currently Golden Predator’s flagship project.  Taku recently acquired an option to earn a 100% interest in the Sonora Gulch property from Golden Predator Mining Corp. (“Golden Predator”).

A NI 43-101 compliant technical report was completed on the Sonora Gulch property in February 2011 by Watts, Griffis and McOuat Ltd.¹ The report recommended a drill program of 16,400 metres to test targets for both structurally and lithological controlled gold-silver mineralization, and for bulk tonnage copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry mineralization. The technical report concludes that Sonora Gulch remains underexplored considering the scale of the mineralized system and its location in the prospective Dawson Range Mineral Belt.  The following technical discussion is derived from the 2011 NI 43-101 report except where otherwise noted.

A nine square kilometre gold anomaly has been outlined on Sonora Gulch from 1,971 soil samples with gold-in-soil values ranging from trace to 2,340 parts per billion gold (“ppb Au”) averaging 56ppb Au.  Contained within this broad gold anomaly is a two square kilometre copper anomaly with copper-in-soil values ranging from trace to 1,870 part per million copper (“ppm Cu”) averaging 145ppm Cu from 443 samples.  Age determinations published by the Yukon Geological Survey² indicate that the Sonora Gulch system is temporally equivalent to the Casino copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry deposit, located roughly 40 kilometres to the west-northwest.

The copper-molybdenum anomaly is flanked by three gold targets including the Amadeus zone on the east, the Nightmusic zone on the northwest, and the Gold Vein zone on the southwest.  From 2006 to 2011, 14,063 metres were drilled in 65 holes, with significant gold-silver mineralization encountered at the Amadeus, Nightmusic and Gold Vein zones.

The 700 by 250 metre Amadeus zone is a strong gold-silver anomaly centered on the Amadeus quartz-feldspar porphyry.  It appears to have a high level epithermal system marginal to the porphyry.  Selected drill intersections include gold and silver values in grams per tonne (“gpt”) as follows:

The 2,000 by 150 m Nightmusic zone is a very strong gold-silver anomaly that lies along the southern contact of an ultramafic body just north of the Big Creek fault.  Drilling to date has concentrated on the ultramafic contact rather than on possible structural targets related to the Big Creek fault.  Selected drill intersections include:

The 1,400 by 500 m Gold Vein zone is a very strong gold-silver anomaly that is marked by wide alteration zones on the south margin of the QVZ quartz-feldspar porphyry.  Selected drill intersections include:

The Sonora Gulch property covers a tectonic setting where the Big Creek fault, a first-order regional northwest-trending structure, intersects both mid- and Late Cretaceous magmatism, representing a highly prospective target area for economic metal deposits.² The Big Creek fault is recognized as a controlling structure to many mineral occurrences in the Dawson Range including Triumph Gold Corp.’s Freegold Mountain gold deposit located 70 km southwest of Sonora Gulch.  In addition, Newmont’s Coffee gold deposit is located 75 kilometres northwest on the same mineralizing trend.

Recent Developments

On September 2, 2017, $360 million in combined federal and territorial funding to improve road access in the mineral-rich areas of the Dawson Range in central Yukon and the Nahanni Range Road in southeastern Yukon was announced by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Premier of Yukon, Sandy Silver.  The “Yukon Resource Gateway Project” will help upgrade over 650 kilometres of road and build or replace numerous bridges, culverts, and stream crossings including four separate public road systems In the Dawson Range where Taku holds ten properties enclosing 2,366 mineral claims covering a total of 48,261 hectares.  In particular the upgrades to the winter-only access Casino Trail, which currently passes through Taku’s Sonora Gulch and Chopin properties will have a lasting positive effect on the projects’ logistics and provide long term benefits to Taku and its shareholders.

1. R.H. (2011) Technical Report on the Sonora Gulch Project, Yukon Territory. Prepared by Watts, Griffis and McQuat. (unpubl.);
2. Bennett, V., Schulze, C., Ouellette, D. and Pollries, B., 2010. Deconstructing complex Au-Ag-Cu mineralization, Sonora Gulch project, Dawson Range: A Late Cretaceous evolution to the epithermal environment. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2009, K.E. MacFarlane, L.H. Weston and L.R. Blackburn (eds.), Yukon Geological Survey, p. 23-45; and
3. Ouellette, D., 2013. Assessment Report on the 2011 Diamond Drilling Program, Sonora Gulch Property, Dawson Range, Yukon Yukon Energy Mines and Resources Assessment Report No. 096382