Chilean group Antofagasta has taken an option to acquire 70% in the Tanacross copper/gold project in eastern Alaska by spending $30-million on exploration over eight years and delivering a preliminary economic assessment.
Kenorland Minerals, which is listed on the TSX-V, will initially remain the operator of the project.
Once Antofagasta has earned its 70% interest, Kenorland and Antofagasta will form a 30:70 joint venture.
“The property, which covers numerous mineralised systems and target areas, warrants significant exploration to unlock the discovery potential that we believe exists. We look forward to getting back on the ground as soon as possible to begin work which will lead towards drill-target definition,” comments Kenorland CEO Zach Flood.
The Tanacross project covers 45 000 ha of Alaska State-owned land, about 70 km north-east of Tok, along the Alaska Highway.
The project hosts a cluster of late Cretaceous porphyry copper occurrences including East Taurus, West Taurus and Bluff.
The project has seen a total of 17 076 m of drilling in over 67 drill holes, since the initial discovery of East Taurus in 1971 by Duval. Multiple drill campaigns have been carried out by nine different companies including the most recent drill programme in 2019 when the property was held under option to Freeport McMoRan.
The best historical results from the project include drilling at East Taurus, where 08DDH040 intersected 232.56 m at 0.31% copper, 0.25 g/t gold and 0.036% molybdenum.