Fireweed drills aim for expansion at Yukon zinc project
Fireweed Metals Corp., [FWZ-TSXV, FWEDF-OTCQB, 20F-FSE] said Tuesday it is now drilling its flagship Macmillan Pass zinc-lead-silver project, which is located in the eastern edge of the Yukon, 350 kilometres northeast of Whitehorse.
Macmillan Pass property is thought to be one of the world’s leading undeveloped zinc projects.
The company said it expects to complete over 7,000 metres of drilling using 4.0 drills, making it the largest drill program that Fireweed has ever carried out at Macmillan Pass. Fireweed was originally planning to complete 8,000 metres, but had to scale back its plans due to the late start, and will target four zones.
Previously known as Fireweed Zinc, the company recently changed its name to reflect the fact that it is now a leading critical metals company, with projects hosting major deposits of zinc and tungsten, each with unique supply dynamics and compelling demand growth.
According to a NI 43-101 technical report, the Macmillan Pass project hosts an indicated resource in the Tom and Jason zones of 11.21 million tonnes of 9.61% zinc equivalent or 6.59% zinc, 2.48 g/t silver, including 1.63 billion pounds of zinc, 610 million pounds of lead and 7.69 million ounces of silver.
On top of that is an inferred resource of 39.47 million tonnes of 10% of zinc equivalent, including 5.845 zinc, 3.14% lead, 38.15 g/t silver or 5.08 billion pounds of zinc, 2.73 billion pounds of lead and 48.41 million ounces of silver.
A preliminary economic assessment announced in May, 2018, says that material can sustain a mining operation for 18 years, one where average yearly contained metal production would be 85,000 tonnes of zinc, 48,000 tonnes of lead and 2 million ounces of silver.
Fireweed said drilling this year is designed to test step-outs around the peripheries of the Boundary and Boundary West zones, in addition to testing a potential connection between the two zones. Three of the drills will operate at Boundary West. A fourth will drill Tom West, Tom North, Jason and Jason South subzones, targeting select extensions and other parts of these four large zinc-lead-silver deposits.
“By the end of the 2022 campaign, Fireweed will have four seasons of additional drill data to inform new mineral resources for the project, including an inaugural resource for the Boundary, Boundary West, End Zone and Tom North Zones, and an updated resource for Tom West, Tom East, Tom Southeast, Jason and Jason South subzones,’’ the company said.
On July 25, 2022, Fireweed shares closed unchanged at 53 cents and currently trade in a 52-week range of 91 cents and 50 cents.
Fireweed recently agreed to acquire a 100% interest in the Mactung Tungsten Project, which is also located in the Yukon, immediately adjacent to the Macmillan Pass project. Fireweed said Mactung is one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world and one of the few potential sources of scale for this critical metal outside China.