Yukon Metals posts 2025 AZ Project exploration plans, Yukon Territory
Yukon Metals Corp. [CSE: YMC, FSE: E770, OTCQB: YMMCF] reported details of its upcoming exploration program at the 11,755-hectare AZ Project, located approximately 36km south of Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, and is the largest of Yukon Metals’ 17 properties, which total over 42,500 hectares.
Highlights of the 2025 planned exploration: 2,000 metres of diamond drilling at Chair Mountain to test key targets along a 1.2-kilometer-long gossan zone, located 6km west of the Alaska Highway.
Follow-up on the Nutzotin skarn mineral occurrence, where historic trench samples returned up to 10.3% copper as well as testing of an intrusive-hosted chalcopyrite-bearing vein system located 200 metres east of the skarn (Marylin Creek Stock).
Airborne geophysical surveys using magnetic and VTEM to refine structural interpretations and identify potential conductive mineralization along the 5km long Chair-to-Nutzotin trend.
Rory Quinn, President & CEO stated, “The surface copper anomalies, oxidation, alteration, and proximity to a regionally mapped structure make the 5km-long Chair to Nutzotin trend a highly attractive exploration target. The systematic approach – integrating historical data, modern geophysics and targeted drilling – will allow Yukon Metals to refine its exploration model and unlock further potential at the AZ project.”
Building on last season’s successful prospecting at Chair Mountain, where rock chip samples returned up to 3.49% copper, the company has identified a high-priority target area extending an additional 2.5 km toward the Nutzotin mineral occurrence.
Notably, hematite alteration observed at surface and the presence of multiple copper occurrences along this corridor suggest the potential for a porphyry-style system. This corridor will be the focus of a multifaceted exploration program that includes 2,000 metres of diamond drilling, systematic mapping and geochemical sampling, and an airborne magnetic and VTEM (Versatile Time-Domain Electromagnetic) survey to target additional drill holes.
AZ Project: In September 2024, Yukon Metals conducted a helicopter-supported mapping and sampling program on its AZ property. A prominent zone of orange iron-stained and altered rocks was followed over 1.2 km on the north and eastern flanks of Chair Mountain. Consistent copper mineralization was found along the prospected area.
Of the sixty rock-chip samples taken, 18 samples showing significant copper content, assayed from 0.12-3.49%. Hematite alteration was also noted in the area. This can be associated with oxidized hydrothermal fluids, which are key drivers in forming major porphyry copper deposits.
Rock-chip samples were collected in quartz veins within basalt and andesite volcanic rocks in both outcrop and float exposures near the ridge tops. This area is coincident with a major topographic lineament, mapped regionally as a NW trending fault zone, that extends a further kilometer down to Sanpete Creek (a past alluvial gold producer) and the property boundary to the southeast.
The large gossan and mineralized veins provide evidence of a large hydrothermal system driving fluids through the faults and fractures on Chair Mountain. Strongly clay-altered biotite-quartz diorite dykes were mapped in the vicinity of mineralization and are interpreted to be part of the Nutzotin suite of intrusions.
The Nutzotin mineral occurrence lies 2.5km northwest of Chair Mountain along strike of a large fault mapped by the Yukon Geologic Survey in 2007. Two skarn showings were uncovered in this area in the late 1960’s which reportedly yielded up to 10.3% copper and 16.4 g/t silver with trace gold. Historical chip sampling over three trenches returned variable copper values, with the best returning 0.6% copper over 12 metres (AR 095814).
During a 2006 exploration program, a composite grab sample #RC276270 over a granite stock northeast of the skarn showings returned significant copper mineralization of 1,485 ppm (AR 094599). Silt sample #TC276691 downstream of the stock returned 0.183 g/t gold (AR 094599).
A small exploration program in 2012 by Strategic Metals uncovered a new mineralized zone on the northern contact of the stock with soil samples ranging between 134 to 1,105 ppm copper (AR 096422).
Limited outcrop exposure, permafrost and extensive volcanic ash over the soil profile has previously challenged exploration efforts in this area. Yukon Metals successfully deployed a deep permafrost soil drilling technique in 2024 at the Birch property which was designed for similar difficult exploration terrain. The use of this system at AZ in 2025 has the potential to reveal geochemical continuity between mineralized outcrops.