Catalyst PGM
Location: Yukon, Canada | Commodities: PGM |
Interest: 100% | Size: 16,310 Hectares |
The Catalyst Project is located 35 kilometers (km) northwest of Burwash Landing and only 15km south of the Alaska Highway along the Donjek River. The project includes the Donjek-Arch claims, covering 6,770 contiguous hectares directly northwest of and adjacent to the Wellgreen deposit, and the North Corky and East Vault claims, consisting of 9,540 hectares directly southeast of and with portions adjacent to the Wellgreen deposit. Prophecy Platinum (TSX-V: NKL) has reported an Indicated Resource of 14.4 Mt at 0.68% Ni, 0.62% Cu, and 2.23 g/t Pt+Pd+Au grade, and an Inferred Resource of 446.6 Mt at 0.31% Ni, 0.25% Cu, and 0.87 g/t Pt+Pd+Au grade at a 0.22% NiEq cut-off for Wellgreen (see Prophecy Platinum news release, June 18, 2012).
As with Wellgreen, Catalyst is also in the Kluane Ultramafic Belt, a 600km-long belt of rocks characterized by mafic to ultramafic Triassic-aged sills intruded into Carboniferous to Triassic sedimentary and volcanic rocks. The Donjek claims were first staked on strongly anomalous aeromagnetic highs. In 2004, inversions of Geological Survey of Canada magnetic data determined that these anomalies are consistent with what would be expected from ultramafic rocks. Additional smaller magnetic highs are interpreted to be potentially a fault-bounded slice of ultramafic rock. A historic ground VLF-EM survey over the one of magnetic highs located an open-ended northwest trending conductor. Airborne geophysics completed in 1996 identified a well-defined resistivity low associated with a strong magnetic high and several moderately broad conductors. Geological mapping and sampling in 2001 identified pyritic mafic and ultramafic rocks, including peridotite and gabbro, underlying the claims. Five rock samples returned values as high as 424 ppm Cu; 4 ppb Pt, 247 ppm Cr, 681 ppm Ni and 18 ppb Au.
The Arch claims cover a nickel-copper-PGE showing, hosted by Triassic mafic to ultramafic sills of the Kluane Suite, intruding the Carboniferous Station Creek Formation. Also on the Arch claims is a showing with interstitial and disseminated pyrite, chalcopyrite±pentlandite in two 15m wide gabbroic bodies with an adjacent stockwork zones into older volcanic rocks that reported historic values of 0.20% Ni and 0.55% Cu with 0.15 g/t Au. A second showing one kilometer further to the south has disseminated pyrite, magnetite and pyrrhotite hosted in altered carbonate adjacent to a variably serpentinized peridotite sill, which returned 0.11 g/t Pt, 0.11 g/t Pd, 0.16% Ni, 0.07% Cu and 0.14 g/t Au over two meters. Additional historic magnetic and VLF anomalies are present on the property that require follow-up prospecting and sampling (from Yukon Geological Survey Minfile Nos. 115G-026, -033, and -088, Assessment Report Nos. 094396, 093662, 017513, 092578, 092575, 092744, 094253, 094250, 094466, 094217, 017459).
Very little is known about the geology of the southeastern claims comprising the Catalyst Project, which were recently acquired from Caribou King Resources for 750,000 shares. Mapping over portions of the claims indicates that sedimentary rocks similar to those found at Wellgreen are present, but ultramafic rocks have not been located.
For a 100% stake in the northwestern claims, Ashburton will issue seven million common shares of the company to Denali over three years.
Dr. Tom E. McCandless, P.Geo., an advisor to Ashburton and Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has approved the information contained on this webpage. The property has not been the subject of a National Instrument 43-101 report, and Dr. McCandless has not verified the technical data provided for the project.