Yukon Metals Corp. (CSE: YMC, FSE: E770, OTCQB: YMMCF) has announced the staking of the Tummel Tungsten Project, covering 3,100 hectares over 150 claims on a high-grade historic scheelite occurrence in the Yukon. The project adds to the company's district-scale portfolio of tungsten-skarn projects, including its flagship Risby property and high-grade historic tungsten showings at its Clea claims.
New Tummel Staking Details
The newly staked claims cover the historic scheelite occurrence, where historical grab samples returned values up to 1.56% tungsten trioxide (WO₃). Tummel is situated at the northwestern end of an approximately 160-kilometre prospective trend characterized by Glenlyon batholith intrusives in contact with Cambrian carbonates, with Risby located to the southeast along the same trend.
Strategic Tungsten Trend
The company staked Tummel following a regional review of prospective tungsten targets south of the Tintina Fault. The geological setting is considered favourable for tungsten skarn mineralization and is interpreted by the company to extend southeast toward its Risby Property. The newly staked claims were selected to cover the most prospective portion of the Tummel area, including the Cretaceous intrusive contact with carbonate units, the historic scheelite occurrence, and nearby elevated tungsten values reported in regional geochemical survey samples.
Advanced Risby Asset
Risby hosts a 2009 historic, non-National Instrument 43-101 compliant inferred estimate of 8.5 million tonnes at 0.475% WO₃ at a 0.2% WO₃ cutoff. The company's Yukon tungsten assets also include Clea, where historic drilling reportedly returned high-grade intervals up to 1.3 metres grading 7.06% WO₃ and 1.2 metres grading 3.02% WO₃.
CEO Commentary
“The Tummel claims extend our tungsten footprint along the same geological trend that hosts Risby, strengthening a portfolio that we are actively advancing,” said the company’s CEO, Jim Coates. “With a historic high-grade scheelite sample, favourable skarn geology, and elevated tungsten stream geochemistry, Tummel consolidates our district-scale tungsten land position in the Yukon.”
Historic Background
The project covers a historic tungsten occurrence originally discovered by prospecting and staked as the Bull claims in August 1968 by Union Carbide Corporation. Historic work appears to have been limited to sampling and preliminary evaluation. Previous reports describe scheelite mineralization occurring in alternating layers of diopside-garnet skarn and hornfels developed in Lower Cambrian metasedimentary rocks. The scheelite mineralization is reported to be best developed near the north contact of a poorly exposed quartz monzonite dyke. Historic grab samples from an approximately three-metre by two-metre outcrop reportedly assayed 1.56% WO₃. Associated sulphide content was described as negligible, although the Geological Survey of Canada noted pyrrhotite zones nearby.
