HARLAN GOLD PROPERTY
East-Central Yukon Territory
Executive Summary
The Harlan Property, 100% owned by NovaGold Resources Inc., is located 150 kilometers north
of the town of Ross River, within the Tintina Gold Belt. The property consists of 339 Yukon
quartz mining claims covering 17,490 acres (7,098 hectares). The property is located 35
kilometers southeast of the Plata Airstrip and has winter road access from Yukon Highway 6, 60
kilometers to the southeast.
NovaGold has identified two kilometric scale target areas with highly anomalous gold, bismuth,
arsenic and antimony in surface rock and soil geochemical sampling on the property. The Harlan
Project area was first identified in 1997 during a regional geochemical exploration program
focused on bulk tonnage intrusive related and sediment hosted (Carlin-style) gold systems.
Follow-up sampling on the Vortex Zone has identified a northwest trending gold-bismuth-arsenicantimony anomaly measuring 1600 m by 700 m that averages over 500 ppb gold in soil. Rock
samples collected from this area returned values up to 6.5 g/t gold. Within this area is an
intensely brecciated and clay altered core zone measuring 500 m by 300 m that contains gold in
soil values up to 10.4 g/t Au and averages over 1 g/t in soil. This core zone is highly anomalous
in gold, arsenic, and mercury.
Mineralization within the Vortex Zone is associated with intense argillic and advanced argillic
alteration and silicification with multi-episodic quartz stockwork veining and brecciation of
Paleozoic Selwyn Basin sediments including locally calcareous chert pebble conglomerate,
greywacke, siltstone, and shale. This sedimentary sequence has been intruded by the 90-110
million year old Tombstone Plutonic Suite, consisting of altered quartz-monzonitic to granitic
rocks. This suite is also associated with the Pogo, Fort Knox and Brewery Creek deposits, all
located within the Tintina Gold Belt. Numerous north-south, northwest, and northeast oriented
structural zones are evident within the sedimentary sequence. These structures appear to have
controlled emplacement of small dikes and sills as well as subsequent gold mineralization.
A second kilometric scale target area, the West Porphyry Zone, occurs 1 kilometer west of the
Vortex Zone. The 1500 by 500 meter West Porphyry Zone consists of a broad surface
geochemical anomaly containing values to 2.5 g/t Au over 2.0m from rock channel sampling, and
up to 230 ppb Au from silt sampling. Abundant mineralized northwest trending Tombstone Suite
quartz porphyritic monzonite dikes returned values of about 1 g/t Au over 20.8 meters from
channel sampling. Due to the wide-spaced nature of the traverse sampling all of the anomalous
zones are open and expandable.
A two-stage exploration program is envisioned for the year 2000 field season. The first stage
exploration program would have the objective to prioritize final drill targets for drill testing. This
objective would be met through a program of detailed geologic and structural mapping and
additional surface sampling over areas of open high-level soil anomalies. Final drill targets would
be prioritized based on integration of the detailed geologic and structural mapping, surface
geochemistry, and regional geophysical data. The second stage program would have the
objective of drill testing the highest-priority targets within the identified anomalies for their
potential to develop a multi-million ounce bulk mineable gold system. This objective would be met
by drilling a fence of 5-8 NQ core drill holes totalling ~1000 m (3000 ft) across the highest-priority
targets.
Introduction
The Harlan Project, wholly owned by NovaGold Resources Inc, consists of 339 contiguous quartz
mining claims, the CAM 1-8 Claims and HARLAN 1-331 Claims. This report is a summary of
results obtained from the 1997 through 1999 field projects. Exploration consisted of a series of
reconnaissance-style traverses involving rock, soil and silt sampling, leading to discovery and
delineation of significant intrusive and sediment-hosted gold mineralization. No mechanised
trenching and drilling has occurred on the property.
The project has received a full 5 year Class III exploration permit, allowing for unlimited drilling
and trenching of the property.
Location and Access
The Harlan Property is located in east-central Yukon 150 kilometers north of the town of Ross
River. It is centred at 63o14’ N, 131o40’ W on NTS map sheets 1050/4 and 1050/5.
The property is accessible by helicopter from the North Canol Road, Yukon Highway 6, 60
kilometers to the southeast, and from the Plata Airstrip 35 kilometers to the northwest. A winter
road extends to the property from Yukon Highway 6.
Sample Preparation and Assay Procedure
All 1997 and 1998 samples were sent to Chemex Labs in North Vancouver. Soil sample
preparation involved screening of a 100 gram sub-sample of –80 mesh material. Rock sample
preparation consisted of crushing the sample to > 70% -10 mesh, followed by gold fire assaying
of a 30 gram subsumable and 32-element ICP analysis of a 10 gram subsumable. ICP analysis
was done using a standard aqua regia digestion of all elements except mercury. Samples taken
in 1999 were sent to NAL Laboratories of Whitehorse for gold fire assay analysis, then sent to IPL
Laboratories in Vancouver for 30-element ICP analysis.
All rock, soil and silt sampling was quantifiably recorded in the field to ensure a high degree of
quality control, and entered into standardized spreadsheet programs. Criteria for each sample
included: sample type, width of chip sampling, lithology, alteration and mineralization, and “UTM”
location.
Property Exploration History
The Harlan Project area was first identified by Viceroy Resources Inc. in 1997 during a regional
geochemical sampling program focused on identifying new potential bulk tonnage intrusive
related and sediment hosted gold systems. The return of widespread high gold values from
reconnaissance soils and rock chip sampling indicated the potential for previously unrecognized
sediment-hosted and intrusive related gold mineralization on the property. In 1998, further
reconnaissance surface sampling was completed to further delineate the extent of mineralization.
In 1999, NovaGold Resources Inc. acquired 100% interest in the property. NovaGold completed
an exploration program in 1999 to compile the previous surface work and to develop an
exploration strategy to advance the property. Sampling and prospecting was focused on the
most prospective areas of the property to determine the style and intensity of alteration and the
potential extent of the mineralization. Soil and rock sampling confirmed the results from previous
sampling, as well as, defined some new areas for future follow-up.
Regional Geology
The Harlan Property is situated within the Selwyn Basin, a broad package of Paleozoic marine
sediments that extend southeast from the Alaskan border to the Yukon-NWT border, north of the
major northwest trending Tintina Fault. The Selwyn Basin consists of shallow shelf to off-shelf
marine clastic and chemical sediments, as well as basinal clastic sediments derived from the
Ancient North American Platform to the northeast. Several episodes of basin formation have
occurred with deposition of chert and fine clastic sediments followed by periods of increased
erosion and formation of sequences of higher-energy coarsely grained shallow-water sediments.
Age of deposition ranges from Late PreCambrian to Triassic. The Selwyn Basin is comprised of
numerous stratigraphic groups, including: the Hyland Group, consisting of coarse clastic “grits’
and shales formed during the late PreCambrian to early Cambrian Periods; the Ordovician to
Early Devonian Road River Group, consisting of chert, shale, and siltstone; and the DevonoMississippian Earn Group, consisting of chert-pebble conglomerate, greywacke and shale.
The sedimentary rocks of the Selwyn Basin have been intruded by the 90-110 million year old
Mid-Cretaceous Tombstone Plutonic Suite, forming a southeast trending belt of intrusive rocks
extending from Alaska to the Yukon-NWT border. These rocks vary in composition from dioritic to
granitic, most commonly monzonitic to quartz-monzonitic with common porphyritic phases.
These intrusives are closely associated with numerous gold deposits in the region, most notably
the world class Pogo and Fort Knox deposits in Alaska.
In the region of the Harlan Property, several west-northwest trending thrust faults, reactivated as
dextral strike-slip faults, have caused imbrication of Selwyn Basin stratigraphy. Such
“transpressional” faults are associated with fairly intense, locally overturned folding and comprise
a broad deformation belt referred to as the “Gold River Fold Belt”. Stratigraphy is dominated by a
southeast trending imbricated assemblage of Earn Group siliclastics with lesser Road River
Group chert, siltstone, and limestone and Gull Lake Formation siliceous shale and siltstone that
occur within a major northwest trending regional antiformal structure. Several Tombstone Suite
quartz-monzonite to syenite stocks intrude this structural zone and occur within twenty kilometers
of the property. This northwest trending regional antiformal structure also appears to be an
important control to the highly elevated background levels of gold, arsenic, antimony and mercury
in regional stream silt samples in the district.
Property Geology
A thick sequence of Earn Group locally calcareous chert-pebble conglomerate, sandstone and
greywacke underlie the Harlan Property, with lesser shale to siltstone members. Several roughly
southeast trending units of Road River Group shale to siltstone, and graphitic argillite units extend
across the property and appear to be thrust over locally intensely altered Earn Group formation
rocks. In the central part of the property called the Vortex Zone, these Earn Group coarse clastic
sedimentary rocks have undergone strong argillic and advanced argillic alteration and display
multi-episodic fine quartz vein and stockwork development. Southeast trending, moderately south
dipping thrust faults have been mapped within Earn and Road River Group stratigraphy in the
area.
A suite of altered late-stage Tombstone Suite quartz-feldspar porphyritic dikes extends across the
central property area. These extend primarily ESE, but also map other lineation orientations,
largely in the Vortex Zone area. These dikes have intruded the graphitic argillite unit within the
“West Porphyry Zone” up to three kilometers west of the central Vortex area. Dikes display
variable intensities of argillic and phyllic alteration and localized silicification. An area of abundant
feldspar porphyritic rubblecrop in a wooded area south of the Vortex Zone indicates the presence
of a monzonitic stock.
Mineralization
A roughly ten square kilometer area of anomalous surface geochemistry has been identified on
the Harlan Property. Within this broadly anomalous area two kilometric-scale target areas have
been identified on the Harlan Property that contain highly anomalous gold, bismuth, arsenic,
antimony and mercury in rock and soil geochemical samples.
Vortex Zone
The Vortex Zone consists of a SE trending, moderately SW dipping package of Earn Group
chert-pebble conglomerate with lesser sandstone, greywacke, and shale. The area was first
identified based on follow-up of anomalous regional stream silt geochemistry. An intial
reconnaissance soil traverse over Vortex Zone returned a value of 771 ppb Au over a 1,400
meter wide area. This interval, open to the southeast, included a value of 10.4 g/t Au. Additional
sampling has since led to delineation of an open northwest trending gold-bismuth-arsenicantimony-mercury anomaly measuring 1600 by 700 meters averaging over 500 ppb gold in soil.
Rock sampling has returned values to 4.64 g/t Au from quartz-arsenopyrite stockwork veined
altered sediments and to 6.5 g/t Au from quartz-bismuth stockwork veined altered sediments.
The coarse clastic sediments within the Vortex Zone have undergone strong argillic and
advanced alteration with abundant multi-episodic quartz vein and stockwork development. A welldeveloped pyrite and arsenopyrite sulfide “boxwork” occurs across the zone. This intense
alteration area has been strongly weathered resulting in a yellowish to light green color to the
rocks due to arsenic and antimony oxides.
This sedimentary sequence has been intruded by a series of altered Tombstone Suite porphyritic
monzonite dikes and sills. Numerous north-south, north-west, and north-east oriented structural
zones are evident within the sedimentary sequence. These structures appear to have controlled
the emplacement of the small intrusive dikes and sills and were an important focus for later gold
mineralization. Results from all sampled intrusive material average over 200 ppb gold with the
highest returned value 2.5 g/t Au over 2 meters width.
The south-central portion of the Vortex Zone hosts an intensely brecciated and clay altered zone
measuring 500 m by 300 m that contains gold in soil values up to 10.4 g/t Au and averages over
1 g/t in soil. Rocks within the breccia zone contain both altered dike and sedimentary clasts and
are highly anomalous in gold, arsenic, and mercury.
Due to the wide spaced nature of the traverse sampling on the Vortex Zone all of the anomalous
zones are open and expandable.
West Porphyry Zone
A second kilometric scale target area, the West Porphyry Zone, occurs one kilometer west of
the western limit of surface exposure of the Vortex Zone. The West Porphyry Zone, is a less welldefined area of anomalous gold, arsenic, antimony and bismuth geochemistry measuring 1500 by
500 meters in stream sediment and rock chip sampling. The area has abundant alteration within
quartz feldspar porphyry dikes and has returned values to 1 g/t Au over 20 meters. This area has
returned numerous rock chips values of over 1 g/t Au in altered porphyry dikes and stream silts
up to 230 ppb Au.
Poor exposure due to glacial cover has limited sampling to primarily along stream courses.
Exposed dikes display variable intensities of clay and sericite alteration along with localized
silicification. Intense alteration has locally caused complete decrepitation of the intrusives to
coarse, clay rich sand. The only soil traverse completed across the area indicated mixed glacial
cover of 1-2 meters that will require sampling with a soil power auger to get a representative
geochemical sample.
This West Porphyry area is completely open and will require further work to determine the nature
and extent of mineralization.
Conclusions
The Harlan Project is located within a broad package of mid-Paleozoic Selwyn Basin sediments
intruded by a Late Cretaceous Tombstone Suite stock and abundant late-stage porphyritic
monzonite dikes. Two major kilometric-scale targets have been delineated: the Vortex Zone and
West Porphyry Zone, although mineralization is not limited to these features. The Vortex Zone is
the most clearly defined and consists of a strongly argillic and advanced argillic altered Earn
Group chert-pebble conglomerate and altered porphyritic dikes. The zone has an open 1600 by
700 meter >500 ppb gold geochemical anomaly consisting of strongly anomalous arsenic,
antimony, and bismuth. Within this, an area of intense brecciation has a geochemical signature
measuring 500 by 300 meters averaging greater than 1.0 g/t Au in soils.
The West Porphyry Zone, is a less well-defined area of anomalous gold, arsenic, antimony and
bismuth geochemistry measuring 1500 by 500 meters. The area has abundant alteration within
quartz feldspar porphyry dikes and has returned values to 1 g/t Au over 20 meters. This area is
completely open and will require further work to determine the nature and extent of
mineralization.
Recommendations
A two-stage exploration program is envisioned for the year 2000 field season. The first stage
exploration program would have the objective to prioritize final drill targets for drill testing. The
stage 1 objective would be met through a program of detailed geologic and structural mapping
and additional surface sampling over areas of open high-level soil anomalies. Final drill targets
would be prioritized based on integration of the detailed geologic mapping, surface geochemistry
and regional geophysics. This part of the first stage program would last approximately two weeks
beginning in mid-June. Total cost for the first stage program would be approximately C$100,000.
The second stage program would have the objective of drill testing the highest-priority targets
within the identified anomalies for their potential to develop a multi-million ounce bulk mineable
gold system. This objective would be met by drilling a fence of 5-8 NQ core drill holes totaling
~1000 m (3000 ft) across the highest-priority targets. This second stage program would begin in
early July and last approximately 40 days. Total cost for the second stage program would be
approximately C$400,000. Favorable results in the second stage program could be followed-up
with additional drilling in August.
Estimated expenditures for the staged exploration program are summarized as follows:
First Stage Program:
Compilation/Planning/Mapping/target prioritization work:
Supplies and Geochemistry:
Helicopter costs (Hughes 500D) at $1000/hour:
Field Room/Board support 3 people for 10 days:
Total for First Stage Program:
$36,500
$10,000
$50,000
$3,500
C$100,000
Second Stage Program:
All inclusive drilling costs (3000 ft), ~$37/foot:
(includes footage, geochemistry, fuel and supplies)
Helicopter costs (Hughes 500D) at $1000/hour:
(3-hour minimum per day for 40 days)
Personnel 3 staff for 40 days at $1,000/day:
Logistics/Expediting:
Room/Board support 7 people for 40 days:
Project Administration:
10% Contingency:
Total for Second Stage Program:
$110,000
$120,000
$40,000
$20,000
$30,000
$40,000
$40,000
C$400,000
References
Gordey, S.P. and Anderson, R.G. 1993: Evolution of the Northern Cordilleran Miogeosyncline,
Nahanni Map Area (105I), Yukon and Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada,
Memoir 428.
Roots, C.F. Abbott, J.G. Cecile, M.P. Gordey, S.P. 1995: Bedrock Geology of the Lansing Range
Map Area (105N), East Half, Hess Mountains, Yukon; Exploration and Geological Services,
Yukon Region; and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
Schulze, C. 1997: Yukon Regional Project, 1997 Progress Report; In-house report, Viceroy
Exploration (Canada), Inc.
Schulze, C. 1998: 1997 Geological and Geochemical Assessment Report on the Cam 1-8 and
Harlan 1-108 Claims, Viceroy Exploration (Canada), Inc.
Schulze, C. 1999: 1998 Geological and Geochemical Assessment Report on the Harlan
Property; In-house report, Viceroy Exploration (Canada), Inc.