The company plans to drill up to 12,000 metres at its flagship Macpass project in the eastern Yukon, about 200 km north of Ross River near the border with the Northwest Territories. The 949-sq.-km property hosts several large zinc-lead-silver deposits as well as potential by-product credits of gallium and germanium.
This year’s exploration program at Macpass is targeting high-priority regional prospects and step-outs around known deposits and will also test intrusion-related gold targets identified through earlier fieldwork.
Macpass, which comprises the Tom, Jason, End and Boundary zone deposits, hosts 556 million indicated tonnes grading 5.50% zinc, 1.58% lead and 24.2 grams silver, according to last year’s resource update.
Its inferred resource totals 48.46 million tonnes at 5.15% zinc, 2.08% lead, and 25.3 grams silver. Contained metal totals 6.78 billion lb. zinc, 1.95 billion lb. lead and 43.5 million oz. silver.
At the 37-sq.-km Mactung tungsten project, contiguous and 13 km to the north of Macpass, Fireweed is scheduled to drill up to 11,000 metres and undertake environmental baseline fieldwork.
The company intends to start work on an updated feasibility study this year and convert parts of the unclassified and inferred underground resource to the indicated category.
Mactung ranks as the largest high-grade tungsten resource in the world with 41.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.73% tungsten trioxide (WO3) and 12.3 million inferred tonnes at 0.59% WO3, according to a 2023 resource estimate. Fireweed also intends to scan historical drill core from Mactung with advanced scanning technology and incorporate the high-resolution data into its geological model.
Finally, at the 128-sq.-km Gayna zinc-germanium-gallium project, about 180 km north of Macpass, Fireweed plans to drill about 3,000 metres and probe targets along reef margins that have been identified by ground gravity, soil geochemistry and airborne geophysics.
Last December, the U.S. Department of Defense pledged to invest $15.8 million (about $22.5 million) for Mactung under the Defense Production Act, while Canada’s Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund earmarked up to $12.9 million to help Fireweed advance Macpass.
Fireweed Metals has a market cap of about $457 million.
Gladiator Metals
Gladiator Metals (TSXV: GLAD; US-OTC: GDTRF) is advancing its high-grade Whitehorse copper project in Yukon, about 25 km south of Whitehorse. Drilling has focused on the project’s cornerstone prospect, Cowley Park, where near-surface copper-molybdenum mineralization extends over a strike length of more than 700 metres.
The company launched its first stage, 10,000-metre drill program in March. Two rigs will focus on the strike and down dip extensions identified at Cowley Park in Gladiator’s 2024 exploration program.
Highlights from stage one include 14 metres grading 3.39% copper, 0.25 gram gold, 18.81 grams silver and 267 ppm molybdenum within a broader 41.9-metre intercept grading 1.66% copper, 0.15 gram gold, 10.59 grams silver and 944 ppm molybdenum starting from 81.1 metres in drill hole CPG-065.
Hole CPG-067D1 returned 26 metres grading 3.6% copper, 0.08 gram gold, 7.23 gram silver and 324 ppm molybdenum from 103 metres, including 11.52 metres grading 7.54% copper, 0.08 gram gold, 12.7 grams silver and 493 ppm molybdenum starting from 103 metres.
In addition, drilling unveiled a near-surface, high-grade gold zone, with hole CPG-065D3 returning 5.7 metres grading 8.18 grams gold from 10.3 metres.
Assay highlights from last year included 98 metres grading 1.49% copper, 0.04 gram gold, 3.68 grams silver and 187 ppm molybdenum from 103 metres downhole in drill hole CPG-047, including 14 metres of 7.67% copper, 0.07 gram gold, 15.2 grams silver and 217 ppm molybdenum from 145 metres.
The company’s stage two program of about 9,000 metres is to target drilling at Cowley Park.
The company plans to complete an inferred resource estimate for Cowley Park in the first half of 2026.
Gladiator Metals has a market cap of about $55.4 million.
Goliath Resources
Goliath Resources (TSXV: GOT; US-OTC: GOTRF) has kicked off its largest-ever drill program at the company’s Golddigger project in the Golden Triangle of northwestern B.C. The 40,000-metre drill campaign is to deploy nine rigs and is focused entirely on the Surebet gold discovery.
Last year, 59 out of 64 holes drilled at Surebet, returned visible gold. The best hole, GD024-260, from the Bonanza zone, returned 39 metres grading 34.47 grams gold and 3.96 grams silver from 533.9 metres depth, including 10 metres at 132.78 grams gold and 12.98 grams silver; and 8 metres grading 165.84 grams gold and 16.07 grams silver.
In March, McEwen Mining (TSX, NYSE: MUX) invested $10 million in Goliath through a strategic non-brokered private placement and now owns about 5.4% of the company’s shares. In addition, Rob McEwen owns about 3.9% of Goliath on a partially diluted basis.
This year’s exploration program has been designed to outline Surebet’s full geometry laterally and to depth and test for the motherlode intrusive gold source. It will also probe additional Eocene intrusive granitoid dykes and increase pierce points density in stacked veins.
The footprint of the mineralization spans 1.8 sq. km, or the equivalent of 336 football fields, and remains open in all directions. Due to the mountainous topography, mineralization in the veins is exposed over 2.1 km of strike.
Metallurgical results demonstrate recoveries from gravity and flotation of 92.2% including 48.8% free gold from gravity alone, with no deleterious elements.
The project, near Kitsault, is situated on tide water with direct barge access to Prince Rupert, about 190 km away.
Goliath Resources has a market cap of about $325.2 million.
Ramp Metals
Ramp Metals (TSXV: RAMP) is exploring its flagship Rottenstone SW project in northern Saskatchewan, where in one field season it has confirmed three unique mineralized targets,
In June 2024 the company intersected a bonanza gold discovery at its Ranger target, with hole Ranger-01 cutting 7.5 metres at 73.55 grams gold and 19.50 grams silver starting from 227 metres downhole .
At its Rush target, about 7.5 km northwest of Ranger, surface rock samples collected last October returned values of up to 1.61% copper, 0.79 gram gold and up to 113 grams silver, all overlying a 1,200-metre conductive anomaly. In addition, soil geochemistry samples taken above the anomaly returned values up to 798.5 ppm copper and 21,152 parts per billion (ppb) silver (21.15 grams silver).
The company confirmed copper-zinc mineralization at Rush at the end of April, reporting that all three drill holes intersected semi-massive and massive sulphide mineralization. Drill hole Rush-001 was drilled to 177 metres and intersected disseminated sulphide and stringer mineralization from about 12.5 metres to 30 metres downhole. The hole cut semi-massive sulphides from about 31.5 metres to 33.25 metres downhole and massive sulphides were encountered over 3.2 metres from 61.50 metres to 64.69 metres depth. Rush-002 was drilled to 123 metres and hit semi-massive and massive sulphides over 2.7 metres from 69.25 metres to 71.95 metres depth.
Finally, soil samples from the Rogue target, about 3 km northwest of Ranger, have included gold values of up to 530.7 ppb (or 0.53 gram gold), with many samples exceeding 100 .
This year the company plans to drill between 19 and 20 drill holes, with the priority being Ranger.
The 327-sq.-km Rottenstone project is about 715 km north of Regina.
Ramp Metals has a market cap of about $70 million.
