Other Projects

Rimfire Portfolio - Wernecke Breccias, Yukon

• 23 significant iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) +/- uranium, uranium-gold and uranium targets identified.

• Three new uranium targets and one uranium-gold target identified in 2006 including the Thunder Mountain Prospect which returned 99.2 g/t gold, 0.57 % U3O8 and 5.1 g/t silver from a float sample.

• Claim position quadrupled to 2000 claims among 30 individual properties.

• $6 million work program included a 10,000 meter diamond drilling program in 2007.

• 2007 drilling program continued at the Wernecke until late September.

• New prospecting and scintillometer surveys identified a new zone, the Rio, on the TVA Property (see press release dated July 5, 2007). Scintillometer surveys identified a radioactive zone from which 41 locally-derived float samples assayed between 0.08% and 0.60% U3O8, averaging 0.31% U3O8. The map below shows the Rio, with the radioactive zones highlighted in red and orange colors in relation to the rock sample locations.

• 2007 Hem drill hole locations and magnetics map

• 2007 Pagisteel Fault soil geochemistry and drill hole location map

• 2007 Hoover Drill Results

• 2007 Hoover Drill Results Table

• 2007 Rio Zone scintillometer survey and rock sample results

This part of the Yukon is thought to have been physically connected to southern Australia at the time that the extraordinary uranium-copper-gold-silver Olympic Dam Deposit (3,810 Mt at 1.10% Cu and 0.04%) was formed. Prior work in the area suggests that similar Olympic Dam-type deposits may have formed in the Wernecke Mountains 1.6 billion years ago before the two continents were torn apart.


The Wernecke Project consists of over2,000 quartz claims (totalling 450 km2) in 30 claim groups over an area of 60 x 70 km in the Wernecke Mountains, approximately 170 km northeast of Mayo in east-central Yukon. The claim package is the second largest in this exciting new uranium IOCG district and is held by a joint venture between Fronteer Development Group Inc. ("Fronteer" - 80%) and Rimfire Minerals Corporation ("Rimfire" - 20%). Other significant explorers in the area include Cash Minerals, Mega Uranium and Signet Minerals.


The core Wernecke land position was acquired from Newmont and Breakwater in 2006, which includes Newmont's proprietary Geoscience Dataset that was built over a period of four years while Newmont was actively exploring the region. The dataset covers 5,000 square kilometres and includes airborne radiometric and magnetic surveys, geological and geochemical surface sample data, as well as geological data from 14,600 metres of drilling.


The Wernecke project is an opportunity to participate in district scale exploration for two main target types:

1. world class IOCG deposits including related, structurally-controlled veins, and

2. unconformity-related uranium deposits. The potential of the project is highlighted by:

   • The Wernecke Project provides immediate exposure to drill results in this IOCG - Uranium district through a strong operating partner in Fronteer Development Group Inc. who are already implementing a C$6 Million exploration budget for 2007.

   • The Wernecke Breccias share many of the characteristics of iron oxide copper-gold ± uranium (IOCG) deposits on a world-wide scale, such as the Olympic Dam deposit in the Stuart Shelf of South Australia, which contains about 3.18 billion tonnes of ore at a grade of 1.1% Cu and 0.4 kg/tonne U3O8.

   • Acquisition of large land package from Newmont Canada Limited ("Newmont") and Breakwater Resources Ltd. ("Breakwater") including proprietary regional airborne magnetic and radiometric survey and large scale geochemical, geological and drilling database.

   • Fieldwork in 2006 led to the recognition of significant new uranium and uranium - high grade gold mineralization on the Fireweed, Jazz - Thunder Mountain and Mica-Hail properties. Examples include:

     • Fireweed showing where 88 float boulders averaged 0.23 U3O8 with a maximum value of 4.8% U3O8 along with 0.30 g/t Au. The boulders occur within a 400 by 200 m area.

     • Wombat showing comprises altered sedimentary rocks with silicified portions containing coarse-grained brannerite. Select samples from this material returned up to 17.8% U3O8 with 0.4% Zn and 0.1% Cu.

     • Thunder Mountain Showing comprises gold-uranium-copper mineralization over an interpreted source area measuring at least 550 by 400 m. The area is characterized by two distinct geochemical signatures in samples. Firstly, samples with chalcopyrite in veins and disseminated within breccias commonly contain >1% Cu and >1 g/t Au with elevated Ag and Co. A second mineralization type is from carbonate-specularite-K-feldspar altered breccias that contain bonanza grade Au (three samples >20 g/t Au) with elevated Ag, U and Mo. Maximum values from individual rock samples at Thunder Mountain are 0.68 % U3O8, 99.2 g/t Au, 19.4 g/t Ag and 0.113% Mo.