Ester Dome

Summary


The Ester Dome property consists of 181 Alaska State mining claims covering approximately 8800 acres or 13.75 sq mi (35.61 sq km) near Fairbanks, Alaska (Figure 1). The property is held by a mining lease agreement with Range Minerals Corporation that is subject to escalating annual payments and a production royalty.

Historically, approximately 40 small lode gold mines and prospects were developed on Ester Dome and over 3 million ounces of alluvial gold were mined from drainages on the flanks of the dome. The Ester Dome project covers the majority of the upland source for these 3 million ounces of alluvial gold.

On the property, reported drilling by Placer Dome Exploration (Figure 6) returned high-grade intercepts of 19.7 ft of 2.7 oz Au/t (6 m of 91.2 g Au/t) and 10 ft of 0.513 oz Au/t (3 m of 17.6 g Au/t).

Recent work by Miranda Gold has concentrated on substantiating and advancing a Reduced Intrusive Related Gold System (RIRGS) target on the north side of Ester Dome where a cluster of mapped intrusive bodies are spatially associated with placer workings and a large 6700 ft by 800 to 3000 ft (2040 m by 280 to 910 m) gold in soil anomaly (Figure 2).

Reconnaissance prospecting on Ester Dome by Miranda Gold has established the local occurrence of sheeted veins in both metasediments and intrusive rocks that are similar to examples of veining from the intrusive-associated multi-million ounce Fort Knox gold deposit approximately 24 mi (39 km) to the northeast (Figure 3).

Miranda Gold has signed a letter of intent with Agnico-Eagle USA Ltd. whereby Agnico may earn a joint venture interest in the Ester Dome project.

Location


The project is located in the Fairbanks Mining District, within the Fairbanks North Star Borough in central Alaska. It lies six miles (10 km) northwest of the city of Fairbanks (Figure 1). Convenient road access is available on the paved Ester Dome Road, graveled Henderson road and numerous jeep trails. Typically snow inhibits access between November and May.

Geology and Mineralization


Ester Dome is comprised of Proterozoic, amphibolite facies, metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the Fairbanks Schist, Upper Devonian amphibolite facies and metasedimentary rocks of the Muskox Sequence, and scattered bodies of granodiorite o f presumed Cretaceous age. The individual schist units are separated by inferred thrust contacts. Mineralization appears to be intimately related to the intrusive event. The geology and mineralization on the Ester Dome project is prospective for high-grade vein and shear-hosted gold deposits as well as large tonnage intrusive related bulk minable gold deposits.

The Ryan Lode deposit (2.4 million ounce gold resource) is located approximately 2000 ft (600 m) to the southeast of the Ester Dome property boundary and is hosted within high angle shears in intrusive and metasediments.

Exploration History


The most recent exploration on Ester Dome was conducted by Placer Dome Exploration ("PDX") for a nine-month period in 1998. PDX worked under a mandate to delineate a plus one million ounce resource within the nine-month period and drilled 14,620 ft (4,460 m) in 21 core and 10 reverse circulation drill holes. Reported highlights of that drilling are:
  • The best PDX hole (98EDC018) intersected 19.7 ft of 2.7 oz Au/t (6 m of 91.2 g Au/t) from 360 to 381 ft (110 to 116 m).
  • Seven holes proximal to 98EDC018 had intercepts that averaged 6.4 ft of 0.081 oz Au/t (1.96 m of 2.77 g Au/t).
  • The last hole drilled by PDX (98EDC031) was a 500 ft (152 m) step out from their area of focused drilling and intersected 10 ft of .513 oz Au/t (3 m of 17.6 g Au/t) at 673 ft (205 m). This hole was never followed up with additional drilling.
Over 12,000 surface soil and rock samples (Figure 4 and 5) provide multiple undrilled gold anomalies on the property, including a soil anomaly that extends 6,700 ft (2040 m) from the significant PDX drill hole intercepts. Miranda Gold completed a 400 sample soil grid to substantiate and delineate this anomaly and permitted a road for drill access.

Target Discussion


Ester Dome and the Fairbanks District are considered part of the Tintina Gold Province that extends from southwest Alaska through central Yukon and contains resources of approximately 35 million ounces of gold. The Tintina is characterized by variants of intrusive-related gold system deposits.

Fairbanks area gold deposits, such as Fort Knox (+6 million ounces) which is hosted in an intrusive and characterized by sheeted quartz veins and shears, and True North (1.3 million ounces) that is hosted in complex imbricate shears in metasediments, provide target analogues for exploration at Ester Dome.

Of immediate interest is a Reduced Intrusive Related Gold System (RIRGS) target on the north side of Ester Dome where a cluster of mapped intrusive bodies are spatially associated with placer workings and a large 6700 ft by 800 to 3000 ft (2040 m by 280 to 910 m) gold in soil anomaly (Figure 2).

2011 Plans


Miranda Gold has signed a letter of intent with Agnico-Eagle USA Ltd whereby Agnico may earn a joint venture interest in the Ester Dome project. Agnico forecasts spending $500,000 on the property in 2011, including eight drill holes totaling 4,500 ft (1370 m).