Eagle Plains | Mackenzie Valley - Silver, Lead, Zinc Exploration Project

Mackenzie Valley (Selwyn Recce) | (Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc)

On January 30th, 2005 Eagle Plains Resources Ltd (EPL:TSX-V) was granted the exclusive exploration rights to over 1357 sq. kms of lands straddling the Yukon/NWT Territorial border, considered to be highly prospective for the presence of large silver-lead zinc deposits. Additional permits had been acquired in 2006 and 2007 granting rights for a total of over 8550 sq. kms.

Prospecting Permits

The permit tenure rights occur in the form of NWT-government-granted “prospecting permits” which enable the holder to complete exploration activity over large tracts of ground for a period of three years, with the exclusive right to acquire mineral tenure title within these lands during that period.

Proprietary Database

In June 2006 EPL announced that it had retained maps and 5700 stream-sediment sample pulps collected during the 1970s in the area now covered by prospecting permits obtained by EPL.

This was a boon for EPL as it provided information to create a proprietary database over the very area it held exclusive exploration rights, saving greatly on both time and money.

By the summer of 2006, EPL geologists had interpreted some of the anomalous values resulting from the analysis and mapped these values over a portion of the prospecting permits. The results of this mapping were used to guide a 5-man, $700,000 multi-disciplinary regional reconnaissance program. Due to the extensive area covered by the stream samples, only a small proportion of the anomalies were followed up with the 2006 fieldwork

Discovery

The results of this reconnaissance program were fantastic. The discovery of previously undetected high-grade silver with associated copper, lead and zinc mineralization was located in outcrop over significant widths in an area within 70km of the Canol Road. Named “Bronco”, the occurrence consists of sedimentary-hosted mineralization that appears to be part of a larger mineralized system some 7km in length. The discovery area has been subjected to virtually no historic exploration activity, and presents an unprecedented opportunity for Eagle Plains to head a district-scale exploration campaign in a highly prospective region.

Strategic Alliance with Teck Resources

Between June 2007 and May 2009 Eagle Plains and Teck Resources formed a Strategic Alliance to explore the permit areas excluding the Bronco claim group. As a result of these grass roots exploration efforts, a number of highly encouraging prospects had been staked and retained by Eagle Plains, these are:

- Art-Ekwi

- Bear-Twit

- Keg

- Justice

- Snake

Legacy

These few seasons of exploration work in the Mackenzie Mountains can be highlighted by the following:

- Creation of a proprietary geochemical database held by EPL covering a regional area of over 19,000 sq/km.

- Discovery of the Bronco Occurrence.

- A 2 year Strategic Alliance with Teck Resources resulting in 5 new highly prospective project areas being staked.

- The acquisition of "Prospecting Permits" focusing on gold targets that were derived from the database and the sale of these rights to Aben Resources for 5 million shares (see news release Feb 1, 2011)

History

The area was once subject to extensive exploration during the 1970s and early 1980s and was site of numerous drilling programs, dozens of grassroots examinations, and thousands of individual claims held by various junior and major exploration companies such as RTZ, Placer Dome Inc., Bethlehem Copper, Cominco , Noranda , Amax, Serem and others. As a result of the area's remote location and languishing metal prices over the past decade, EPL was able to secure the entire district, complete with all public data associated with millions of dollars of exploration activity carried out. Recent announcements regarding the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline suggest that the entire area must now be looked on in an entirely new economic framework.

Geology

The claims and prospecting permits held by Eagle Plains overlie mesozoic-aged platformal miogeosinclinal sediments of the Selwyn basin, a stratigraphic sequence known to host such giant base-metal deposits as Howards Pass as well as the Tom, Jason and others.

Updated July 14, 2011

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