Constantine Metal Resources is not as active at the Palmer deposit this summer as it was in past years, but the company says the project is still its “core asset.”
In an e-mail, Darwin Green, a geologist with the company, said Constantine won’t be drilling on the property as in the past four years, but it is continuing with baseline work and desktop studies to help refine future exploration plans.
“We expect it to be a major part of the Company’s future,” Green wrote.
The site at 38 Mile Haines Highway and adjacent to the active placer mining operations along Porcupine Creek spurred the creation of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd., in 2006 with the primary purpose of exploring the mineral potential of the Palmer Property. Since then, the company has conducted mapping, rock and soil sampling, prospecting, geophysical and mineralogical studies and completed about 40,000 feet of drilling in 32 holes. Last summer the company spent about $2.5 million on activities during its four-month season, up $500,000 from the year before. A crew of 25 included eight Haines residents.
While there is less activity this summer, the company is employing four or five Haines residents for the season. It also is sponsoring a graduate student who is using the project as the basis for a thesis. Constantine will have an informational booth at the Southeast Alaska State Fair.
The company is active on several other projects this year including a more than $4 million drill program south of Atlin, B.C., a large regional gold exploration program in east central Yukon and a recently completed drill program in Ontario.