Millrock announces two new Alaska drilling projects for 2012

Millrock Resources (CVE:MRO) announced Tuesday that it has confirmed programs and budgets with its funding partner for two drilling programs in Alaska in 2012.

These projects are the subject of potential joint venture agreements with Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC), and both are presently still in the option phase.

Work will be funded by Kinross and carried out by Millrock, and under the terms of the agreements, Kinross may earn up to a 75 percent interest in the projects.

The first drilling program will be done at the company’s Humble mining project in southwest Alaska, and the second will be done at its Council project on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska.

Humble, located approximately 120 kilometres to the southwest of the Pebble deposit in a similar geological setting, targets copper-gold porphyry deposits.

Millrock said the Pebble prospect has been estimated to hold about 81 billion pounds of copper, 107 million ounces of gold and 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum.

Five holes totaling 1,000 metres are planned for the Humble project, and the company said drilling is scheduled to begin in April
2012.

Millrock said its Council project, located roughly 100 kilometres northeast of Nome, Alaska, will target sediment-hosted vein gold deposits.

The planned program for this project consists of six holes totaling approximately 1,000 metres, and the company said drilling is scheduled to begin in July 2012.

Millrock said the drill holes will test a seven kilometre-long gold, arsenic soil anomaly that overlies a regional structural feature.

The company reported that at places the soil anomaly is up to 400 metres in width and both exploration programs may be expanded if initial results are positive.

Millrock currently has 12 active exploration projects, eight gold-copper properties in Alaska, and four porphyry copper prospects in Arizona.