Fireweed Metals Names its Mactung Project Largest High-Grade Tungsten Deposit in the World

by Sarah Vega - Content Writer, The Assay


Mactung drilling map showing the vertical projection of open-pit inferred and indicated Resources, conceptual pit outline, and location of cross-sections.

Fireweed Metals (TSXV: FWZ | OTC: FWEDF) has released a new mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Mactung tungsten project in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada.

Mactung’s MRE included a total of 41.5Mt of indicated resource grading at 0.73% tungsten trioxide (WO3) and an inferred resource of 12.2Mt at 0.59% WO3. The deposit also contains copper and gold byproducts with a total breakdown of its indicated resource at 12.2Mt grading 0.058% Cu and 0.078g/t Au.

“In one year, we have gone from signing an initial Letter of Intent to a Definitive Asset Purchase Agreement to the publication of new mineral resource for Mactung,” commented Fireweed CEO Brandon Macdonald.

“We have taken the historic resource through a process involving relogging, resampling, and a rigorous, modern estimation methodology, and confirmed an impressive and world-class tungsten resource at Mactung*.”

Mactung was originally discovered and staked in 1962, where it passed through many owners until 1997 when North American Tungsten acquired it. The project was given the environmental go-ahead in 2014, but the following year, North American was granted creditor protection (related to its Cantung mine to the south), and the territory purchased the property for C$4.5M. Earlier this year, Fireweed purchased the project for C$15M in a staged arrangement.

The project neighbors Fireweed’s Macmillan Pass zinc-lead-silver project camp and airstrip and provides opportunities for future project collaboration. In addition, the recent MRE has identified an exploration target and is estimated at 2.5Mt to 3.5Mt grading between 0.4% – 0.6% WO3, within the mineral resource.

“This not only reaffirms Mactung’s unmatched combination of grade and scale but establishes it as a truly strategic critical minerals project for the West with the underground resource alone able to supply much of North America’s expected demand for decades.” Macdonald added.

For further information, please visit: www.fireweedmetals.com

*: References to relative size and grade of the Mactung mineral resources and Macmillan Pass mineral resources in comparison to other tungsten and zinc deposits elsewhere in the world, respectively, are based on review of the S&P’s Global Market Intelligence Capital IQ database.