Yukon Metals Begins Inaugural Drilling Program at High-Grade Copper Zone of AZ Property
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yukon Metals Corp. (CSE: YMC, FSE: E770, OTCQB: YMMCF) ('Yukon Metals' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce it has commenced the inaugural drilling program at its 11,755-hectare AZ Project, located 6 kilometers west of the Alaska Highway and 36 kilometres south of Beaver Creek, Yukon. The fully funded exploration program includes 2,000 metres of diamond drilling, along with extensive geological mapping and rock-chip sampling across several high-priority targets. (Figure 4).
2025 AZ Drilling Program:
2,000 metres of diamond drilling of extensive copper mineralization at Chair Mountain, with surface values up to 3.49% copper (Figures 1 and 5).
Hole AZ25-001 contains malachite and azurite down to 22.4m (Figure 2).
Follow-up on the Nutzotin skarn mineral occurrence, where historic trench samples returned up to 10.3% copper (AR # 095814) as well as testing of an intrusive-hosted chalcopyrite-bearing vein system (Figure 4).
Yukon-based and local First Nation contractors engaged: drill pads constructed by Minconsult in partnership with Vision Quest Drilling, a Kluane First Nation citizen-owned company; helicopter support provided by Yukon-based Capital Helicopters; drilling services contracted to Platinum Drilling; camp services provided by Käganì, a Kluane First Nation citizen-owned enterprise in partnership with longstanding Yukon-based exploration contractor - Archer Cathro.
'We are encouraged by the presence of visible copper oxide minerals, including malachite and azurite (Figures 2 and 3), observed in the upper portion of the first hole at AZ,' said Rory Quinn, President & CEO of Yukon Metals. 'These visual indicators align well with our exploration model, and we look forward to receiving assay results to confirm the extent and grade of mineralization.'Figure 1 – First drill rig mobilized at the AZ Project. Photo taken June 6, 2025.Figure 2 – Drill core from hole AZ25-001 at 22.4m containing malachite, azurite, and pyrite. Photo taken June 7, 2025.Figure 3 – Drill core from hole AZ25-001 at 13.4m highlighting strongly oxidized core with abundant azurite mineralization. Photo taken June 7, 2025.Figure 4 - Interpreted mineralization trend the focus of the 2025 field program at AZ highlighted along with 2024 prospected gossan area.
Building on last season's successful prospecting at Chair Mountain, where rock chip samples returned up to 3.49% copper (see YMC news release issued January 15, 2025 here), the Company has identified a high-priority target area extending an additional 2.5 kilometers toward the Nutzotin mineral occurrence. Notably, hematite alteration (see YMC news release issued February 19, 2025 here) observed at surface and the presence of multiple copper occurrences along this corridor suggest the potential for a porphyry-style system.Figure 5 - Sample K140202 grading 3.49% Cu at AZ Project.
About the AZ Project
In September 2024, Yukon Metals conducted a helicopter-supported mapping and sampling program on its AZ property. A prominent zone of orange iron-stained and altered rocks was followed over 1.2 kilometres on the north and eastern flanks of Chair Mountain. Consistent copper mineralization was found along the prospected area. Of the sixty rock-chip samples taken, 18 samples showing significant copper content, assayed from 0.12-3.49%. Hematite alteration was also noted in the area. This can be associated with oxidized hydrothermal fluids, which are key drivers in forming major porphyry copper deposits.
Rock-chip samples were collected in quartz veins within basalt and andesite volcanic rocks in both outcrop and float exposures near the ridge tops. This area is coincident with a major topographic lineament, mapped regionally as a NW trending fault zone, that extends a further kilometer down to Sanpete Creek (a past alluvial gold producer) and the property boundary to the southeast.
The large gossan and mineralized veins provide evidence of a large hydrothermal system driving fluids through the faults and fractures on Chair Mountain. Strongly clay-altered biotite-quartz diorite dykes were mapped in the vicinity of mineralization and are interpreted to be part of the Nutzotin suite of intrusions.
Grant of Equity Incentive Awards
Yukon Metals announces that it has granted a total of 2,594,000 options ("Equity Incentive Awards") to various employees, consultants, directors, and officers of the Company. The Equity Incentive Awards have been granted pursuant to the Company's Omnibus Incentive Plan and are subject to vesting provisions. The options have an exercise price of $0.53 per share and will expire five years from the date of grant.
Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Helena Kuikka, P.Geo., VP Exploration for Yukon Metals and a Qualified Person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101).
About Yukon Metals Corp.
Yukon Metals is well financed and represents a property portfolio built on over 30 years of prospecting by the Berdahl family, the prospecting team behind Snowline Gold's portfolio of primary gold assets. The Yukon Metals portfolio consists primarily of copper-gold and silver-lead-zinc assets, with a substantial gold and silver component. The Company is led by an experienced Board of Directors and Management Team across technical and finance disciplines.
Yukon Metals is focused on fostering sustainable growth and prosperity within Yukon's local communities, while simultaneously enhancing stakeholder value. Our strategy centers around inclusivity and shared prosperity, offering both community members and investors the chance to contribute to, and benefit from, our ventures
The Yukon
The Yukon ranks 10th most prospective for mineral potential across global jurisdictions according to the Fraser Institute's 2023 Survey of Mining Companies and is host to a highly experienced and conscientious local workforce, fostered by a long culture of exploration coupled with deep respect for the land. Recent major discoveries with local roots such as Snowline Gold's Rogue Project - Valley Discovery, demonstrate the Yukon's potential to generate fresh district-scale mining opportunities.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF YUKON METALS CORP.
'Rory Quinn'
Rory Quinn, President & CEOEmail: roryquinn@yukonmetals.comPhone: 604-366-4408
For additional information please contact:
Kaeli GattensVice President, Investor Relations & CommunicationsYukon Metals Corp.Email: kaeligattens@yukonmetals.comWebsite: www.yukonmetals.com
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This news release contains certain forward-looking information, including information about the metal association and geology of the prospect areas at the AZ project, including Chair Mountain, Nutzotin, Wrangell and California, the accuracy of the copper mineralization, the potential for economic grades of copper, silver and gold, Yukon's potential to generate fresh district-scale mining opportunities, and the Company's future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as 'may', 'will', 'should', 'could', 'expect', 'plan', 'intend', 'anticipate', 'believe', 'estimate', 'predict' or 'potential' or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify the forward-looking information. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.
Forward-looking information involves significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those discussed or implied in the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Chair Mountain and other properties not being prospective copper-rich, gold-rich or silver-rich geological systems; rock samples analysed not being representative of overall mineralization; the required assumptions of completed helicopter-supported mapping and sampling programs; not having significant scale and a lack of economic grade minerals; the Yukon not having the potential to generate fresh district-scale mining opportunities; and other risks and uncertainties. See the section entitled 'Risk Factors' in the Company's listing statement dated May 30, 2024, available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca for additional risk factors.
These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with the forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise the information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
References
Mitchell, A., B.Sc. (2012). Assessment report describing soil and rock geochemical sampling at the Nutz Property, Nutz 1-30 YD110353-YD110382, NTS 115/K02. Prepared for Strategic Metals Ltd. by Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Limited. Whitehorse Mining District, Yukon Territory. February 2012. AR # 095814
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/defe9b1d-b22c-402c-bc67-a6bbbecdbbe6https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6f9dadb0-9d19-43de-9e18-b42e93db9542https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/851bcef6-5c85-4a5e-af5b-bed58a3960f4https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c628ae4a-f0cd-4a64-921f-b144546c821fhttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bcd68fb9-b5ec-4602-a736-a72d94eb8e7d
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘I just want finality': GOP greets newest TikTok extension with resignation
President Donald Trump's latest move to keep TikTok alive is yet again frustrating congressional Republicans, many of whom object to China's continued involvement in the popular app but just want to be done with the whole drama. 'Not my favorite thing,' Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), along-time proponent of the ban, deadpanned, when asked about the president's plan to issue another extension. He spoke a day before the White House confirmed Trump signed a 90-day suspension of enforcement of the law requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance, its China-based parent company, throwing another lifeline to the short-form video app. By Friday, some House lawmakers registered a note of resigned irritation. The extension — Trump's third since the law went into effect on Jan. 19 — is a unilateral decision not envisioned in the bipartisan law passed by Congress and upheld last year by the Supreme Court. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence and China committees, told POLITICO. 'The national security concerns and vulnerabilities are still there, and they have not gone away. I would argue they've almost become more enhanced in many ways." But Trump's extension of the TikTok law largely boxed out Republicans in both chambers who have shown little inclination — beyond stern words — to prevent him from making these postponements almost routine. Many GOP lawmakers saw themselves as granting the president space to cut a promised deal while the White House deals with urgent priorities, like trade negotiations and the Israel-Iran conflict. 'In light of everything going on, I think he did the right thing,' Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a China hawk who voted for the ban, told POLITICO of Trump. 'I have concerns about all kinds of things — that [the extension] is on the list — but it's not at the top of the list.' Though Trump has promised his TikTok negotiations areclosely tied to trade talks with China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified last week to a Senate panel that TikTok's sale wasnot currently a part of the negotiations with China, raising a further potential obstacle to Trump inking a deal in the near future. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of the president and longtime national-security hawk said earlier in the week: 'The sooner we get that issue solved, the better,' without offering any ideas for further enforcement. 'I just want finality,' Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told POLITICO. 'I want some certainty and just know that the Congress isn't being played when we make a decision [that the app] be sold.' Another member of the House China Committee, Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), told POLITICO, 'No more extensions. It's time to follow through.' Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), also a member of the China panel, noted in a post on X Thursday the law only allows one extension of the compliance deadline, adding, 'I was proud to support the ban of TikTok and believe the law should be implemented as written.' With their comments, the lawmakers echoed House China Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who in early June called for the U.S. to 'let [TikTok] go dark' to bring China to the table to negotiate. He reiterated that stance on Friday. 'Delays only embolden the Chinese Communist Party,' Moolenaar said in a statement to POLITICO. 'I urge the administration to enforce the law as written and protect the American people from this growing national security threat." Still, observers say Republicans are not exercising their leverage to demand the White House enforce the law they helped write, for example by withholding funding or congressional oversight hearings. "I keep reading that Republicans are 'frustrated' and 'impatient' about their TikTok law being ignored, but they should stop complaining to reporters and take it up with Trump,' said Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of the pro-tech Chamber of Progress. Among the Republicans being undercut by the president is his own secretary of state. Marco Rubio — who as senator was one of the loudest critics of TikTok's ties to China, and a huge backer of the app's ban — has been conspicuously silent as Trump has repeatedly granted more time to strike a deal for its sale. 'You have to decide what's more important, our national security and the threat that it poses to our national security,' Rubio told POLITICO in March 2023, as Congress was considering a ban. 'You have to weigh that against what you might think the electoral consequences of it are. For me, it's an easy balancing act. I mean, there is no balance. I'm always going to be for our national security.' A spokesperson for Rubio at the State Department did not respond to a request for comment. Democrats — even those who support keeping TikTok online — say Trump's approach is the wrong one. 'These endless extensions are not only illegal, but they also put TikTok's fate in the hands of risk-averse corporate shareholders,' Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told POLITICO in a statement. 'This is deeply unfair to TikTok's creators and users. I'm prepared to work towards a solution, but Trump isn't coming to the table.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
World Bank and IMF climate snub 'worrying', says COP29 presidency
The hosts of the most recent UN climate talks are worried international lenders are retreating from their commitments to help boost funding for developing countries' response to global warming. Major development banks have agreed to boost climate spending and are seen as crucial in the effort to dramatically increase finance to help poorer countries build resilience to impacts and invest in renewable energy. But anxiety has grown as the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid and discouraged US-based development lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from focussing on climate finance. Developing nations, excluding China, will need an estimated $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 in financial assistance to transition to renewable energy and climate-proof their economies from increasing weather extremes. Nowhere near this amount has been committed. At last year's UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate. Azerbaijan and Brazil, which is hosting this year's COP30 conference, have launched an initiative to reduce the shortfall, with the expectation of "significant" contributions from international lenders. But so far only two -- the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank -- have responded to a call to engage the initiative with ideas, said COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev. "We call on their shareholders to urgently help us to address these concerns," he told climate negotiators at a high-level summit in the German city of Bonn this week. "We fear that a complex and volatile global environment is distracting" many of those expected to play a big role in bridging the climate finance gap, he added. - A 'worrisome trend' - His team travelled to Washington in April for the IMF and World Bank's spring meetings hoping to find the same enthusiasm for climate lending they had encountered a year earlier. But instead they found institutions "very much reluctant now to talk about climate at all", said Azerbaijan's top climate negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev. This was a "worrisome trend", he said, given expectations these lenders would extend the finance needed in the absence of other sources. "They're very much needed," he said. The World Bank is directing 45 percent of its total lending to climate, as part of an action plan in place until June 2026, with the public portion of that spilt 50/50 between emissions reductions and building resilience. The United States, the World Bank's biggest shareholder, has pushed in a different direction. On the sidelines of the April spring meetings, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the bank to focus on "dependable technologies" rather than "distortionary climate finance targets." This could mean investing in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production, he said. Under the Paris Agreement, wealthy developed countries -- those most responsible for global warming to date -- are obliged to pay climate finance to poorer nations. Other countries, most notably China, make voluntary contributions. - Money matters - Finance is a source of long-running tensions at UN climate negotiations. Donors have consistently failed to deliver on past finance pledges, and have committed well below what experts agree developing nations need to cope with the climate crisis. The issue flared up again this week in Bonn, with nations at odds over whether to debate financial commitments from rich countries during the formal meetings. European nations have also pared back their foreign aid spending in recent months, raising fears that budgets for climate finance could also face a haircut. At COP29, multilateral development banks (MDBs) led by the World Bank Group estimated they could provide $120 billion annually in climate financing to low and middle income countries, and mobilise another $65 billion from the private sector by 2030. Their estimate for high income countries was $50 billion, with another $65 billion mobilised from the private sector. Rob Moore, of policy think tank E3G, said these lenders are the largest providers of international public finance to developing countries. "Whilst they are facing difficult political headwinds in some quarters, they would be doing both themselves and their clients a disservice by disengaging on climate change," he said. The World Bank in particular has done "a huge amount of work" to align its lending with global climate goals. "If they choose to step back this would be at their own detriment, and other banks like the regionally based MDBs would likely play a bigger role in shaping the economy of the future," he said. The World Bank declined to comment on the record. klm/np/mh/jj
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is J.B. Hunt Transport Stock Underperforming the S&P 500?
Lowell, Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) provides surface transportation, delivery, and logistics services in the United States. With a market cap of $13.8 billion, the company operates through five segments: Intermodal (JBI), Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS), Final Mile Services (FMS), and Truckload (JBT). Companies worth $10 billion or more are typically referred to as "large-cap stocks." JBHT fits right into that category, with its market cap exceeding this threshold, reflecting its substantial size and influence in the integrated freight & logistics industry. 2 Outstanding Stocks Under $50 to Buy and Hold Now Nvidia's Bringing Sovereign AI to Germany. Should You Buy NVDA Stock Here? A $1 Billion Reason to Buy MicroStrategy Stock Here Our exclusive Barchart Brief newsletter is your FREE midday guide to what's moving stocks, sectors, and investor sentiment - delivered right when you need the info most. Subscribe today! Despite its strengths, the stock has dipped 30.6% from its 52-week high of $200.40 touched on Nov. 11, 2024. Moreover, over the past three months, JBHT stock has declined 5.5%, underperforming the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 5.4% uptick during the same time frame. JBHT stock has declined 18.6% on a YTD basis, underperforming SPX's 1.7% uptick in 2025. Moreover, JBHT has declined 10.7% over the past 52 weeks, underperforming SPX's 9% gains. JBHT stock has been trading below its 200-day moving average since mid-February and mostly above its 50-day moving average since mid-May. On Apr. 15, JBHT stock declined 2% following the release of its Q1 earnings. The trucking and logistics company posted revenue of $2.92 billion in the period, which met Street forecasts. Moreover, its adjusted earnings for the quarter amounted to $1.17, surpassing the consensus estimates by 1.7%. Within the integrated freight & logistics industry, rival Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD) has grown 2.1% in 2025 and has declined 9.2% over the past year, slightly outperforming the stock. Among the 24 analysts covering the JBHT stock, the consensus rating is a 'Moderate Buy.' Its mean price target of $151.33 suggests a modest 8.9% upside potential from current price levels. On the date of publication, Kritika Sarmah did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Sign in to access your portfolio
