PolarX has busy schedule ahead with drilling to kick off at Zackly East and search for Mars and Saturn partner

PolarX Ltd (ASX:PXX) (FRA:PX0) is set for a busy schedule with drilling to start next month at Zackly East gold-copper skarn within its Alaska Range Project and the company taking steps to secure a joint-venture partner for its Mars and Saturn porphyry targets. At the Zackly East target, the company is preparing for a 3,000-metre drilling program. It aims to begin the drilling next month using two drill rigs with the program of 15-20 holes expected to take around six to eight weeks. Fundraising In June, the company placed 98,982,894 ordinary shares at an issue price of 3.8 cents apiece, attracting sophisticated and professional investors, to raise a total of $3.76 million. PolarX is also undertaking a Share Purchase Plan (SPP), which will be offered to eligible shareholders, to raise up to a further $1 million at the same issue price as the placement and this is scheduled to close on July 8, 2020.  While the primary use of the capital raising funds will be the Zackly East drilling, the company will also allocate funds for other exploration and pre‐development activities at the Alaska Range Project. Managing director Frazer Tabeart said: “These funds allow us to immediately commence the mobilisation of people and drill rigs for the planned 3,000-metre core drilling program to test our best target: the near‐surface, high‐grade, gold‐rich Zackly East Skarn.   Zackly East Skarn project   The Zackly East Skarn occurs just 800 metres from the Zackly Main Skarn deposit where PolarX has outlined an inferred resource of 41,000 tonnes of copper, 213,000 ounces of gold and 1.5 million ounces of silver from surface. This resource occurs over a strike length of 1,050 metres and the company is confident of adding to it. A small, initial drilling program returned hits grading up to 3.1 g/t gold and 0.6% copper. Mineralised drill intersections to the east of the resource, along with geological mapping and trenching to evaluate the potential 600 metres in strike‐length of the Zackly East skarn, indicate that the resource inventory may be increased as a result of the planned drilling. Drilling will begin on the existing section containing holes ZX‐18020 and ZX‐18024 to determine down‐dip continuity. Step out cross‐sections will be drilled on 50-metre and 100-metre centres with precise details to be finalised on a hole-by-hole basis using information gleaned from the previous drill holes. PolarX is confident that the shallow, thick and relatively low‐angle mineralisation encountered at Zackly East may be amenable to open-pit mining and is the highest priority and lowest risk target for evaluation on the Alaska Range Project. Mars and Saturn porphyry targets Polarx’s Tabeart told Proactive in an interview in May 2020, that the company would like to have a joint venture deal in place, “ideally by the third quarter”. It has opened up a data room and has a number of base metal companies looking at the data of the two targets. The ideal scenario is a partner on a two to three-year earnings type structure and who is prepared to spend up to $10 million over that time frame to earn a majority position. “We have a strong share register and would like to continue to fund our part once it [the partner] reaches the 51% position,” Tabeart said, making it clear that the partnership will exclude the Zackly target. Tabeart admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic had slowed the discussions a bit as potential partners were unable to view the drill core stored near Anchorage, due to travel restrictions and quarantines in place.