Orphan Boy adopts Goldstream Willa (April 26, 2004)

Vancouver-based Orphan Boy Resources (ORS-V) plans to spend $3.2 million this year advancing its projects in the Goldstream River region, near the communities of Revelstoke and Silverton, B.C.

The company has several projects near its wholly owned Goldstream mine, which operated from 1983 to 1984 and from 1991 to 1996. It was one of the highest-grading copper deposits in western Canada, with an average mill feed of 4% copper. The underground deposit is largely mined out, and the flotation mill is dormant.

Orphan Boy hopes to revive the mill by advancing its nearby Willa gold project, where, since 1980, previous operators have spent $12 million on drilling and underground development. More recent work includes mine planning, metallurgical tests, and environmental base-line studies.

Willa hosts a measured resource of 487,989 tonnes grading 6.77 grams gold, 0.97% copper and 11.59 grams silver, plus an indicated resource of 292,457 tonnes at 5.31 grams gold, 0.65% copper and 11.94 grams silver. Total resources, including inferred, stand at 996,623 tonnes at 6.3 grams gold, 0.79% copper and 10.77 grams silver.

Orphan Boy’s feasibility studies propose mining Willa at the daily rate of 500 tonnes, and trucking the ore to the Goldstream mill for processing into a gold-enriched copper concentrate.

This year, the company plans to drill 3,000 metres at Willa to expand existing resources and test new targets.

North of Revelstoke, the company will explore the Spire discovery and other targets on the Goldstream mine horizon. Geochemical and geophysical programs are planned, along with at least 2,500 metres of core drilling to test for strike and depth extensions.

At the Rain property, southeast of Goldstream, the company plans a 1,800-metre drill program to test a target with a geological setting similar to the Goldstream volcanogenic massive-sulphide deposit. Reconnaissance exploration is also planned.