Vancouver — Drill results from the Spanish Mountain property in British Columbia’s Cariboo district indicate the presence of stratiform gold combined with structurally controlled high-grade gold.
The recent program was highlighted by hole 228, which intersected 60.1 metres grading 2.47 grams gold per tonne, including a 12.1-metre section of 8.9 grams gold, starting at a depth of 31 metres. The hole hit bedrock at 3.7 metres from surface and ended at a depth of 64 metres.
The high-grade gold in hole 228 occurs in a dark shale unit. The shale comprises the footwall to a 10-metre-wide massive quartz vein. The hole was collared 40 metres northwest of Wildrose’s “2000 pit” deposit, where, five years ago, 2,100 tonnes grading 3.02 grams gold per tonne were test-mined, then sent to the mill at the Mt. Polley copper-gold operation of
“We got eighty per cent recoveries from milling and flotation,” recalls Wildrose President William Morton. “The bulk sample told us it was a prize worth having. It was in a dark shaley siltstone, and the average grade was between two and four grams gold per tonne.”
Another highlight of recent drilling was hole 221, which cut 27.5 metres grading 2.2 grams gold at a down-hole depth of 78.3 metres — all within a 41-2-metre interval of 1.76 grams gold starting at 64.6 metres.
The mineralization is open to the north and east and at depth.
The gold mineralization appears to be structurally and stratigraphically controlled. The footwall mineralization, found in hole 228, straddles both styles of mineralization, and it is likely the dark shale provided a favourable environment for deposition of gold.
“There is a major thrust fault system, which separates the Quesnel terrane from the Barkerville terrane,” explains Morton. “Several people have said the setting is similar to the Roberts Mountain Thrust in the Carlin trend of Nevada. This thrust would have enabled substantial volumes of mineralizing fluids to channel through, and then the gold would have dropped out where the rocks have a bit of carbon and pyrite in them. This gives us the stratigraphic control.”
Wildrose and its predecessor company acquired the Spanish Mountain property 12 years ago, though drilling only got under way recently. Work by previous explorers determined that heap leaching would be inadvisable.
Results for the first 16 holes of the recent program were released in late 2004; results for the final seven holes are pending.
“Next, we intend to diamond drill, to confirm some of the reverse-circulation results,” says Morton said.
Mineralization is open-ended over 1,000 metres in an east-west trend on the north-facing slope of Spanish Mountain. The property comprises more than 22 sq. km and includes three placer claims.
When asked what he expects further drilling to reveal, Morton says: “It will not be one continuous mountain of gold; more likely it will be a series gold zones. We do know that the stratigraphy repeats itself. The shaley unit, which is the favourable area for gold deposition, is replicating itself two or three times.”
The current drilling program will largely fulfill the exploration portion of Skygold’s option agreement with Wildrose, which called for expenditures ofr $700,000.
The Spanish Mountain project is 50 km south of the historic town of Barkerville, where placer gold mining has been ongoing since 1858.
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