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The 8,330 ha Shovelnose property is located near the southern end of the SBGB, approximately 30km south of Merritt, British Columbia. The property is accessible by the Coquihalla Highway (BC Provincial Highway #5) at the Coldwater exit, then by a series of logging roads to the northern and southern portions of the property.
The Shovelnose claims cover prospective stratigraphy in the southern Spences Bridge gold belt (SBGB), a 110 km northwest-trending belt of felsic to intermediate volcanic rocks dominated by the Cretaceous Spences Bridge group.
The Shovelnose property has been evaluated by stream silt and soil geochemical surveys, airborne geophysics (magnetics, electromagnetics and radiometrics), bedrock mapping, prospecting and mechanical trenching. Gold mineralization has been identified as being spatially associated with north-northeast and northwest trending normal faults and hosted by south-southwest trending, shallowly west-dipping quartz veins within silificied, argillic-altered felsic tuffs. These structures have various orientations and represent likely conduits for hydrothermal fluids related to gold deposition. Based on field relationships, fault displacements have been interpreted as normal to oblique and related to synvolcanic, extensional tectonics.
The most significant mineralization has been identified at the Line 6 and Mik showings. The showings are located approximately one kilometre apart and associated with broad gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies that occur on either side of a felsic dome. Mineralization consists of south-southwest trending massive to colloform banded quartz veins and local vein breccia zones hosted within moderately to strongly altered felsic volcanic rocks. Individual quartz veins typically dip to the west at a shallow angle and range from less than 1 cm up to 14 cm in width. Vein breccia phases up to 60 cm wide have been observed at the Line 6 showing. A third showing, known as the Tower, is a 400m trend of intense clay and silica alteration in rhyolite tuff. This zone of mineralization is located approximately 450m to the northeast of the Mik showing.
Mechanized trenching of the Line 6 and Mik showings was completed during 2008. Four trenches (120 total metres) were dug across a 210 m length of the Line 6 showing and three trenches (79 total metres) tested across a 150 m extent of the Mik showing. Continuous chip samples of exposed bedrock were collected over regular intervals within each trench. Additionally, separate chip samples were collected from mappable quartz veins in an effort to determine the grade of mineralization within the veins. A summary of the results of this work is provided in the following table:
Trench |
Length |
Best composite |
Quartz vein chip samples |
L6-XT-01 |
36m |
2.0 m grading 17.0 g/t Au |
0.84 to 4.30 g/t Au (6 veins sampled) |
L6-XT-02 |
39m |
16.0 m grading 1.4 g/t Au
and 4.0 m grading 3.35 g/t |
0.88 to 4.86 g/t Au (5 veins sampled) |
L6-XT-03 |
20m |
2.5 m grading 1.68 g/t Au |
0.14 to 16.3 g/t Au (10 veins sampled) |
L6-XT-04 |
25m |
6.0 m grading 5.1 g/t Au |
0.02 to 46.6 g/t Au (5 veins sampled) |
MK-XT-01 |
41m |
3.0 m grading 1.40 g/t Au |
2.94 to 7.72 g/t Au (4 veins sampled) |
MK-XT-02 |
34m |
2.0 m grading 1.45 g/t Au |
22.2 g/t Au (1 vein sampled) |
MK-XT-03 |
4m |
No significant results |
No quartz veins exposed |
Better mineralization is strongly controlled by the density of quartz veins and vein breccias within the volcanic host rock. Of 31 vein chip samples, 20 have returned in excess of 1 g/t gold. Gold showings display a positive correlation with As, Sb, Hg and Mo. This correlation is generally well reflected in soil geochemical surveys. Silver/gold ratios are variable, ranging from ten to less than one, but tend to be relatively consistent for veins exposed within a particular trench.
Prospecting of soil geochemical anomalies outside of the Mik and Line 6 showings has identified an additional discovery during the program. A float sample of a quartz veined and altered crystal lithic tuff collected approximately 500 m south of the Mik showing, has returned 119.37 g/t Au and 271 g/t Ag. Veining within this sample exhibits a weakly developed chalcedonic banding and contains trace, dark grey metallic sulphides. Mineralization at the Tower zone has returned gold values ranging from background up to 505ppb gold.
Deposit Model: Vein textures, alteration styles and assemblages, and geochemical signatures of gold occurrences within the SBGB are diagnostic of low suphidation epithermal systems. Regionally, vein textures are dominated by massive to banded to colloform textures, and quartz is typically fine-grained to chalcedonic, which is typical of very high levels of erosion in a vein system. Pseudomorphs of quartz after bladed lattice calcite are also evident and indicative of boiling. At Shovelnose, the presence of siliceous fragments, possibly representing sinter material, within heterolithic tuffs hosting mineralized veins suggests surface eruption at shallow depths. Silicification is generally confined to the wall rocks adjacent to the quartz veins and the individual veins are typically massive to brecciated with a weakly developed irregular colloform banding. Although epithermal gold deposits are hosted largely in Tertiary or younger volcanic centres, older examples have been discovered and hence should be considered as part of the working exploration model. The gold occurrences of the SBGB have been identified in both Tertiary and Cretaceous volcanic rocks. Gold-bearing veins identified in the property are interpreted to be hosted within Princeton Group (Eocene) felsic heterolithic crystal lithic tuffs.
Further exploration of the Shovelnose property should consist of additional mechanized trenching within the Mik and Line 6 showings. Bedrock exposure is very poor throughout the areas, and trenching has evaluated only a small area of the potential showings. The focus will be to discover the inferred fault or conduit that could be the source structure for the low angle gold-bearing veins. Further soil geochemical surveys should infill and evaluate the outlying anomalous areas. Mapping and recce sampling is required in the remainder of the property.
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