West Cirque Resources (WCQ-V) Jan 23, '14 Snippaker project (compilation of historic data) in the Iskut River area, northwestern British Columbia, indicates that a potentially significant porphyry copper-gold (Cu-Au) target was outlined by previous exploration work. The Snippaker project, comprising the 285-hectare Kim 1 claim, was acquired by staking in 2013 on the basis of a significant copper-molybdenum anomaly in Regional Geochemical Survey (RGS) data. Subsequently, Colorado Resources Ltd. announced the acquisition of a large claim position adjoining the Kim 1 claim to the south and east, together with an option agreement on part of SnipGold's Iskut property to the north (see Colorado Resources Ltd. news release dated Dec. 20, 2013).
Previous exploration in the Snippaker project area by Great Plains Development in the mid-1970s and by Cathedral Gold between 1988 and 1990 outlined two areas of significant mineralization, neither of which has been tested by drilling to date. The Snow zone is an area of gossanous outcrop and quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite veining about 1,200 metres in diameter. Mineralization occurs in andesites, tuffs and intrusive rocks including granodiorite, quartz monzonite and K-feldspar porphyry. The intrusive rocks are related to the Early Jurassic Lehto pluton. Alteration ranges from propylitic to sericite-pyrite to silica flooding and locally intense quartz-specular hematite. Limited rock sampling by Great Plains in 1974 returned copper values from 0.11 per cent to 3.06 per cent, gold from trace to 2.74 grams per tonne (g/t) and silver from 2.74 to 78.5 g/t. Great Plains concluded that the Snow zone contains a "significant number of mineralized showing(s) ... which are characteristic of porphyry copper-type mineralization" (Great Plains Development, year-end report, Snippaker Creek property, October, 1974).
Subsequent rock sampling by Cathedral Gold outlined a 300-by-700-metre zone of anomalous gold at higher elevations in the eastern portion of the Snow zone. Over half of the rock samples in this area returned gold values over 100 parts per billion, including grab samples up to 0.98 g/t and float samples up to 27.26 g/t Au. Despite the conclusion by Cathedral that the Snow zone remains an interesting target no subsequent work has been filed.
The Southeast zone crops out at lower elevations in a creek gully about 700 metres southwest of the Snow zone. Mineralization in this area consists of quartz-sulphide veins up to 0.5 metre wide hosted mainly in Lehto granodiorite and K-feldspar porphyry. A series of northeast-trending veins sampled by Cathedral Gold (1988 and 1990) across a width of about 170 metres, returned anomalous to very high-grade gold values, including 6.2 g/t from a 0.5-metre-wide vein and a vein float sample of 46.6 g/t Au.
The Snippaker project is located in B.C.'s prolific Iskut copper-gold belt about 20 kilometres southeast of the past-producing Snip gold mine (over one million ounces of gold produced at a recovered head grade of 24.5 g/t Au; B.C. Minfile database), and 34 kilometres northwest of Seabridge Gold's KSM porphyry copper-gold project (proven and probable reserves total 38.2 million ounces of gold and 9.9 billion pounds of copper).
Historic assays have not been verified by West Cirque but have been cited from sources believed to be reliable. West Cirque's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Bradford, MSc, PGeo, and vice-president, exploration, and director for West Cirque Resources, who serves as a qualified person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101. |
