West Cadillac Targets - observations and hypothetical Keep in mind that there are never any certainties when it comes to mineral exploration. Situations that look positive may not always turn out as such – more often than not, they do not pan out. The only way to confirm mineralization is through drilling.
1) Zone 5 Breccia
I really like how Alexandria is working this zone. It is very smart and cost effective exploration. See page 12 of the Corp Presentation.
They mapped out the geophysical anomaly. They realized that the historical drill success was at the south side of the anomaly. They realized that the anomaly is likely a breccia which goes for about 150 – 200m across, but could be dipping down to the north. They tested this theory in 2015 and the drill hole provided confirmation (or at least, it advanced the theory).
The 2015 drill hole appears to have hit the breccia at depth, starting at the 157.5m point of the drill hole. They hit 23.1m of 1.66 g/t gold eq (using stable long-term metal prices to convert to gold eq) in hole 15-056 – including 13.6m of 2.23 g/t gold eq.
This 2015 drill hole was drilled from the north side. The historical holes were drilled from the south edge of the breccia. Historical hole 40A looks like it penetrated the mineralized body (within the breccia) near-surface, with 15.3m of 1.9 g/t gold eq.
Nearby to hole 40A is hole 30A, with 9.5m of 2.5 g/t gold eq.
It likely means that (at least) the far west side of the breccia has mineralization that starts near-surface and dips northerly, across the breccia (maybe 150 – 200m (+))
There is also historical hole 31A – located about 400m east of the holes I previously mentioned. Hole 31A hit (likely) the upper edge of the breccia (south) and provided 16m of 2.67 g/t gold eq.
To summarize, the mineralization (within the breccia) was hit at shallow levels within a 400m length:
* 15.3m of 1.9 g/t gold eq
* 9.5m of 2.5 g/t gold eq
* 16m of 2.67 g/t gold eq
The mineralization dips northerly, across the breccia, and was hit with a 2015 drill hole at depth (157.5m point of the drill hole) - 23.1m of 1.66 g/t gold eq, including 13.6m of 2.23 g/t gold eq.
The strike length of the entire zone is 1.5km, with strong magnetic readings. Alexandria is currently testing 700m of this strike length - with 4 drill holes. The 4 holes will be coming from the north (heading south), and thus will likely be testing the northerly dip of the mineralized body (at semi-depth) – similar to the hole in 2015. Confirmation of decent mineralization in these 4 holes would represent a significant step forward with this structure.
Further confirmation of the original 400m strike length could give us a deposit of around 200 – 400K gold eq ounces. Decent confirmation of 700m strike length could give us 300 – 600K gold eq ounces. Eventual confirmation of all 1.5km strike length could give us 1 (+) million gold eq ounces. Again, there are never any certainties with mineral exploration, but at least there seems to be some logical potential here.
The Zone 5 breccia hosts disseminated, fracture and veinlet gold and copper minerals. It should be a bulk tonnage deposit.
Also of note, the historical drill holes were only hitting the edges of the breccia. The holes did not necessarily hit the meat of the breccia. With current knowledge of the structure, Alexandria may be able to improve on both the width and the grade of the deposit.
2) Hogg Zone Breccia
See pages 12 and 13 of Corp Presentation. This is also a cu-au-ag breccia. Again, strong magnetic anomaly. The envelope (with the strong magnetic readings) was never drilled historically. However, places around it, near-surface, show decent drilled (historical) mineralization, and those places do not have the strength in magnetics we are seeing in the envelope we are targeting.
Everything points to something good being here, in the envelope (within the breccia), but again, there is no certainty and it is all just hypothetical until we get drill results. One drill hole planned, but that hole should be very revealing.
Among other structures, there is a small skarn (with decent results) at the top (above the envelope we are now targeting). There are other decent historical results also (including outside of the skarn), such as 1.5m of 45.9 g/t Au, 10.2m of 9.1 gold eq, 7.5m of 2.5 g/t Au and 35.1m of 1.2 g/t Au.
I figure, there are probably enough decent historical drilling at shallow levels, both within the skarn and outside of the skarn, to give us a 100 – 200K gold eq deposit (strictly from the shallow historical areas).
However, the real prize is the large magnetic anomaly, within the Hogg Zone breccia, we are testing below. It could be nothing or it could be everything. We should brace for either outcome – zero ounces within the envelope or 500K to 1 (+) million oz gold eq deposit.
3) West Porphyry
I figured, to make this work we need to locate 5 billion (+) lbs of eq copper, with avg grade of around .30 - .35% copper eq. It has to be a massive tonnage type of operation to work (something like a 35,000 to 70,000 tpd type operation). That type of operation would provide the economies of scale to make this work. There are mines and projects in the world like this, including in B.C. Canada. But, the volume has to be there within the deposit, otherwise it is a no go, in my opinion.
Our west porphyry has mainly low-grade copper, but does also have some gold and moly. Historical holes:
* D69-01 with 91.4m of .37% Cu
* D69-05 with 211.5m of .22% Cu
* D69-12 with 150.3m of .27% Cu
Mapping out the holes, D69-05 is located about 125m west of D69-01. D69-12 is located about 200m north of D69-05. A new drill hole will be testing (an untested area) about 200m northwest of D69-12. There is a second test hole, but it is not profiled on the Corp Presentation (pg 12).
We`ll have to wait and see how extensive the mineralized portions of the prophyry are. I get the impression that Alexandria strongly believes that there is something big here. It seems like the company`s number 1 drill target is this porphyry.
Of note, this is just the west porphyry. A couple of km`s to the east, they have identified a number of east porphyry targets (through magnetic readings) to explore. The east porphyry targets are not being drilled in this round of drilling. They have both the west and the east porphyry targets to come up with the 5 billion (+) lbs of Cu eq to make this work.
4) Triangle-Zone Type Structure
There is not much to add here.
Nonetheless, some more info about the old Sigma Mine: Comprised of ``shear veins, north-dipping veins, flat veins, and diorite-porphyry dykes. The shear veins and dykes appear to be controlled by steeply south-dipping fracture systems, while the north-dipping veins dip about 45 and the flat veins dip very gently to the west.``
The shear structure was the main supplier of ounces at Sigma, but the other 3 structures contributed also. I am aware of both shear veins and flat veins at Integra`s triangle zone – the flat veins are in between the shear veins. The flat veins are smaller and lower grades (but can still be decent), and obviously do not dip as much. I haven`t checked the triangle details for the other mineralized stuctures – north-dipping veins and dykes.