Mr J. T. Shearer reports
ELECTRA ACQUIRES ADDITIONAL GOLD LEDGE CLAIMS
Electrahas acquired an additional 14 claims totalling 6,500 hectares alongstrike of the Gold Ledge Group (see news release Dec. 2 and Dec. 6,2010). These new claims cover three historic minfile occurrences:Warren-Wolmer, BluePeter and Mystery giving a 16km coverage extent ofthe Alki Thrust Fault. Each of these occurrences have historic surfacetrenching and underground workings up to 72m in length and an 8m winze.Arsenopyrite is abundant. Total area now controlled in the GoldLedge-Iron Range Project by Electra is 16,115.0 ha.
A review of available data shows a large amount of previous work hasbeen completed in the Gold Ledge area. Such major companies as RioAlgom, Abitibi Mining Corp. and Teck conducted detailed geologicalmapping, rock sampling, geophysical surveys, geochemical surveys anddiamond drilling. This voluminous data will form the basis of theproposed work by Electra in 2011.
Essentially, the Alki Thrust Fault is the locus of an intense widehydrothermal alteration corridor consisting of sericite, chlorite,albite and tourmaline with strong shearing and foliation suggesting thatthe Alki Thrust is a long lived growth fault. Growth faults wereactive during the formation of the Purcell Basin and the syngeneticdeposition of valuable massive sulphides on the sea floor in the nearbyworld-class Sullivan Pb/Zn/Ag deposit which was mined for almost 100years by Teck. Importantly, the Alki Thrust Fault was active after theformation of the extensive quartz-sulphide (pyrite-pyrrhotite) zones asevidenced by widespread brecciation.
The Gold Ledge property is located within the west limb of the PurcellAnticlinorium, a broad, gently north plunging structures with dominantlyeast verging thrust and fold structures. The Purcell Anticlinorium iscored by the Proterozoic Purcell Supergroup, comprised of asiliciclastic and lesser carbonate sequence at least 12km thick,deposited in an intracratonic rift basin (the Belt-Purcell Basin). TheSullivan Pb/Zn/Ag deposit is located on the east limb of the PurcellAnticlinorium approximately 10km east of the Gold Ledge Property.
The claim area is underlain by the Aldridge Formation, the lowermostdivision of the Purcell Supergroup. The Aldridge Formation is divisibleinto a lower, middle and upper unit. The lower Aldridge Formation iscomprised of thin bedded, rusty weathering, fine-grained quartziticwackes, siltstones and some argillites. A grey weathering quartzitemarker unit (the "Footwall Quartzite") lies approximately 150 metresbelow the stratigraphic top of the lower Aldridge. The uppermost partof the lower Aldridge Formation is a package of laminated siltstones andmudstones, known in the camp as the "Sullivan Horizon". The massivesulphide ore body of the Sullivan deposit is hosted in this packageimmediately below the top of the lower Aldridge. Lithologies thatcorrelate with the Sullivan Horizon have been recognized (in drill core)on the Gold Ledge property.
The lower Aldridge sediments typically grade upward into medium thinbedded grey weathering quartz wackes, quartzitic wackes, wackes andsiltstones with local argillite. The first appearance of medium tothick bedded quartz wacke units marks the contact of the lower Aldridgewith the middle Aldridge Formations. The middle Aldridge Formation israther monotonous in character and about 2,500m to 3,500m thick. Withinthe middle Aldridge Formation are distinctive laminated siltstone(marker laminate) horizons comprised of alternating thin, light and darklaminae. The patterns of light and dark laminae are distinctive foreach siltstone unit. These siltstone units are valuable asstratigraphic markers, and can be correlated over great distances. Atthe Sullivan Mine area in Kimberley, the various markers occur at knownand measured distances above the LMC (Lower Aldridge-Middle AldridgeContact). The distances can be used throughout the basin to estimatestratigraphic distance above the LMC, once the specific marker has beenidentified and correlated. Six of these marker horizons have beenmapped in detail in close proximity to the Gold Ledge showing, thelowest marker is the Hiawatha Horizon which is 475m above the SullivanHorizon.
Both the lower and middle Aldridge Formations are intruded by MiddleProterozoic dioritic to gabbroic sills (Moyie intrusions). These sills(and rarely, dykes) can vary from a few to several hundred metres thick,they are syn-depositional, and are inferred to have intruded wet,unlithified sediments. The sills expand the given stratigraphicsection, without any loss of sedimentary units due to intrusion, byexpelling water from the wet sediments to provide necessary intrusionspace.
The lower and middle Aldridge Formations are carried in the hanging wallof the St. Mary Fault, a southeasterly directed thrust fault that maybe related to major basement structures. The Hall Lake Fault, anothermajor thrust structure, lies to the northwest. Between the St. Mary andHall Lake faults, the Aldridge strata is characterized by open northtrending folds.
The age of this faulting varies, but at least some are considered to bysyn-depositional, basing bounding growth faults that formed the boundaryof smaller (second and third order graben basins) within theBelt-Purcell basin, and thus localised mineralization at Sullivan.
The Gold Ledge Property is underlain by Purcell Supergroup metasedimentsof the lower and middle Aldridge Formations. The Aldridge Formationsediments dip gently to moderately and mainly westward within a seriesof fault bounded blocks. North and northeast trending open folds occurlocally. The lower Aldridge is restricted to the east side of theproperty. The middle Aldridge outcrop elsewhere. Several Moyie sillsintrude the Aldridge Formation. From within the middle AldridgeFormation, a total of twenty laminate markers were identified byprevious workers throughout the entire property.
Previous workers also mapped fragmental bodies in the footwall of theAlki Fault, (at Hiawatha time) in middle Aldridge Formation, as well asat the west side of the headwaters of Matthew Creek. The SullivanDeposit is underlain by fragmental bodies and may signify conduits forhydrothermal fluids.
The Alki Fault lies in Murphy Pass, trending northwest to cross theheadwaters of Pyramid Creek. It continues southeast along the east sideof Mt. Murphy, and into Alki Creek. The Alki Fault has been mapped as athrust fault, and the offset of stratigraphic marker laminites withinthe middle Aldridge Formation suggest a net displacement of 300m. TheAlki Fault dips steeply at the surface (60°-80°).Where exposed, the fault is marked by a relatively wide zone ofalteration (sericite, chlorite, albite), shearing and strong foliationand quartz veining. Gabbro bodies are associated with the fault zoneand may have arched up along the zone. Folded strata occur in thehanging wall and footwall. Quartz sulphide veins occur in a linear zonethat may be a splay fault in the footwall of the Alki Fault.
In Summary, structural, mineralization and alteration relationshipsindicate that the property has potential for both Iron-oxide-Cu-Au(IOCG) type Cu-Au-U-REE deposits as well as Sullivan types (SEDEX)sedimentary-exhalative silver-lead-zinc deposits.
Electra is in the process of updating its website(www.electragoldltd.com) which will be ready for launch on Wednesday,January 19, 2011. A series of maps are in preparation to illustrate thefeatures discussed in this news release.
J. T. Shearer, M.Sc., P.Geo, President, is the Qualified Personas defined by NI 43-101 who supervised the preparation of the technicalmaterial of this release.