"QEX" Indications of Gold-Silver-Copper Mineralization Questex samples 0.64 g/t Au, 16.8 g/t Ag at Castle
2021-03-22 09:51 ET - News Release
Mr. Tony Barresi reports
QUESTEX GOLD & COPPER TRACKS INDICATIONS OF GOLD-SILVER-COPPER MINERALIZATION WEST FROM GT GOLD'S SADDLE SOUTH ONTO CASTLE
Questex Gold & Copper Ltd. has released final results from its 2020 exploration program on the Castle property. Exploration focused on the Moat claims, which lie on the eastern portion of the property where it borders GT Gold Corp.'s Tatogga property. New results include 147 soil and talus fines samples, as well as overlimit silver and copper results from grab samples originally reported in NR21-01, on Jan. 6, 2021. Highlights include:
- Highly anomalous gold, Cu, and Ag in talus fines at the Moat target area with values up to 0.649 gram per tonne Au, 0.193 per cent Cu and 16.8 g/t Ag within a 700-metre-long transect at the boundary with GT Gold's Tatogga property, located 400 metres west and along strike of the Saddle South epithermal Au and Ag vein system;
- A strong 300-metre-long Au-Ag-Cu-molybdenum geochemical anomaly in talus fines that is coincident with the 2020 discovery of quartz-sulphide breccia on the margins of a porphyritic dike that assayed 22.2 g/t Au and 191 g/t Ag at the SBX target area;
- Infill sampling north of the Tuk copper target defined a broad (1,600 by 1,400 metres) area with anomalous Cu-Au-Mo in soil, possibly related to a suite of granite dikes with quartz-chalcopyrite veined margins that assay up to 4.74 per cent Cu and 7.73 g/t Au (2017 sampling);
- New overlimit results from grab samples originally reported in NR21-01 demonstrate potential for high-grade Ag and Cu mineralization up to 5.5 per cent Cu and 191 g/t Ag, in addition to the high-grade gold results already reported (e.g. 22.2 g/t Au in sample 3692323).
Tony Barresi, president of Questex, comments: "We would once again like to applaud the acquisition of GT Gold by Newmont in a deal that values GT Gold at approximately $456-million. Questex management and shareholders have watched the rapid advancement, and now successful monetization, of the Saddle North and Saddle South discoveries on GT Gold's Tatogga property, which abuts Questex's Castle property on its western boundary, and our North ROK property to the east. In light of the acquisition, the importance of Questex's ground in the region is enhanced, both in terms of its exploration potential and its strategic placement with regard to potential future mining infrastructure. Questex's modest 2020 exploration program on the Castle project focused on the Moat Claims, directly adjacent to the Tatogga property. Results from the program provide robust evidence that the mineral systems on the Tatogga property continue across the property boundary onto Questex ground where, to date, they are untested by drilling."
Castle-Saddle trend -- Moat target area
The Castle-Saddle trend is a 10-kilometre-long elongate belt containing multiple Cu-Au-Mo porphyry centres and high-grade Au-Ag vein mineralization associated with multiphase intrusions, phyllic and potassic altered rock and high-strain fabrics. About 6.5 km of the trend lies within the Castle property, and 3.5 km lies on GT Gold's Tatogga property, which includes the Saddle North deposit, and Saddle South Au-Ag vein system. Relative to the Tatogga property, porphyry Cu-Au targets (e.g. Castle Main, Castle East and Castle South) and epithermal gold targets (e.g. Moat and SBX) are underexplored on the Castle property with low density and relatively shallow drilling. Exploration in 2020 tracked the Castle-Saddle trend to the claim boundary. There, quartz-sericite-pyrite altered and mineralized porphyritic felsic dikes have been located in talus, sourced from numerous recessively weathered, visible but inaccessible gullies in steep terrane. Mineralization consists primarily of malachite-stained quartz-sulphide veins and felsic dike margins. Talus fines samples collected on a 700-metre-long transect across slope and along the claim boundary returned up to 0.65 g/t Au, 16.8 g/t Ag, 1,930 parts per million Cu, 555.3 ppm arsenic and 2.1 ppm tellurium, and are part of a 1.2-kilometre-long transect of the property boundary with consistently elevated Cu, which has not been tested with drilling to date. The eastern trace of the mineralized dikes within the soil anomaly track directly to GT Gold Corp.'s Saddle South Au-Ag mineralization and beyond toward the Saddle North porphyry Cu-Au deposit.
Castle South-SBX zone
Approximately one km south of the main Castle-Saddle trend, Castle South comprises a parallel corridor of geophysical (IP chargeability) anomalies obscured by a faulted panel of sedimentary rock that overlies the interpreted source of the anomalies. On the eastern portion of the geophysical trend, where the thrust panel is interpreted to taper in thickness, soil geochemistry with up to 0.59 g/t Au, 1,194 ppm Cu, 11.3 ppm Mo, 523 ppm antimony and 880.5 ppm As defines a 500-metre-long anomaly at the newly termed SBX zone. Rock grab samples at SBX include quartz-sulphide breccia on the margins of two parallel, northeasterly oriented, quartz-sericite-pyrite altered porphyry dikes and yielded up to 22.2 g/t Au, 191.0 g/t Ag and 0.15 per cent Cu. Proximity of SBX to chargeability and magnetic anomalies associated with the Castle South corridor may be significant.
Tuk
Two infill contour soil lines near the base of a steep slope in the northern Tuk target area have further defined a broad but intermittent 1,600-by-1,400-metre Cu-Au-Mo anomaly in the northeast project area. Within the anomaly, seven of 13 historical grab samples of malachite fractured basalt and a cross-cutting mineralized granite dike assayed from 0.52 to 7.73 g/t Au with up to 4.74 per cent Cu. A northwest-oriented Cu-Au trend enveloping the mineralized dike suggests 700 metres of prospective geology across slope extending downslope for 1,600 metres. The highest Mo from the 2020 soil samples (16.7 ppm) was located at the extreme northeastern limit of the grid. This area will require follow-up mapping and sampling in 2021. The Tuk target area is along strike from a northern lobe of the Saddle North plutonic complex, which GT Gold reported as a priority drill target.
Qualified person
David Fleming, PGeo, Questex's vice-president of exploration, a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.
Quality assurance/quality control
Soil samples for the Castle 2020 exploration program followed chain of custody between collection and delivery to a Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver, B.C. The samples were packed in zip-tied polyurethane bags and then in security-sealed rice-bags before being delivered directly from Northern British Columbia to the laboratory via Bandstra Transportation Systems. Samples were prepared for analysis according to BV method PRP80-250: each sample was crushed to 85 per cent passing two millimetres and a 250-gram split was pulverized to 75 micron. Gold was tested by fire assay with atomic absorption finish on a 30-gram nominal sample (method FA430), samples that tested over 10 g/t Au were retested using a 30-gram sample with gravimetric finish (method FA530). An additional 36 elements were tested by ICP-ES/MS using an aqua-regia digestion (method AQ202). Quality assurance and control is maintained at the lab through rigorous use of internal standards, blanks and duplicates. An additional QAQC program was administered by Questex through the use of duplicate analyses and certified reference standards that were blindly inserted into the sample batch. If a QAQC sample returns an unacceptable value an investigation into the results is triggered and, when deemed necessary, the samples that were tested in the batch with the failed QAQC sample are retested.
About Questex Gold & Copper Ltd.
Questex Gold & Copper is exploring for high-grade gold and copper with a focus on the Golden Triangle and Toodoggone areas of British Columbia. The property portfolio includes the company's flagship Castle property, a porphyry copper-gold project located in the Red Chris mining district of the Golden Triangle neighbouring GT Gold's Tatogga property and Newcrest Mining's GJ property. Other properties include KSP, North ROK, Coyote and Kingpin in the Golden Triangle, Sofia in the Toodoggone district, and Heart Peaks and Hit in other strategic districts within British Columbia. These assets are being advanced by a newly assembled technical and management team with experience in exploration, permitting and discovery.
We seek Safe Harbor.