Alianza Acquires Twin Canyon Gold Property Lease, Colorado
Alianza Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: ANZ, OTC: TARSF) (“Alianza” or the “Company”) reports the Company has acquired a lease of the Twin Canyon gold prospect in southwestern Colorado. Twin Canyon hosts disseminated gold mineralization that has been recognized since the 1950s. The property is located 20 km from the town of Mancos, Colorado.
”The Twin Canyon acquisition is in keeping with Alianza’s business model and the advancement of new, early stage exploration targets,” stated Jason Weber, P.Geo., President and CEO of Alianza. “Twin Canyon certainly fits this description as it is an unusual gold occurrence. If our concept is correct, it greatly expands the target area and the prospects for outlining an economic gold deposit.”
Gold mineralization at Twin Canyon is hosted within bleached, friable sandstone of the Junction Creek Sandstone. Gold occurs near the crest of an anticline in the upper portion of the Junction Creek unit, under a cap of Morrison Formation sandstones and shale. Where gold mineralization is present, the host sandstone unit is bleached and spotted with bitumen and small amounts limonite after pyrite. Optical and microprobe work carried out on mineralized samples indicate a direct gold – bitumen association raising the novel possibility that the mineralizing process at Twin Canyon is driven by those associated with petroleum basin development.
A small underground gold mine operated at Twin Canyon during the 1980s and early 1990s. Historic sampling of the underground workings has returned grab samples ranging from 0.1 to 15.77 g/t gold. Twenty-eight historic channel samples 1.5 to 10 metres in length were anomalous in gold, eight of which exceeded 2 g/t gold (highlight of 8.1 g/t gold over 3 metres).
Historic soil geochemical surveys in the mine area indicate an open, 1600 by 800 metres gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly with peripheral anomalies that also remain open, 1100 by 50 metres and 800 by 800 metres in size. A 50-sample preliminary BLEG soil sampling program in 2017 targeted the upper portions of the Junction Creek sandstone in the mine area. This small survey confirmed the historic sampling, identifying anomalous (>50 ppb) gold-in-soil geochemistry along 400 metres of strike, open in both directions. Additionally, 1980s vintage rotary drilling confirms the presence of > 0.5 g/t over a 500 by 500 metres area. This work suggests that gold mineralization may be more extensive than the immediate mine area and a compelling exploration target exists.
Alianza will expand the soil geochemical coverage with a 200-sample survey to assess the potential for additional gold mineralization in the Junction Creek sandstone and prioritize targets for followup. This program has commenced.
Under the terms of the agreement, Alianza will pay the vendors US$58,000 cash and 500,000 shares of the Company to acquire the lease of the Twin Canyon property. The Company agrees to assume the terms of the vendors commitments under the lease, namely the annual lease payments of US$15,000 for ten years, with the right to extend the lease for 2 additional terms of ten years each. Alianza has also agreed to issue up to an additional 1.5 million shares to the vendors upon certain milestones, including staking new claims contiguous to the property, commencement of a drilling program and securing an option/joint venture partner.