Ximen Mining (TSX:V.XIM, Stock Forum) picked up 100% of the Gold Drop back in October 2013 noting that the property had multiple surface and near-surface gold-bearing quartz veins that had been successfully mined as recently as the 1980's.
Gold Drop project, located approximately nine kilometres northeast of Greenwood, British Columbia, showed plenty of potential with its historic high-grade gold production, 100's of metres of underground workings and close proximity to Kinross Gold's (TSX:K, Stock Forum) state-of-the-art Kettle River Operations mill, so it isn't surprising that the company moved quickly to file a NI 43-101 technical report by the end of January, 2014.
Shortly after the report, the company, confident of its prospects, announced that it had acquired the adjacent Rhod property which also hosted similar gold-bearing quartz veins and increased the company's holdings in the area by 63.34 hectares.
Ximen's multi-year work permit application for phase 1 exploration work of up to 20 drill sites and up to 25 excavator trenches at Gold Drop was finally approved by the end of February, and the company began putting together the necessary financing to begin work.
As the company moved ahead with financing plans and key technical appointments in preparation for Gold Drop, it also pushed forward exploration activities at its other highly prospective Brett Epithermal Gold Project located outside of Vernon, British Columbia.
Mobilized to begin work in May, Ximen targeted three 2500 tonne bulk samples on the property's vein systems, then finally, cash-in-hand and replete with technical expertise, the company announced that it had begun its trenching program at Gold Drop project today.
According to the news release, the initial work, under the direction of Linda Caron, M.Sc., P.Eng., and the supervision of Brian Callaghan, will be focused on the project's North Star vein system. This particular vein system has now been traced in outcrop and in historic pits, trenches and underground workings expanding the original strike length from 150 metres to 300 metres and up to two metres in width.
Trenching is planned to expose the vein on surface for systematic mapping and representative sampling in order to identify sites for surface bulk sampling.
The program of rock sampling from underground and surface exposures of the Gold Drop-North Star vein system announced in May is on-going as well as prospecting elsewhere on the property to define targets for subsequent trenching.
Ximen was in the news recently when the company was highlighted with its innovative use of social media to create and maintain investor relationships.
Shares climbed 5.48% on the news to $0.77 per share.
Currently there are 14.1m outstanding shares with a market cap of $10.8 million.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Ximen Mining is a Stockhouse Publishing client.