Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2019) - ArcWest Exploration Inc. (TSXV: AWX) ("ArcWest") is pleased to announce the expansion of its Oxide Peak Copper-Gold Porphyry Project in the Toodoggone gold-copper district, northern British Columbia. Recently completed staking has resulted in a significant expansion of the project area from 3359 to 8211 Hectares. The new claims extend the property from north of the Toodoggone River to Talisker Resources' Baker-Shasta gold mine property to the south, a distance of 11.6 kilometers. Highlights of the new acquisition include:
- 100% ownership of the southern extension of the prospective Oxide Peak - JD - McClair alteration system, currently being explored for porphyry copper-gold on neighbouring, third party owned mineral claims to the north by mining giant Freeport-McMoRan.
- Silicification and gossanous alteration along Saunders Creek south of the Toodoggone River is associated with significant gold anomalies with up to >10 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) in stream sediments and 2.8 g/t Au in soils.
- Widespread copper (Cu) mineralization has been delineated over a 2.1 kilometer long zone crossing three ridges, with grab sample assays up to 9.5%, 2.12% and 1.23% Cu. Mineralization is hosted by epidote-chlorite, K-feldspar and quartz-sericite-pyrite altered volcanics locally cut by quartz stockworks. Note that grab samples are selective by nature and may not be representative of actual grades or styles of mineralization across the property.
ArcWest Exploration President Tyler Ruks comments:
"The Toodoggone district is host to multiple porphyry copper-gold and high grade gold-silver deposits, including several past producers. The recent delineation of Centerra Gold's Kemess East deposit has demonstrated the potential for discovery of blind porphyry deposits under the Toodoggone volcanics; a concept that has attracted some of the world's largest copper miners to the district. Our newly expanded Oxide Peak Project adjoins ground currently being explored by Freeport McMoRan, and presents a great opportunity for a porphyry copper-gold discovery in an underexplored part of one of British Columbia's premier copper-gold districts. The property contains multiple undrilled zones of copper-gold mineralization that have yet to undergo systematic mapping and geophysical surveys, in addition to zones of strong gold in stream sediment anomalies that have yet to be traced to source. Property tours with potential joint venture partners are scheduled for this month."
ArcWest acquired the Oxide Peak property from Seven Devils Exploration (SDE) in 2018 in a multi-property transaction. Oxide Peak is situated in the northern part of the Toodoggone gold-copper district, a region of extensive Early Jurassic porphyry Cu-Au and epithermal gold-silver (Au-Ag) mineralization, including several past producing Au-Ag mines (Baker, Lawyers, Shasta) and the large Kemess South Au-Cu porphyry deposit. Historical production in the district exceeds 3.2 million ounces of gold and 360,000 tonnes of copper.
Previous exploration of Oxide Peak by SDE in 2016 and by ArcWest in 2018 identified widespread copper-gold mineralization with features typical of high-level porphyry systems. These include multi-phase intrusive complexes with associated breccias, extensive propylitic, phyllic and advanced argillic alteration, and porphyry-style copper-gold mineralization comprising quartz-magnetite-chalcopyrite veins with secondary biotite alteration. Despite promising geological indicators and widespread high-grade Au-Cu veins, including historical grab samples up to 43.32 g/t Au and up to 3.64% Cu, very limited geophysics and no drilling has been carried out to date on the original Oxide Peak property.
Exploration within the newly acquired claims has been conducted since the late 1960s by a number of groups, including Cominco, Kennco, Lacana, Cyprus Metals and Stealth Minerals. Compilation of these data by ArcWest suggests that significant potential for discovery of porphyry Cu-Au and epithermal Au-Ag deposits exists on the property.
In the northern part of the new claims, just south of the Toodoggone River, numerous gossans and silicified zones were reported by Cyprus Metals during a geochemical sampling program carried out in 1986. Altered rocks are present in the lower part of Saunders Creek and likely represent the southern extension of the 12 kilometer long Oxide Peak - JD - McClair alteration zone, currently being explored on neighbouring claims to the north by Freeport-McMoRan. The BC Geological Survey has mapped a small intrusive body in this area, hosted within Early Jurassic Toodoggone volcanics. This prospective zone is also transected by an important north-south regional structure, the Saunders Creek Fault.
Stream sediment sampling along Saunders Creek by Cyprus returned strong gold anomalies (no Cu assays - samples were analyzed for Au, Ag, As, Sb and Hg only). These include a value of 1400 parts per billion (ppb; or 1.4 g/t) Au from the lower part of the creek 300 meters south of the Toodoggone River, and a value of >10000 ppb (>10 g/t Au) about 1.6 kilometers to the south. Widespread anomalous gold in soils is also recorded over a 1.0 by 2.5 kilometer area. Southwest of and uphill from the >10000 ppb Au in silt anomaly, a >100 ppb gold in soil anomaly extends across five soil lines (over 885 meters strike length), and includes high values of 600 and 2800 ppb Au. Based on public assessment filings, no subsequent exploration was carried out to follow up on these significant results.
In the southern part of the newly acquired claims, historical mapping and sampling by Cominco, Stealth Minerals and others documented extensive copper mineralization over a 2.1 kilometer long zone which straddles three ridges. A number of magnetic highs and intrusive bodies were also delineated within this target area. Copper mineralization was initially discovered on the west side of Saunders Creek by Cominco in 1969 (SOM showing). Two chip samples from this zone about 30 meters apart returned Cu values of 0.21% over 9.1m and 0.28% over 9.1m. Stealth Minerals resampled the zone in 2006. Of eight grab samples collected over a 10 by 45 meter area, three returned copper values over 1%, but only one of these was over limit assayed. Copper values ranged from 206 ppm to 9.5%, gold 1 to 122 ppb, and silver 0.7 to 220 parts per million (ppm). The showing is described by Stealth as "chalcopyrite, pyrite and malachite... associated with a stockwork of quartz veinlets and as fracture-fillings in a chlorite, epidote and clay altered andesitic flow rock."
Copper mineralization was also sampled by Stealth Minerals in 2003 and 2006 on two separate ridges on the east side of Saunders Creek, centered about 1.5 and 2.0 kilometers southeast of the SOM showing. Five grab samples over an area about 350 meters across on the western ridge averaged 0.50% Cu (290 to 21200 ppm), primarily from epidote altered tuff with disseminated chalcopyrite and local quartz stockworks. On the eastern ridge, four grab samples over an area about 150 meters across averaged 0.58% Cu (767-12300 ppm). Mineralization is associated with variable alteration ranging from epidote and K-feldspar (calc-potassic) to quartz-sericite-pyrite (QSP) and clay. The highest grade sample (1.23% Cu) is associated with QSP alteration with 3-5% pyrite.
Further planned work at Oxide Peak in 2019 will include property tours with potential joint venture partners, as well as fieldwork to evaluate the prospectivity of the newly acquired ground.
Qualified Person
ArcWest's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Bradford, PGeo, technical advisor, who serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101. Historical exploration data summarized in this release is compiled from publically available assessment reports, but assays and geological observations have not been verified by ArcWest. With the exception of the 1969 Cominco copper assays, all quoted assays are accompanied in the cited reports by copies of certified laboratory assay sheets. Grab and chip sample assays are cited as strong evidence of the presence of mineralization, but these values should not be considered representative of values obtainable from larger rock volumes. Soil and silt samples were collected and analyzed by industry standard techniques. Soil samples were collected by mattock from the top of B horizon at chained 25 meter intervals along cut lines 200 meters apart. Silt samples were collected from Saunders Creek at nominal 100 meter intervals by sieving sand, gravel and silt through a 16 mesh screen and analyzing the fines.
For further information please contact: Tyler Ruks, President and CEO at +1 (604) 638 3695.
This news release contains statements about ArcWest's expectations and are forward-looking in nature. As a result, they are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although ArcWest believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them as actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof, and ArcWest undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, except as required by law.
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