Details
2017 Skoonka Assessment Report
Skoonka Creek
The Skoonka Creek property is situated near the northern end of the Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), a series of Cretaceous subaerial volcanic rocks with the potential to host epithermal-style mineralization. The property is a three hour drive by car from Vancouver, approximately 15 km from the Trans Canada Highway and the CPR Railway Line and 12 km northeast of Lytton, BC. Westhaven owns 100% interest in the property.
A number of epithermal gold prospects and showings have been discovered on the property including the JJ, Discovery, Deadwood, Ember, Backburn and Zebra prospects. The Discovery, Deadwood, Ember, and Backburn showings define the Deadwood-Backburn trend (the "DBT"), a 3,000 m long east-west trending structural corridor defined by weakly to strongly clay and silica altered volcanic rocks and coincident gold in soil geochemical anomalies.
Styles of mineralization identified within the property include (1) multi-stage massive veins with associated breccia zones and intense proximal silica to distal argillic alteration (JJ, Ember, and Discovery) and (2) narrow stockwork veinlets with moderate, albeit pervasive silica and minor clay alteration (Deadwood and Backburn). Mineralization is associated with early east-west, moderately to steeply-dipping normal faults. In general, the gold showings appear to occur between 100 and 300 m below a formational contact within the Spences Bridge Group, which has been postulated to be a paleosurface during hydrothermal activity and epithermal mineralization.
JJ Zone
- Tested by 46 drill holes (historical & 2022 drilling)
- High-grade epithermal, bonanza style, gold mineralization associated with quartz veining and quartz breccias
- Traced over a strike length of 590 m and to a depth of 240 m down dip;
- Best gold grades are in well developed epithermal quartz veins;
- Lower grades (<1 g/t) are located within a more extensive zone of moderately to strongly altered andesitic volcanic rocks;
- 20.2 g/t gold over 12.8 m (SC-008) Historic & SC22-006 intersected 1.28 g/t gold over 48.05m including 21.15 g/t gold over 1.90m
- 6.83 g/t gold over 5.66m including 12.35 g/t gold over 2.77m
- Mineralogical, textural and geochemical evidence indicates that mineralization encountered to date represents the upper portions of a shallowly eroded low sulphidation epithermal system, with good potential to discover more consistent and higher gold grades at greater depths;
- Mineralization remains open along strike and to depth.
Discovery Showing
- Located along the northern edge the DBT;
- Surface sampling of a low grade quartz breccia vein returned 0.38 g/t gold over a width of 4.2 m;
- Tested by 3 drill holes returning results of 11.33 m grading 0.36 g/t gold, 3.49 m grading 0.14 g/t gold, and 5.53 m grading 0.21 g/t gold;
- Mineralization is associated with alteration and quartz breccia zones and occurs within epithermal vein textures typical of low sulphidation epithermal systems.
Deadwood Showing
- Located at the western end of the DBT, 800 m to the west-southwest of Discovery;
- Gold mineralization has been identified within silicified volcanic rocks over a 250 m strike length and remains open;
- 193 bedrock grab and chip samples have returned from background values up to 14 g/t Au with 39 samples returning in excess of 1 g/t Au;
- Bedrock chip sampling near some of the better grab samples has returned 2.6 g/t Au over 13.0 m, 1.1 g/t Au over 7.0 m and 0.65 g/t Au over 7.0 m;
- Drill tested by 6 holes;
- 3.39 g/t gold over 4.65m (SC-038);
- 6.43 g/t gold over 1.2 m (SC-039);
- 0.67 g/t gold over 14.9 m (SC-040);
- Better mineralization is typically located at shallow depths;
- Tracing and defining the mineralized intervals at Deadwood is complicated by a series of post mineralization feldspar porphyry dykes and faults.
Ember and Backburn Showings
- The Ember and Backburn targets are located between 500 m and 1,200 m east of Deadwood in the central and eastern DBT, respectively;
- The Ember showing has an east-west strike of 240 m and a width of 65 m;
- Drilling at Ember (2 holes) encountered massive to locally brecciated and stockwork veins down to a depth of 45 m;
- 0.18 g/t gold over 9.80 m (SC-035);
- Backburn has been tested by 4 drill holes which tested beneath a prominent soil anomaly (313.24 ppb Au over 20 m) and two occurrences of quartz stockwork veins and silica-carbonate alteration (1.52 g/t Au over 10 m). Drilling encountered narrow zones representing weakly to moderately silica, carbonate, and/or chlorite alteration;
- 0.78 g/t gold over 10 m (SC-033).