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Archean Gold District Gold was discovered in the Lewiston area in 1842, but early mining activities were focused to the west in the Atlantic City, South Pass City and Miners Delight areas because of Lewiston's remoteness from established communities. Since that time, however, at least ten centers of small mining activity developed along auriferous shear zones within the district. Most reach less than 100 feet in depth. These shears cut metagreywacke and are characterized by well-developed quartz veins, silicified zones and sheeted vein structures. Historic accounts include specimen grade gold samples (up to 3,100 oz/t) being mined from the district. One zone in the Burr Mine was reported to be 16 feet wide averaging about 0.50 oz/t in gold with other sporadic rich pockets of gold mined that were reported to contain from 25 to 250 oz/t. A number of other small mines in the area, including the Good Hope, Mint, Gold Leaf, and Wolf, were all reported to have encountered zones of high grade gold mineralization during their operating life. At the Wolf Mine, a 10 foot wide surface exposure of a shear zone containing abundant quartz stringers and veinlets assayed over 1.0 oz/t gold. Despite the fact that gold-bearing shear zones were traced for considerable distances, severe winters, primitive and inadequate equipment and the remoteness of the area around the turn of the century deterred any thought of serious mine development. Previous exploration efforts at Lewiston have focused on a variety of gold deposit models. These include Carlin, disseminated, syngenetic exhalative, and Lupin type deposits; but there was no sustained effort for the exploration of greenstone-hosted shear zones. This is despite the fact that the known vein occurrences are situated along a northeast trending corridor that extends for at least five miles and is associated with multiple parallel shear zones. The historic workings are scattered along these shears where quartz veining has reached the surface. Much of the Lewiston area, however, is covered by a thin veneer of colluvium and soil, leaving large areas of the property with limited bedrock exposure. Equally important is that most of the mine shafts and mine workings observed in the area are less than 100 feet deep and the vertical extent of the gold mineralization is completely unknown at this time as there are no known records or evidence of any significant drilling in the vicinity of existing shafts and old mine workings. The property is underlain dominantly by an extensive area of Precambrian metagreywackes of the Miners Delight Formation within the South Pass greenstone belt. The structure, stratigraphy and mineralization of the South Pass area can be compared to Precambrian volcano-sedimentary terranes in Canada, Australia and South Africa which collectively have produced more than one-half of the world's gold. Current Program The landownership situation at Lewiston is complex. Presently, the property comprises nearly 200 claims covering approximately 4,000 acres and includes the Wolf and Burr mine areas. Golden Predator can earn a 100% interest in these lands subject to satisfying an exploration work commitment of $1 million over a four year period and a 3% NSR that covers a portion of our land holdings. Golden Predator initiated ground geophysical surveys during summer 2006. This includes a high sensitivity magnetic survey over the entire property and several induced polarization (IP) lines covering the Wolf and Burr mine areas. Geophysical data and interpretations will be available to the company this fall. The concurrent presence of our geophysical crew onsite while land acquisitions are being completed allows us to respond and immediately survey new portions of the property on a continuous basis. This work, along with geologic mapping and sampling to begin this fall, will assist in refining shear zone targets for drilling in 2007. Exploration Potential In similar greenstone belts around the world, mineralized structures are known to be continuous to depths greater than 5,000 feet, even where their strike lengths are relatively short. Since the shear zone at Lewiston is traceable over several thousands of feet, and the historic workings are generally less than a hundred feet deep, our geologists believe the Lewiston area is virtually unexplored. Based on existing data and comparison to other similar geological terranes around the world, the exploration target is envisaged to be a 1-2 million ounce ore body contained in a resource of from 4-8 million tons at a grade of 0.20-0.30 opt gold. | |
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