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Gold in Wyoming?
Yes! From ancient Spanish workings to the ongoing development efforts in the South Pass-Atlantic City area, Wyoming remains an under-explored frontier for gold. Despite the fact that Wyoming lies amongst some of the largest gold producing areas in the United States in South Dakota, Montana and Colorado, only limited historic production has come from ten small mining districts. From a geologic perspective, however, Wyoming has what it takes to become a premier gold province: an Archean craton and Precambrian greenstone belts; Phanererozoic sedimentary rocks and the Laramide orogeny which has brought these prospective rocks nearer the surface; and finally, a varied history of Tertiary volcanic and intrusive activity. This complex geologic history bears many similarities to the giant gold mining districts of the world in Australia, South Africa and Canada. Wyoming too has demonstrated its love for mining through the success of its uranium, coal, trona, and coal bed natural gas industries. However, history - not geology, has omitted gold from this list. Through our exploration efforts on our Lewiston and Rattlesnake Hills properties, we aim to establish Wyoming as an active gold province! This goal is achievable because Wyoming's similar geology to the world's major gold provinces and because within the South Pass greenstone belt, host to the Lewiston project, there are more than a hundred small gold mines and prospects with most only scratching the surface. Exploration History
Gold in the Rattlesnake Hills area of Natrona County is a relatively new concept, having first been discovered by Dan Hausel of the Wyoming State Geological Survey in 1982. Following this discovery, American Copper and Nickel Company (ACNC) drilled a total of 32 reverse circulation holes aggregating 9,825 feet during 1985-1987. Two targets were tested: an Archean iron formation and Tertiary alkalic volcanic rocks. Significant gold mineralization in both geological settings was encountered in the ACNC drilling, with one hole intersecting 255 feet of 0.024 opt gold at Antelope Basin. From 1993 to 1995, a reverse circulation and diamond drilling program by Newmont Exploration focused on the Tertiary volcanic rocks. This work resulted in the drilling of 15 holes, totaling 10,705 feet in the North Stock area, with a significant zone of low grade gold mineralization being encountered. Significant assays from this program include a 620 foot intersection grading .037 oz/t gold and 195 feet grading 0.029 oz/t gold from two different holes at North Stock. Newmont also identified a large geochemical anomaly associated with the South Stock intrusive but never carried out any drilling. The gold mineralization discovered by ACNC in the iron formation or in the Antelope Basin area was also not drilled by Newmont. In October 2004, an agreement was signed with Bald Mountain Mining Company ultimately giving Golden Predator the right to earn a 100% interest in the property, subject to an NSR varying between 3% and 4% by spending $5 million on exploration over a 5 year period and making prescribed share and cash payments. During spring 2006, we increased our land position by adding an additional 97 mineral claims, covering approximately 1,940 acres, to bring the current property to a total of 127 unpatented claims and three state leases covering approximately 3,850 acres. Geology and Gold Mineralization
Rattlesnake Hills is located within a fragment of an Archean greenstone belt within the Wyoming craton (an environment very similar to the multi-million ounce Hope Bay Gold Project being developed by Miramar Mining Corporation on the Slave craton in Nunavut, Canada). This Rattlesnake Hills Supracrustal Belt is dominated by Precambrian metamorphosed greywacke, gabbro and basalt, overlain by Paleozoic and Tertiary sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks. These are intruded by a sequence of Eocene alkalic volcanic rocks, from trachyte to phonolite, of which more than 40 plugs and dykes are mapped by the Wyoming State Geological Survey. In the western portion of the belt, where the property is located, these high level volcanic bodies form conical hills and are associated with gold-bearing breccias near their intrusive contacts. Newmont collected 501 rock-chip samples, 911 soil samples and 7 stream sediment samples resulting in the identification of a number of distinct anomalies on the property. This work suggested that strong potassium alteration is related to higher grade gold mineralization and that gold appears to be depleted in the oxide zone. Geophysics completed by Newmont showed that zones of alteration exhibited either low or only weak magnetic expression, whereas results from the VLF survey suggest local clay zones in the North Stock area and a northerly structural grain throughout the property but in general were reported to be of limited value. Based on Newmont's previous work, induced polarization seems to be most promising. Orientation lines over the drilled gold mineralization at North Stock produced a chargeability high and a resistivity low coincident with mapped pyrite plus clay alteration. This zone is also identified to continue to the north and northwest where a 600 foot long IP trend is defined by moderate chargeability highs and resistivity lows. A second gold target initially drilled by ACNC is a westerly to north-westerly striking belt of iron formation outcropping in the south central portion of the property. Drilling by ACNC in the mid-1980's intersected a 10 feet wide zone grading 0.32 opt gold but this apparently has not been further investigated. Exploration Potential
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