Wenatchee, Washington
Wenatchee Exploration
Wenatchee Geology
Wenatchee - Matthew's Property
Wenatchee - Compton Property
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Wenatchee Gold Belt
Overview |
Exploration |
District Geology
Matthew's Property |
Compton Property
 Wenatchee Technical Report [ 88-pg, 6.6Mb PDF ]
The Matthews and Compton properties are on trend with past producing mines, have returned high-grade gold assays over long intercepts, and have the potential to host multi-million ounce deposits.
Project Overview
In 2003, Kimberly acquired leases to the Matthews and Compton properties along the Wenatchee Gold Belt (WGB),
just south of Wenatchee in central Washington [map]. The WGB contains extensive sediment-hosted, high-grade gold such as that produced from its Cannon and Lovitt Mines. The Cannon Mine produced roughly 1.25 million ounces of gold from ore grading 0.29 ounces per ton (oz/t). The Lovitt Mine, just south of Cannon, produced roughly 410,000 ounces of gold from ore averaging
0.40 oz/t.
Most Wenatchee mineralization is buried beneath varied depths of sedimentary and volcanic rock. Recognition of the untapped potential along the WGB has resulted from exploration drilling southeast of the mines by Asamera, Ramrod, and Yamana over the last two decades. More than one hundred diamond drill holes have defined a roughly 700-foot favorable structural corridor, where high-grade gold intercepts have been encountered over a 1400-foot vertical interval and along over two miles of strike length.
The Wenatchee Project comes complete with a comprehensive database of core and reverse circulation drilling logs and interpretations. Over 40 diamond drill holes have been completed on each of the Matthews and Compton properties, most of which intersected high-grade gold, including highlights of 70 feet of 0.26 oz/t, 20 feet of 0.55 oz/t, and 35 feet of 0.25 oz/t. Core recovery from drilling has generally been above 90 percent based on information available from prior operators.
Exploration
The exploration challenge at Wenatchee is to prove the epithermal deposit model. The upside potential of the discovery of such a system is enormous, especially with possibilities for both open-pit and underground extraction. Drilling by previous operators has been very successful, clearly demonstrating potentially economic gold and silver mineralization at Matthews and Compton similar to that found at the Cannon and Lovitt mines.
Initial exploration at Wenatchee will focus on the near-surface mineralization found at Compton.
Target types include bonanza-grade epithermal veins with associated high-grade sediment-hosted mantos (Cannon-type) and high-grade breccia pipes. There are two primary drill targets:
- Just south of Compton's Knob, which may contain a significant near-surface resource.
- The west side of the "favorable structural corridor" (FSC), along the Silver Fault, which could host the high-grade, bulk tonnage gold/silver deposits that eluded Asamera.
Mineralization in the Compton's Knob area consists of multi-stage silica breccias and silicified sandstones with local high-grade intercepts. The area south of the Compton Knob Zone will be tested at various elevations and along its entire width in a systematic fashion. If the funnel-shaped occurrence constructed from prior drilling data is accurate, then the model may indicate the base of an epithermal gold system, uplifted on the west side of the fault zone. At higher elevations to the south where the upper part of the system may be preserved, the mineralization may be much wider with the potential for a wide, open-pittable ore body.
The gold/silver ratio demonstrated in holes COM-21 and COM-28, on the west side of the FSC, is remarkably close to that of both Cannon and Lovitt production, although the style of mineralization is decidedly different. The sparse semi-massive to massive pyrite clasts encountered in Hole COM-42 originated somewhere locally and were then incorporated into the fault zone. If the 50-foot wide fault zone intercepted in both COM-41 and COM-42 is actually the West Strand Eagle Creek Fault (WSECF), then drill testing the zone at depth is warranted. This is supported by the high-grade mineralization found along the fault (COM-21 and
COM-28), gold-bearing massive pyrite clasts found in fault gouge (COM-42), and the fact that both the Cannon and Lovitt mines are also adjacent to the WSECF.
District Geology
The Wenatchee Gold Belt (WGB) is a northwesterly trending structural zone at least seven miles long and up to one-half mile wide, well known for the sediment-hosted, high-grade gold/silver mineralization exploited at both the Cannon and Lovitt mines. Primarily immature fluvial sediments along with sparse rhyodacite host the high-grade gold/silver mineralization at the Matthews and Compton properties, similar to those found at Cannon and Lovitt.
Over one hundred holes of prior drilling have defined a "favorable structural corridor" (FSC) roughly 700 feet wide, within which a horizontal, tube-like silicified zone contains high-grade gold/silver mineralization. This type of occurrence is epithermal and epigenetic, varying in morphology from funnel-shaped to pancake-shaped, often strata bound and sill-like. The highest mineral grades are found within the sediments, proximal but not immediately adjacent to the sediment-hosted gold. High-grade gold has been intercepted at various points along two miles of strike over a 1550-foot vertical interval.
The mineralization at both the Cannon and Lovitt mines has a very strong structural control. Geologic compilation of the WGB properties further southeast also indicates strong structural control to mineralization. Relating the important structures at the mines with those seen to the southeast leads to a preliminary conclusion that the FSC identified at Compton and Matthews may be a tremendously important feature of the WGB.
Given its position and orientation, the Silver Fault on the Compton property is likely the West Strand Eagle Creek Fault (WSECF), coincident with both high-grade mineralization at Compton's Knob and the "E" Reef of the Lovitt Mine. Furthermore, the East Fault on the Compton Property likely corresponds to the East Strand Eagle Creek Fault and the footwall of the Lovitt Mine "D" Reef. If so, then both the Cannon and Lovitt mine orebodies are located within the same FSC, bounded by the two strands of the Eagle Creek Fault and all of the major prospects in the district would lie along, and mainly just east of, the WSECF.
Matthew's Property
Kimberly leased the privately-owned Matthews property on the south end of the Wenatchee Gold Belt (WGB) in Chelan County, Washington state.
Wentachee Drilling Map
Matthews was first drilled in the late 1980s to test for Belt continuity. Despite drilling "blind targets" and typically at disadvantageous angles, Asamera intercepted significant gold mineralization on 19 of 34 deep drill holes, including intervals of 30 feet of 1.36 oz/t
(MAT-20), 10 feet of 1.30 oz/t (MAT-7) and 40 feet of 0.338 oz/t (MAT-13). The best individual 5-foot interval assayed at 6.20 oz/t gold and 14.0 oz/t silver (MAT-20). This was followed up by Consolidated Ramrod which, using better-suited directional drilling techniques, intersected significant gold values on all twelve of its deep drill holes, including intervals of 65 feet of 0.219 oz/t (MAT94-10) and 25 feet of 0.486 oz/t (MAT94-10A).
While past drill data is insufficient to confidently delineate mineralized tonnage estimates, it has clearly defined a 700-foot wide "favorable structural corridor" (FSC) for future exploration work. This corridor runs between the Silver and East faults and contains extensive silicification that includes high-grade gold mineralization within a well-defined vertical range. This silicified zone includes both sediment-hosted and rhyodacitic, intrusive-hosted material, as is typical elsewhere in the district.
Work plans for Matthews are under development pending further study of available data, including the 46-hole drilling database from past project operators. Given the remarkable success of preliminary surface drilling at Matthews, substantially more gold mineralization may be present at depth. Additional drilling of the silicified zones should establish continuity within the known high-grade mineralization and may lead to the discovery of other zones beneath and/or lateral (along strike) to areas already drilled. "Low angle" or underground drilling may be required to most effectively cross the FSC at the proper depth.
Compton Property
Kimberly leased the privately-owned Compton property which lies about one mile north of Matthews and just one-half mile south of the Lovitt Mine, along the Wenatchee Gold Belt (WGB) in Chelan County, Washington.
Like Matthews, Compton has also seen extensive drilling, particularly near "Compton's Knob," a large outcrop of siliceous breccia and silicified sandstone. Over forty holes have been drilled in the area, first by Asamera and more recently by Yamana, targeting near-surface, epithermal, gold and silver mineralization, similar to that of the Cannon and Lovitt mines. Drilling by Asamera intercepted intervals of 65 feet of 0.274 oz/t (COM-1A), 20 feet of 0.55 oz/t (COM-28), 10 feet of 0.773 oz/t (COM-31) and 5 feet of 1.24 oz/t (COM-27). These results are encouraging because of their shallow depth, within just 200 feet of the surface.
The silicified zone associated with Compton's Knob runs parallel to, and roughly 100 feet west of, the northwesterly extension of the structural corridor identified at Matthews. Select drill holes that intersected the western edge of the corridor, the Silver Fault, have returned high silver values, including intervals of 5 feet of 42.0 oz/t (with 0.15 oz/t gold, COM-21) and 5 feet of 12.0 oz/t (with 0.09 oz/t gold, COM-28).
As at Matthews, past drill data has demonstrated potentially economic mineral grades and has provided valuable insight into the local geological structure, yet is insufficient to confidently delineate mineralized tonnage estimates. However, given the shallow nature of the known mineralization, Kimberly believes that additional drilling will establish its continuity and facilitate preliminary mineralization estimates with modest additional effort.
Work plans for Compton are under development pending further study of available exploration data, including the 40-plus hole drilling database from past project operators. Kimberly intends to conduct geochemical and geophysical surveys, along with soil and chip sampling, followed by a preliminary drill program targeting the silicified zone and the Silver Fault at appropriate depths. The shallower overburden at Compton should make it an easier and less costly exploration target then Matthews.
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