Jan 10 2011
HELLIX VENTURES INC. (TSX VENTURE:HEL)(PINK SHEETS:HLLXF) - Frank Underhill, President, announces a preliminary geological analysis from our Margarita property field geologist.
Geologist J. Duncan was contracted to construct a detailed outcrop geologic map of the Margarita's four main prospective zones and extend north to the Blue Wing Zone. The approximate area covered is 2000 feet N-S by 800 feet E-W. This information will provide a basis for interpreting existing drill data, which until this time has not included any geology. It will also serve as a foundation for our own ongoing exploration and development efforts.
Geologic field observation of the area has revealed two readily distinguishable rock units. The first is generally strongly quartz-veined and silicious; variably limonitic, with common evidence of oxidized sulfides. Color varies from light gray to dark gray to reddish. Texture fluctuates from very fine grained to obviously crystalline. Historically, this rock has been host to the gold mineralization reported by the USBM and others, but was identified as a silicified and mineralized volcanic tuff.
According to Mr. Duncan, the rock seems to be more like an intrusive than a tuff. It is very silica rich and resistant to erosion, and forms bold outcrops capping many of the topographic high points on the property. Where it forms the Margarita main prospective zones, it is a tabular body that dips gently northwestward and is exposed mainly on the tops and northwestern flanks of the north-trending string of small hills. The once continuous body has been broken by minor faulting and/or erosion into the separate bodies identified as the Main Margarita, North Margarita, North Hill and Cascabel.
The second rock unit in the area is an intrusive rock distinguished by abundant (approximately 30% of rock volume) blocky white feldspar and subordinate smaller hornblende in a very fine-grained gray groundmass. This unit is generally unaltered and not mineralized to the eye. Based on the geologist's preliminary observations and our analysis of prior drill data, this second unit gray feldspar porphyry is not a host to gold mineralization.
The earlier interpretation that mineralization is hosted by a volcanic tuff had led to suggestions that the tuff unit must have been mineralized by high-angle "feeder" veins cut up through the underlying feldspar porphyry. Our current geological program has found no evidence of this. The detailed geochemical sampling program initiated by Hellix should confirm (or disconfirm) our current interpretation.
Mr. Duncan states, "The obvious target is the host rock itself, whether it is a tuff or an intrusion. I am optimistic that these efforts will lead to new targets on the property."
In short, Mr. Duncan's assessment is that the mineralization is found in silicified dikes occupying the tops or near the tops of hills. It is unknown at this time if there is only one dike that is widespread over the region, if there is a series of dikes, or if there are additional layers of dikes below the current known zones. Hellix will gain more knowledge in this area after structural mapping and our planned upcoming drill program.