Feb 1 2011
BCGold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:BCG)(PINK SHEETS:BCGOF) has provided an exploration update.
In 2010, BCGold Corp.'s activities included advancing and consolidating core assets; re-negotiating key option agreements; optioning select properties to third parties; acquiring new copper and gold exploration properties, which were identified through generative exploration; bolstering the Company's management group; and increasing market awareness. The Company spent $1.4 million on exploration ($1.0 million to BCGold Corp.'s account) and is poised to exceed this exploration expenditure in 2011.
BCGold Corp. raised more than $3 million in equity financings in 2010 and significantly broadened its shareholder base, which includes institutional investors (29%) and Kinross Gold Corp. (9%). The Company has a current cash position in excess of $1.7 million.
Highlights of 2010
- Completion of 4 drill programs (3,072 m) on 3 properties (Engineer Mine, Toe, and Apex East)
- Demonstration of continuity of high-grade shoots at the Engineer Mine (drill hole BCGE10-11 intersected 129.0 g/t Au, 121.6 g/t Ag over 1.00 m and drill hole BCGE10-01 intersected 22.32 g/t Au, 17.6 g/t Ag over 0.96 m, within the Engineer and Double Decker veins respectively)
- Fulfillment of option requirements to vest 60% interest in Engineer Mine property (Company holds option to earn 100%)
- Engagement of Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Ltd. ("Snowden") to conduct NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimation for Engineer Mine (results expected in March 2011)
- Consolidation of land position around Engineer Mine through option of Gold Hill property
- Fulfillment of option requirements to vest 50% interest in Voigtberg property
- Acquisition, by staking, of 7 road-accessible porphyry copper-gold properties in southern B.C.
- Appointment of Mr. Darren O'Brien, P.Geo., as Vice President of Exploration.
Exploration Focus for 2011
BCGold Corp. continues to advance the Engineer Mine property towards resource definition and expansion and is sourcing exploration partners to advance the large Minto/Carmacks Copper-Gold property package in Yukon. The Company is also committed to acquiring quality, early stage copper-gold properties in B.C. and Yukon through generative exploration efforts.
Exploration Programs of 2010
Engineer Mine Property
In 2010, BCGold Corp. conducted two phases of underground diamond drilling (1,218 metres) at Engineer Mine, to target extensions of high-grade gold shoots that were partially defined by historic mining and recent sampling of the Engineer and Double Decker veins. Drilling clearly demonstrated that the high-grade gold system at Engineer Mine remains open at depth and high-grade gold shoots are predictable and more or less continuous.
The results of the Company's 2010 drill programs substantiate, for the first time, the gold and silver grades of historic chip and channel samples; thus, BCGold Corp. has the required confidence to incorporate these historic assay results into the NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate to be calculated by Snowden. The Company expects to report results in March, 2011. This resource estimate will provide the basis for additional drilling, underground rehabilitation, bulk sampling and partial dewatering of the underground workings of Engineer Mine.
In October 2010 the Company consolidated its land position around Engineer Mine by signing an option agreement with Guardsmen Resources Inc. to acquire a 100% interest in the Gold Hill property, situated adjacent and partially surrounding the Engineer Mine property. The Gold Hill property consists of five mineral claims (2,104 hectares), which include the Happy Sullivan high-grade gold epithermal prospect and a 2.2-kilometre-long segment of the highly prospective Shear Zone "B" structure. BCGold Corp. intends to conduct a property-wide soil geochemical survey on the Gold Hill property in 2011 to target narrow-vein and bulk tonnage, shear-related gold mineralization.
Minto / Carmacks Copper-Gold Properties
BCGold Corp. is the largest landholder in the Minto-Carmacks Copper Gold Belt. The Company owns 100% interest in 17 properties (16,985 hectares) that are strategically located proximal and adjacent to Capstone Mining Corp.'s Minto Mine and Western Copper Corp.'s Carmacks Copper Project. In 2010, BCGold Corp. optioned its Toe and Pepper properties, which lie north of Minto Mine, to Kestrel Gold Inc. ("Kestrel") and Goldbard Capital Corp. ("Goldbard") respectively.
On July 27, 2010, in return for a one-time cash payment of $100,000, BCGold Corp. consented to defer Goldbard's deadline for its first year exploration commitment of $350,000 on the Pepper property, by six months, to January 19, 2011. Goldbard is currently in default of this commitment and has been provided with a 30 day notice of termination of the Pepper option agreement on February 19, 2011.
In August 2010, the Company and project partner Kestrel Gold Inc. completed a four-hole (1,058 metre) diamond drill program on the Toe property, situated 7 kilometres northwest of and along trend with Minto Mine. Although no significant copper or gold intersections were returned, several intervals of biotite alteration and magnetite enrichment in Granite Mountain granodiorite (the geological setting of Minto-type copper-gold mineralization) were encountered in two of the four drill holes. Follow-up exploration is planned for 2011. Project partners have $1,050,000 in work commitments on the Toe and Pepper properties in 2011.
In September 2010 the Company completed a limited diamond drill program on the Apex East property, situated immediately north of Minto Mine. A shallow, three-hole (796 metre) diamond drill program partially tested three parallel, coincidental copper (+/- gold) soil geochemical and geophysical anomalies that measure up to 800 metres in length and width for near surface Minto-type high-grade copper and gold mineralization. No significant copper or gold mineralization was intersected; however, the Company remains very optimistic about the exploration potential of the property.
South Quesnel Porphyry Copper-Gold Properties
In 2010 the Company, utilizing recent Geoscience BC QUEST-South geophysical and geochemical data files and targeting blind porphyry copper-gold deposits, staked seven road-accessible properties in Central B.C. In the fall, BCGold Corp. conducted grid-scale mobile metal ion (MMITM) soil surveys on all seven properties. Copper and gold soil anomalies were defined on several of the properties and the Company plans to follow-up with additional work in 2011.
Voigtberg Property
In September 2010 the Company conducted an $85,000 geological mapping, sampling and prospecting program on the Voigtberg property that focused on a number of geophysical and geochemical copper, gold and molybdenum anomalies defined by previous work. The program vested BCGold Corp's 50% interest in this intrusive-related gold project. Exploration plans for 2011 are contingent upon results that are currently being compiled.