Oct 26 2012
COLORADO RESOURCES LTD. is pleased to announce the results of its 2012 exploration program on its 100% owned 14,396 hectare Heart Peaks Property located in northern British Columbia 45 kilometres northeast of the past producing Golden Bear Mine.
Work completed on the Heart Peaks property to date in 2012 includes:
- The collection of 407 rock samples
- The collection of 2427 soil samples
- The collection of 202 samples for TerraSpec infrared analysis to identify alteration mineralogy
- Detailed geologic mapping
- 34 kilometres of line cutting
- 13 kilometres of Induced Polarization geophysical surveying
Summary of Results
The exploration work completed to date by the Company demonstrates that the gold and silver mineralization found at Heart Peaks occurs at a very high level within a large and deep rooted epithermal system. Gold values in surface grab samples as high as 126 g/t gold indicate there is very good potential to find high grade mineralization at shallow to moderate depths at Heart Peaks. Historical drill testing, which returned intersections of up to 0.51 g/t gold over 115 metres in drillhole 84-4, also convincingly demonstrates that the Heart Peaks hydrothermal system is robust enough to generate broad zones of lithologically controlled bulk tonnage style gold mineralized targets.
The Heart Peaks Property
Heart Peaks is one of several young volcanic centres identified in north and north-central British Columbia. Of these many volcanic centres, Heart Peaks is exceptional in that significant gold and silver mineralized zones are developed within an area of intense epithermal alteration which exceeds 10 square kilometres.
At least three significant shallow dipping felsic volcanic sequences characterize the Heart Peaks felsic volcanic complex. Massive coherent flow sequences are often capped by heterolithic debris flows. Broad gold mineralized zones, with up to 0.51 g/t gold over 115 metres in historic drill core, are associated with the contacts between heterolithic debris flows and hydrothermally brecciated, competent felsic flows. These contacts represent internal unconformities, which in similar global environments, e.g. Pascua Lama in Peru (proven and probable reserves of 17.9 million ounces of gold and 676 million ounces of silver), may have a strong spatial association with the development thick panels of gold mineralized rock.
Bladed quartz-sericite-adularia veins occur in the felsic flows at the base of the volcanic section and likely represent zones of maximum fluid up-flow. These veins locally contain high grade gold mineralization at the historically known Quartz Hill and Top Zones. Grab sampling by the Company in 2011 returned values up to 31.6 g/t gold and 4,282 g/t silver from these zones.
In 2011 the Company discovered a new zone of gold mineralization 1,200 metres east of the Top Zone called the Midas Zone. At the Midas Zone, gold mineralization has been identified within an east-west trending quartz vein zone which, based on rubble fragments and soil-talus fines geochemistry, has a strike length of at least 200 metres. The surface on-strike expression of this vein system is obscured to the east beneath surficial cover. Three of only five samples collected from the Midas zone in 2011 returned values of 4.7 g/t, 8.5 g/t and 10.4 g/t gold, with 23 g/t, 60 g/t and 32 g/t silver, respectively.
2012 Exploration Highlights
Prospecting by the Company at the Midas Zone in 2012 discovered grab samples with visible gold that returned values up to 126 g/t gold. Precious metal values from 55 rock samples collected over a 100 by 200 metre area at the Midas Zone ranged from 0.035 g/t to 126 g/t gold and 0.6 g/t to 338 g/t silver. The average value for these samples was 3.6 g/t gold and 22.4 g/t silver.
The 2012 soil sampling program identified several areas of significant gold - silver mineralization that require follow-up. The largest gold geochemical anomaly, defined by the 95th percentile (170 ppb) gold value, is 200 to 300 metres wide and extends north from the Top Zone for 1300 metres. The southern 600 metres of this gold anomaly is also coincident with anomalies defined by the 98th percentile silver and and 95th arsenic values (6 ppm and 900 ppm respectively).
The Midas Zone, which has returned the highest gold in rock samples on the property to date, is defined by a 200 by 50 metre east-west trending 95th percentile (170 ppb) gold and 90th percentile (3 ppm) silver soil geochemical anomaly. This anomaly is contained within a 200 metre by 50 to 100 metre wide 98th percentile (>1200 ppm) arsenic anomaly.
The alteration pattern identified by TerraSpec analysis at Heart Peaks is dominated by kaolinite and illite, with moderate alunite and jarosite. Such a pattern is consistent with the shallow-level advanced argillic alteration blanket (kaolinite-alunite) and clay halo typically found in a gold mineralized low-sulphidation epithermal system.
The IP surveying program started late in the season and was terminated before the survey was complete due to the onset of winter conditions. The survey was successful in providing third dimension structural information that will be useful in locating drill targets for the 2013 exploration season.
The IP survey also demonstrated that the Top and Quartz Hill Zones are underlain by a very strong chargeability and resistivity anomalies. The IP anomalies extend to depth for at least 300 m and are coincident with the gold soil anomaly identified at the Top Zone. The high chargeability could be indicating the presence of sulfide mineralization while the highly resistive response is likely reflecting strong silicification of the underlying rocks. Both of these features are typical indicators of gold mineralized epithermal systems.
Adam Travis, Colorado Resources President & CEO states, "The Company is very pleased with the results of its systematic exploration program at Heart Peaks. The work completed in 2012 has clarified our understanding of the controls on gold and silver mineralization on the property and has provided us with the information we need to plan a minimum 2500 m drilling program at Heart Peaks for the 2013 exploration season."