The Cooks Creek project consists of approximately 3.7 square miles of 100%-owned unpatented mining claims covering an area of outcropping sediment-hosted gold mineralization about 8 miles west of the world-class Pipeline mine in north-central Nevada. Cooks Creek lies along the Battle Mountain -- Eureka mineral belt, also referred to as the Cortez trend. The Pipeline and adjacent Cortez and Cortez Hills Carlin-type gold deposits contain more than 25 million ounces of gold (production plus reserves/resources); the mines are operated by Barrick Gold Corporation.
The Main gold zone at Cooks Creek covers an area of at least 2,900 by 2,500 feet (890 x 760m) with surface rock-chip assays reaching 1.26 ppm gold. The zone contains strong enrichments in arsenic, mercury, and antimony (locally occurring as stibnite), elements characteristic of productive Carlin-type gold deposits. Mineralization is localized along northeast-trending faults and hosted by "upper-plate" Paleozoic siliciclastic rocks (siltstone and chert), strongly-altered felsic dikes and volcaniclastics and is coincident with silicification. Historic drilling intersected gold mineralization, including 70 feet grading 0.068 opt (21.3m @ 2.317 g/t) from 60 to 130 feet, 40 feet @ 0.015 opt (12m @ 0.516 g/t), and 20 feet @ 0.019 opt (6m @ 0.635 g/t). Mineralization remains open along at least two northeast-striking fault zones about 1,000 feet apart.
In 2011, a new area of gold mineralization, the Dinner zone, was identified 750m south of the Main gold zone. The Dinner zone contains silicified and brecciated chert and quartzite along a northeast-trending fault that is parallel to structures controlling gold mineralization at the Main zone. The size of the Dinner zone at surface is uncertain due to extensive alluvial cover, which conceals the mineralization, but it appears to be at least 300m long by 40m wide. Of 31 rock-chip samples collected in the area, 17 exceed 0.1 g/t gold, 6 exceed 1 g/t gold, with a high of 2.45 g/t gold, and these sample results are higher than surface values at the Main zone. Trace elements indicate a favorable Carlin-type gold signature, with strong arsenic (up to 5750 ppm), mercury (up to 57 ppm), and antimony (up to 933 ppm) with low silver, lead and zinc. No drilling has been completed at the Dinner Zone, and initial drilling plans are being made to drill this prospective area.
Induced-polarization (IP) geophysics was completed in 2011 along a 2.2km line that crosses the structures controlling the Main and Dinner zones. The survey aided in the delineation of important faults at depth and identified a significant IP anomaly under the fault controlling the new Dinner gold zone. This anomaly, possibly the result of deep elevated sulfide content, provides additional support for drill-testing this new zone.
Another important target is the district-scale north-northwest trending Cooks Creek fault zone, largely concealed by alluvium about one mile southwest of the Main gold zone. The fault is parallel to the ore-controlling structures at the nearby Pipeline deposit and other gold deposits along the Cortez belt and has never been drill tested. Limited exposures of Paleozoic quartzite along the fault zone are strongly brecciated and contain anomalous Hg and As and north-trending silica veins. Further evidence for the Cooks Creek fault being a mineralized structure is that the northeast structures controlling the Main and Dinner gold zones project to the southwest and intersect the fault.
Catalina Metals Corp., who is earning an interest in the project and is funding the exploration program, is planning to complete six to nine drill holes in the Main and Dinner zones in late 2011 or early 2012.
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