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Owl Creek West (Gold)
Timmins Area, Ontario
Page Index:
Project Overview
Objective
Background
Brief History
Property Geology
Mineral Resources
Metallurgical Test Work
Infrastructure
2012 Program
QA/QC
Project Overview
| Ownership |
Thundermin 35%, Goldcorp Inc. 65% |
| Operator |
Goldcorp Inc. |
| Past Production |
Adjoining Owl Creek Pit: 1981-1989: 225,000
oz. |
| Deposit Type |
Gold in quartz veins and shears in mafic and
ultramafic volcanic rocks |
| NI 43-101 Resource |
794,057 t grading 6.9 g Au/t (176,173 oz.),
cut-off grade of 3.0 g Au/t over horizontal width of 1.5 m (not
NI 43-101 compliant). |
| Process |
Standard cyanide milling process |
| Mine Type |
Shaft/ramp -
underground |
| Location |
3 kms west of Hoyle Pond Gold Mine, Timmins,
Ontario |
| Status |
On hold awaiting developments on adjoining
properties – no work since 1997 |
Objective
The Owl Creek West gold property (“OCW”) hosts a small gold resource
(176,173 oz.) that will probably be mined in the future through
infrastructure from an adjoining property. Thundermin intends to
maintain its interest in the OCW property and would be amenable to
selling its interest in the contained ounces on the property to a third
party.
Background
The OCW, which consists of two mining claims covering 32.4 hectares, is
located in Hoyle Township approximately 10 miles northeast of Timmins,
Ontario. The property is strategically located immediately west of the
past-producing Owl Creek open pit gold mine, approximately 3 kms west of
the Hoyle Pond gold mine and immediately east of the Vogel gold property
and the Bell Creek gold mine.
Pursuant to an agreement dated February 24, 1986 between Syngold
Exploration Inc. (now Thundermin) and Kidd Creek Mines Limited (“Kidd
Creek”), Thundermin acquired a 35% interest in the OCW property by
completing exploration expenditures of $1,400,000. Thundermin’s 35%
working interest would be converted to a 1.5% NSR should Thundermin be
diluted to a 15% working interest.
Brief History
Inco Limited (“Inco”) drilled 1,060 m in five holes on the OCW property
between 1966 and 1972.
Texasgulf Incorporated/Kidd Creek acquired the Owl Creek gold mine and
certain adjoining property from Inco and mined 225,000 oz Au from the
Owl Creek pit from 1981 to 1989. Kidd Creek drilled a further 5,904 m in
16 holes in 1984-1985 on the adjoining OCW property and intersected
ore-grade gold intersections in several holes.
Between 1986 and 1988, Thundermin and Falconbridge Gold Corporation
(“FGC”) drilled 18,171 m in 52 holes on the property. An extensive zone
of gold mineralization was outlined over a strike length of
approximately 183 m extending from approximately 152 m to at least 550 m
vertical.
In 1992, Thundermin and FGC completed 701 m of drilling in three holes
to test the shallow potential of the OCW gold zone. The most significant
assays included 6.5 g/t Au over 6.5 m, including 27.5 g/t Au over 1.0 m
and 11.0 g/t Au over 1.0 m.
In 1995, Thundermin and Kinross Gold Corporation (“Kinross”) completed
1,786 m of drilling in 9 holes. The most significant intersections
included 18.2 g/t Au over 1.9 m, 10.3 g/t Au over 2.0 m, 7.9 g/t An over
1.2 m, 5.8 g/t Au over 2.0 m and 4.1 g/t Au over 1.2 m.
In 1996, Thundermin and Kinross completed a further 4,729 m of drilling
in 13 holes on the property and determined that the property contains
the eastern extensions of the same gold-bearing zones that exist on the
Vogel property immediately to the west.
In 1997, Kinross estimated that the property contained a mineral
resource of 794,057 t grading 6.9 g/t (176,173 oz.) using a 3.0 g/t
cut-off grade over a minimum mining width of 1.5 m. This estimated
mineral resource is not NI 43-101 compliant and should not be relied
upon.
Goldcorp Inc. (“Goldcorp”) acquired the assets of Kinross in the Timmins
area. No recent exploration work has been undertaken on the OCW property
since the late 1990’s. Future work on the property is dependent on
exploration results on adjoining claims that are controlled by Goldcorp
Inc. and Lake Shore Gold Corp. (“Lake Shore”) (Vogel Property).
Property Geology
The OCW property is underlain by a steeply dipping, east-west band of
lower Tisdale mafic volcanic rocks averaging approximately 185 m in
horizontal width. The volcanic rocks are bounded to the north and south
by greywacke-turbidites. Graphitic horizons are present at both contacts
between the volcanics and sediments. The volcanics are correlative, in
part, with a regional band of volcanic rocks that host the Hoyle Pond,
Owl Creek and Bell Creek gold mines. Significant gold values are
associated with sulphides and quartz veins within zones of hydrothermal
alteration in the volcanics which are subparallel to the stratigraphy.
Mineral Resources
In 1999, Kinross calculated that the OCW property contained
inferred mineral resources of 794,057 t grading 6.9 g Au/t (176,173 oz.
Au) based on a cut-off grade of 3.0 g Au/t over a horizontal mining
width of 1.5 m, from a vertical depth of 180 m to 300 m in four separate
zones, which remain open along strike and at depth. This resource
predates NI 43-101 and should not be relied on as an independent QP has
not audited or classified this historical estimate as current mineral
resources.
Metallurgical Test Work
No metallurgical test work has been undertaken on samples from
the OCW property. It is not anticipated that there would be any
difficulty in recovering gold from this material as normal cyanide
milling processes worked well on ores from the adjoining Owl Creek open
pit mine that operated from 1981 to 1989.
Infrastructure
The property is well located with abundant infrastructure, producing
mines (Goldcorp’s Hoyle Pond Mine and 1060 Zone, Lake Shore’s Bell Creek
Mine) and gold mills located nearby along with available power, water
and experienced workforce.
2012 Program
No work on the property is planned for 2012 and any future work programs
will await developments on adjoining properties that are controlled by
Goldcorp and Lake Shore.
QA/QC
Over the years, Thundermin has relied on the operators, being
major companies, to provide the necessary controls over quality
assurance and quality control for drilling and assaying on the property.
It is Thundermin’s view that these controls have been adequate.
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