The Elsiar Property is located in western British Columbia approximately 45 kms northwest of Terrace. The 1116 ha project is 100% controlled by Eagle Plains with an underlying 2% NSR held by Eagle Royalties containing a 1% buy-back clause. The claims were acquired in 2003 based on regional research and a similar geologic environment as the Kalum property, 10 km to the south. The project area is accessed by a network of logging roads.
Project Highlights
- Copper-gold porphyry and epithermal gold deposit target
- Encouraging exploration to date including mineralized drill intercepts
- Excellent geology with multiple high-grade copper, gold and molybdenum occurrences
- Numerous untested coincident geochemical and geophysical anomalies
- Excellent infrastructure - highway, logging roads, nearby hydro power-line, 45 km to Terrace
Geology
The property is centred upon an intrusive complex of at least four 100 m scale, Cretaceous porphyry stocks of the Coast Crystalline Complex. These stocks have intruded Jurassic to Cretaceous metasedimentary rocks of the Bowser Lake Group and vary from quartz monzonite to tonalite to minor microdiorite. The property shares some geologic features evident of a Cu-Mo±Au porphyry system including: multiple small-scale, intermediate intrusive plugs; a hornsfels (silica + biotite ± pyrrhotite) halo; epidote-chlorite-magnetite alteration; and phyllic and potassic alteration assemblages associated with dense mineralized quartz stockworks. Cu, Mo and Au geochemical zonation and elevated W + Bi + Si geochemical signatures are also evident in stream-silts and soils.
History
The property has had limited historic exploration focussed on the LCR showing while recent exploration by Eagle Plains has been more extensive. Recorded exploration history goes back to a 1969 geophysical survey by Rio Tinto. This was followed by soil sampling, geological mapping and prospecting in 1979 and 1980 by Moly Syndicate and AMAX Canada. Systematic exploration by Eagle Plains Resources began after acquiring the project in 2003.
Elsiar Project Zones
Central Mo-Cu Zone
Within this zone is located a continuous 300m area of mineralized stockwork occurring within the cupola of a multiphase intrusive suite that is open to depth. This is very favorable geologically because such environments are known to be the locus of Cu-Mo-Au mineralization in a number of British Columbia porphyry systems.
Drilling in 2005 was successful at better defining porphyry-style Mo-Cu-Au mineralization where 19 of 23 drill holes intersected geology, alteration and mineralization consistent with the presence of a large-scale, low-grade Cu-Mo-Au porphyry system.
Sampling suggests that the system may have been focused enough to concentrate fluids and mineralization into a high-grade core. Diamond-drilling intersected grades up to 1 m @ 14.4 g/t Au. These higher values are significant as they indicate that the system was gold-bearing and suggests that late-stage hydrothermal fluids were concentrating gold in some of the silicious stockworks.
Mineralization is open to the south and south-west
West Au-Mo Zone
A major intrusive contact underlies the headwaters of the main drainage in this zone which yielded significantly anomalous Au and Mo silt values. Au values increase significantly along the lower half of the drainage while the upper half is highly-anomalous in Mo. The zone is also the location of a broad VTEM geophysical anomaly. Silt sampling located a highly-anomalous Au + Mo drainage along a cretaceous intrusive contact. Six silt sample results were in the top 95th percentile for Au in the entire BC geochemical database.
West Cu-Au Zone
A major intrusive contact underlies the headwaters of the main drainage in this zone which yielded significantly anomalous Au and Mo silt values. Au values increase significantly along the lower half of the drainage while the upper half is highly-anomalous in Mo. The zone is also the location of a wide geophysical anomaly. Silt sampling located a highly-anomalous Au + Mo drainage along a cretaceous intrusive contact. Six silt sample results were in the top 95th percentile for Au in the entire BC geochemical database.
Eagle Plains Exploration
Extensive exploration programs were conducted on the Elsiar property during the 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2010 field seasons. These programs included geophysical and geochemical surveys, geological mapping and 23 diamond-drill holes. These programs resulted in:
- identifying the potential for a high-level epithermal system overlying the Cu-Mo porphyry system
- discovery of the Shae Cu-Mo porphyry / Cu replacement showing
- delineating intrusive bodies whose contacts often are associated with mineralization
- outlining a prominent copper-molybdenum anomaly
- defining porphyry-style Mo – Cu mineralization
2011 Field Program
In 2011 a ground-based geophysical survey was carried out in the Central Mo-Cu Zone, of the results, two geophysical signatures are of particular interest for follow-up work.
Future Work
Future work recommendations include the inversion of the 2011 geophysical dataset and ground-truthing of the two geophysical targets by detailed lithological and alteration mapping plus chip/channel sampling of prospective outcrops at those targets. Considering the known scale of mineralization in the area, coupled with the 2011 geophysical survey and recommended follow-up ground-truthing, sound, high-quality diamond-drill targets should be achievable for the next field season.
Eagle Plains - A Project Generator
Eagle Plains Resources is a project generator with mineral exploration properties of merit that meet qualifying transaction requirements. While the Elsiar is not a project of merit, it is available for option to joint-venture partners. We facilitate the listing process for capital pool companies and initial public offerings while providing technical expertise for exploration programs. Companies interested in co-operatively exploring any of these projects please contact: Tim Termuende at tjt@eagleplains.com or Mike Labach at mgl@eagleplains.com or call 1 866 Hunt Ore (486 8673).
Updated June 8, 2023
