Vancouver — In the heart of one of British Columbia’s most storied gold-mining districts, junior Goldcliff Resource (GCN-V) is defining new drill targets on its Panorama Ridge property near Hedley.
The Hedley Basin, which lies 230 km east of Vancouver, was home to Canada’s largest gold-skarn deposit — the Nickel Plate mine.
Gold was first discovered in the area in 1897. This resulted in the creation of a thriving mining boomtown during the 1900s. The town was dubbed Hedley, after Robert R. Hedley, manager of the Hall Smelter in Nelson, who grubstaked many of the original prospectors.
The mines were located high on mountaintops overlooking the town. The great northern railroad pushed through to Hedley in 1909 and the Nickel Plate mine continued to spew out rich ore at the rate of more than 50,000 oz. per year.
The Mascot Fraction joined the action in 1936, increasing the area’s total production to more than 1.5 million oz. gold and more than 4 million lbs. copper. Operations eventually ceased in 1955, only to be reactivated twice, the last time in 1987.
Covering 1,000 sq. km, the Hedley Basin mineralization is in skarns and intrusions occurring as replacement, vein and disseminated zones within the Late Triassic Nicola Group. Gold production has come from five mines (open-pit and underground) that were active from 1904 to 1996.
Vancouver-based Goldcliff Resource is hoping to rejuvenate the area. An ongoing mapping and sampling program over the company’s Panorama Ridge property, some 3.5 km east of the old mine, has uncovered a new showing with values exceeding 16 grams gold per tonne.
Goldcliffs holds over 2,550 hectares of ground in the area, ranking second to only Homestake, which was acquired by Barrick Gold (ABX-T) earlier this year.
The junior is eyeing high-grade auriferous skarn gold prospects on the property. They show similarities to the Nickel Plate ores. Goldcliff’s 2001 exploration target covers an area measuring 800 metres by 600 metres and holds three prospects — Spar, York and Nordic.
The Spar showing contains a high-grade gold-skarn mineralization containing up to 18 grams gold.
The York target has returned values averaging 0.81 gram gold over 45 metres — the highest sample yielded 9.2 grams gold.
The Nordic prospect is a large area of auriferous disseminated sulphide mineralization and calc-silicate skarn alteration. It contains gold values ranging from 0.5 gram to 1 gram gold.
Goldcliff has crews on the ground and expects to be drilling its highest-priority targets later this year.
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