Iron Colt grades surpass expectations

Results from underground development on the Iron Colt gold-silver project near this historic camp are surpassing the expectations of joint-venture partners International Silver Ridge Resources (VSE) and Pacific Vangold Mines (VSE).

Muck and face samples are returning multi-ounce values from initial sub-level development on the Iron Colt vein.

The partners are busy following up high-grade drill intersections dating back to 1989, and immediate plans call for mining an initial 10,000-ton bulk sample.

The vein is on the eastward strike extent of old Le Roi mine, which was the subject of a massive staking rush in the late 1800s.

Between 1891 and 1928, the Rossland area produced about 6.2 million tons at a recovered grade of 1% copper, 0.47 oz. gold and 0.60 oz. silver per ton. “We are certainly in elephant country,” said Michael Muzylowski, former president of Granges who recently joined the board of Pacific Vangold. Much of the historic production came from Le Roi mine, the founding asset of what is now Cominco.

Le Roi’s mineralization occurs in shear-vein systems along the northern margin of a monzonite intrusion. Gold mineralization is generally mesothermal, taking the form of massive sulphide veins containing pyrrhotite, pyrite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite.

“Anywhere along this contact (with the intrusion) is a good place to look for these veins,” said Daniel Wehrle, Vangold’s project geologist, who spoke to The Northern Miner on a recent site visit.

The Iron Colt project is about 3,000 ft. east of Le Roi, along the strike extent of the mineralized trend.

Work to date includes rehabilitation and 300 ft. of further development on the No. 6 adit. The adit now extends about 3,000 ft. from daylight, through Cominco’s old Columbia-Kootenay mine and on to the Iron Colt property to the west.

Vangold and Silver Ridge pay a monthly rental fee to Cominco to use the adit. The joint venture completed a 300-ft.-long, 50 raise from the No. 6 level, with three “knuckle-backs” up to the area of the old high-grade drill intersections.

Silver Ridge President Barry Wilson noted that although some of the raising was done on the Iron Colt vein, the knuckle-backs forced the raise off the vein by as much as 30 ft. in some cases. As a result, the vein could not be sampled all the way up the raise. Wilson did say that about 100 ft. up, the raise encountered material grading 2.5 oz. gold.

Further development was also undertaken on the Alberta adit, which was driven from the Iron Colt project about 100 years ago to crosscut the eastern extent of the Le Roi mineralized trend.

The recent development connects the top of the 300-ft. raise with the Alberta adit, which, in turn, is about 200 ft. vertically above the No. 6 level at the bottom of the raise.

At the time of our visit, the sub-level work included a 4-ft.-wide sub-drift in the hangingwall of the steeply dipping vein near the top of the raise. The sub-drifts extended 45 ft. east and west of the raise. Samples were taken across the face of the sub-drift with each advance and graded as high as 12.4 oz. gold across 1.5 ft. Muck samples ranged from 0.31 to 2.67 oz. The limits of the potential “ore” shoot have not been defined and, as a result, no reserve estimates are available. For the immediate future, the joint venture is planning to concentrate on completing a 10,000-ton bulk sample from the high-grade area.

Two custom-milling alternatives are being considered for the bulk sample. International Silver Ridge owns a 125-ton-per-day flotation mill at Slocan, about 60 miles to the north. Another possibility under consideration is to truck the ore south to Echo Bay’s Kettle River mill near Republic, Wash. Wilson noted that it would be preferable to have a dedicated mill processing the bulk sample. However, he admitted that the Slocan mill is at a disadvantage because it produces a concentrate whereas the end-product out of the Kettle River cyanide mill is a gold bar.

Silver Ridge has about 3 million shares outstanding and fully diluted, and it should have about $200,000 in working capital after options are exercised. “That should be enough to get us into cash flow”, Wilson said. Pacific Vangold has about 6.5 million shares outstanding and about $800,000 in working capital on a fully diluted basis.

The fully diluted working capital is not immediately available and Dal Brynelsen, president, hopes to raise about $1.5 million in the near future. A third of the funds would be used to fund further work on the Rossland ground, with the balance reserved for working capital and a recently optioned property in Uganda.