Stealth moves ahead at Toodoggone

Vancouver — Stealth Minerals (SML-V) is exploring its land position in the Toodoggone region of north-central British Columbia.

In the past year, the junior made three discoveries in the Toodoggone region: the BeeGee, the August and Sickle Creek. Already, the British Columbia Ministry of Mines has recognized Sickle Creek as a new discovery and issued it a minfile number, the first such in about 10 years.

Meanwhile, Stealth has staked a large block of claims along the eastern margin of the Toodoggone basin in an area that has seen only limited exploration. Some assessment reports from this area note silver values in excess of 100 grams per tonne.

In late August, the junior discovered high-grade gold and silver mineralization in outcrop at Sickle Creek. Prospecting along strike to the north outlined a gold- and silver-bearing epithermal system hosted by felsic volcanic flows and tuff. This epithermal system stretches for more than 5 km in strike length and is believed to be part of a 16-km-long alteration and structural corridor.

This structural corridor hosts at least eight discreet mineralized systems. From south to north, these have been dubbed NWB, Nub Mountain, Sickle Creek, Griz Bowl, Quartz Basin, North Ridge, Alunite Ridge and the Kevin prospect.

The Geological Survey of Canada recently completed a multi-array airborne geophysical survey in the area between Nub Mountain and Sickle Creek, in the southern part of the corridor. Results are pending.

The mineralized target area is underlain by at thick sequence of felsic flows and pyroclastic rocks, including flow-banded rhyolite, vesicular dacite and massive felsic flows with interflow breccias and coarse pyroclastic rocks. This volcanic cycle is discontinuously capped by a hot spring and sinter sedimentary unit consisting of laminated black muddy sediments and intercalated clay-rich sediments and opalescent silica layers. Stealth reports that both the muddy sediments and sinter contain gold and silver values.

The epithermal system in the northern portion of the corridor, from Sickle Creek to the Kevin prospect, is exposed continuously for a strike length of 5,300 metres. Gold and silver values occur in hot-spring-style mudstones, silica pools, quartz breccias, quartz-carbonate veins, quartz stock work and high-sulphide veins.

Stealth took about 160 rock samples from outcrop, as well as chip samples and float samples. The gold values ranged from 0.1 to 100.2 grams, whereas silver values range from 2 to 2,420 grams. Highlights of the sampling include the following:

— Outcrop grab sample from Sickle Creek — 100.2 grams gold and 1,185 grams silver.

— Chip sample from Sickle Creek — 9.5 grams gold and 407 grams silver over 3 metres.

— Outcrop grab sample from Griz Bowl — 7.1 grams gold and 150 grams silver.

— Outcrop grab sample from Quartz Basin — 9.2 grams gold and 490 grams silver.

— Chip sample from 570 Vein — 4.1 grams gold and 46 grams silver over 4 metres.

— Outcrop grab sample from 570 Vein — 18 grams gold and 860 grams silver.

— Float sample from Alunite Ridge — 6.2 grams gold and 1,080 grams silver.

— Outcrop grab sample from North Ridge — 25.9 grams gold and 840 grams silver.

— Outcrop grab sample from Kevin — 3.4 grams gold and 5 grams silver.

Stealth has set its preliminary exploration budget for next year at $6 million. Of that, $4 million is allocated to explore the area from Sickle Creek to the Kevin prospect. Exploration next year will consist of mapping, trenching, sampling and diamond drilling.

Meanwhile, at the company’s Mess prospect, Stealth took a total of 85 rock samples from float and outcrop. Assays returned values ranging from 0.01 to 37.54 grams gold and from 0.01 to 8,520 grams silver. The samples were sourced from a large area measuring 1.5 km north-south and 500 metres east-west.

The Mess prospect was originally discovered in 1980, when soil sampling followed by limited trenching identified vein systems where grab samples returned up to 800 grams silver and 3.8 grams gold from silt samples. Since that time, soil geochemistry, trenching and limited diamond drilling (seven holes from two drill pads) have been carried out by previous operators.

About 100 metres northwest of the old Inco drill site, in an area Stealth has dubbed South Trench, grab samples returned values of 2.04 grams gold and 154 grams silver. To the north, sampling identified three areas measuring 50-80 metres in width and 200-450 metres in length; these host anomalous gold and silver values in float, as well as in outcrop. Sampling results include 1.25 grams gold per tonne, 92 grams silver, 0.1 gram gold, 403 grams silver, 37.54 grams gold, and 100.6 grams silver. Stealth believes these areas are new discoveries.

The North Trench area is 1.5 km north of the South Trench prospect. The area hosts intermediate volcanic rocks cut by an orange feldspar porphyry dyke. Near the dyke, structurally controlled zones of quartz-illite, chlorite-sericite, and carbonate alteration occur, and these contain variable concentrations of copper, lead and zinc with significant gold and silver values. Samples taken by Stealth include the following:

— A chip sample over 1.5 metres averaged 0.6 gram gold and 3,500 grams silver per tonne, plus 0.24% copper, 12.2% lead and 1.1% zinc.

— Another chip sample taken over 1.5 metres averaged 7.3 grams gold, 5,400 grams silver, 0.23% copper, 14.3% lead and 1.7% zinc.

— A grab sample averaged 7 grams gold, 5,040 grams silver, 0.19% copper, 20.9% lead and 0.55% zinc.

— Another grab sample returned 0.3 gram gold, 8,520 grams silver, 0.75% copper, 5.26% lead and 0.55% zinc.

— The highest-value grab sample assayed 37.54 grams gold and 100.6 grams silver with trace base metals. It was taken in an area about midway between the South and North trenches, which are 1,500 metres apart.

Stealth believes the Mess prospect could host large, high-grade epithermal polymetallic gold-silver deposit. Plans for 2004 include prospecting, mapping, sampling, excavator trenching, and diamond drilling.