The property hosts a large Tertiary-age low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver system. During the mid-1970s, an exposed quartz breccia body was mined by open-pit methods; 93,653 tonnes were milled at an average grade of 6.89 grams gold and 146 grams silver per tonne. Production amounted to 19,000 oz. gold and 325,000 oz. silver.
Esso Minerals explored the property in the mid-1980s, followed by Minnova in the latter part of the 1980s. Their work outlined five mineralized areas.
Ecstall President Chris Graf says Eldorado is interested in the property’s potential for a bonanza-grade feeder system under the pit area. He says the property bears striking similarities to the high-grade Golden Promise deposit, which Hecla Mining discovered across the border in the Republic basin of northern Washington state.
“It’s a hot-springs-type quartz breccia system that formed on the paleo surface, just like the Golden Promise deposit and others in the Republic camp,” Graf explains. “It’s the same geology and it’s more or less the same basin. The fault extension of the Republic basin carries on up into the Okanagan.”
Production from the Golden Promise mine exceeded 656,000 tonnes grading 25.7 grams gold and 131 grams silver.
Should Eldorado elect to enter into a definitive agreement, Ecstall would grant Eldorado the right to earn up to a 75% interest in the property by spending a total of $3.2 million on exploration over four years, making cash payments totalling $150,000 over three years, and arranging all production financing by July 30, 2008. Eldorado would also subscribe to a $250,000 private placement in Ecstall consisting of 1 million units priced at 25. About $200,000 of the proceeds would be used for initial drilling to test the plumbing system beneath the old pit.
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