CanQuest builds B.C. portfolio

Despite, or perhaps because of, the exodus of numerous companies to offshore destinations, some British Columbia-based juniors have opted to stay put.

Consider CanQuest Resource, which is planning a public offering this spring, with a view to begin exploring four properties in the southern part of the province.

“We believe in this province,” directors John Bissett and Ian Semple told The Northern Miner. “We think the best time to acquire projects is at the bottom of the cycle.”

Prominent in CanQuest’s portfolio is Cottonbelt, a stratiform, lead-zinc-silver-copper-gold project at the drilling stage. Situated near Revelstoke, the claims encompass more than 12 km of a tightly folded regional syncline. Previous work outlined a geological reserve of 725,000 tonnes of 11% combined lead-zinc and 1.6 oz. silver per tonne. The deposit is within limited and shallow workings along a small segment of the western limb of the syncline.

CanQuest’s management believes the project resembles the major Broken Hill deposit in Australia, with respect to geological age, tectonic setting, metamorphic environment, mineral assemblage and surface trace. Drilling will be carried out this year, following structural definition, geophysics and prospecting. The company will be testing the theory that the metallic sulphide beds may be enriched in the main keel area of the syncline, or along drag-fold planes on the fold limbs.

Meanwhile, at the Microgold property, near Kamloops, an epithermal gold system is the focus of ongoing exploration. This year, the known areas of epithermal mineralization will be expanded and deeper “bonanza”-style zones will be sought.

At the Magnolia project, on Texada Island, the focus is on both skarn copper-gold and high-grade gold mineralization. Several anomalies have been identified and targets for drilling will likely be outlined this year. CanQuest also has an option to buy the OK porphyry copper-molybdenum project, near Powell River. The previously explored property hosts a geological resource estimated at more than 150 million tonnes of 0.39% copper and 0.024% molybdenum per tonne, using a 0.3% copper-equivalent cutoff. Work will be restricted to maintaining the claims until a lawsuit by a former option-holder is resolved.