Site Visit - Detailed Description
posted on
Dec 05, 2010 12:32PM
New Discovery Resulting in a 20KM Mineralized Gold Belt
Good morning gang,
Sorry for not posting this earlier, but urgent family matters kept me from getting this up yesterday. I have spent some time reviewing and translating my notes from the site visit and I will try to condense the important points as best I can. My camera was fully charged and I got a number of good images of the GNH properties that I will post separately on another server so that everyone can see them.
We were met at the airport by Frank Glass, a geologist for GNH who specializes in mapping continental and regional geologic trends as indicators of potential sites where a resource is likely to form. As Larry mentioned, it is difficult to describe Frank Glass until you have actually spent some one-on-one time with him discussing something he is passionate about. Geology is certainly one of those topics and once Frank gets going the information comes fast and furious- no doubt in lock step with his rapid thought process. Jim Tilsley has charged Frank with the responsibility of helping GNH understand some of the geological features that might have served as controlling features during the formation of the Timmins1 and other regional targets. He has mapped multiple deep faults that criss-cross the region and intersect with the main continental fault line along which most of the diorite is aligned (N48E). These intersections are hypothesized by Frank to be important elements in the generation of the Bellechasse deposit. These faults are found 8 km below the earth's surface and are believed to be key sources of heat and pressure generation in the processes of diorite impregnation and gold mobilization and remobilization in the hydraulic formation of this deposit. The idea is that identifying areas of fault intersection may assist with understanding the formation of this deposit and may ultimately help identify areas of higher-grade quartz-diorite. Frank Glass stated that GNH knows as much or more about the regional geology in the Beauce than ANY other exploration company and that will be a huge advantage for both their exploration and definition programs.
Frank Glass gave us a 20 minute presentation at the exploration office where we were led through magnetic and river flow maps to better understand the regional and continental fault structures that are controlling features for nearly every mineralized deposit. This was followed by a presentation by our man on the ground, Dany Boilard who led us through the recent progress of the drilling and bulk sampling program. Dany is the young, calm, quiet and unassuming man that is responsible for many of the day-to-day decisions made with respect to the drill program. I have seen him interact with both Tilsley and Glass at the intellectual level and can tell you he is bright, imaginative, and highly motivated. He listens, learns and then applies what he has learned at the practical level- what more can you ask for from your man on the ground? Dany explained status of the current drill program and the company’s excitement over the increased diorite footprints at T1/Road and the 88 zone as identified on the recent drilling update map. I had several questions for Dany relating to his presentation but was particularly interested in progress in and around the Timmins1 area. I started with a question about quartz-diorite hit rates in some of the more recent holes which he confirmed have been consistently high – although I couldn’t get specifics on some of these cores as they are so fresh they have not been logged yet. I asked specifically about 138 (the big red blob) and was told that there was quartz in diorite in that hole as well (no VG identified).
We broke for lunch and then moved on to see the Beland II anomaly. The snow cover made it hard to see the quartz outcrops but the elevated viewpoint gave us a nice perspective of the entire GNH claims group since we could see across the Timmins to Laval's Mountain from this point. We next moved to Timmins1/2/88 and, yes PositiveCarry there is much happening on this site that suggests they are going to be able to prove this thing up. We spent by far the most time going over progress at this site.The site was nothing like the last time I had seen it (April). Aside from the clearing of much of the timber, brush and removal of overburden there were multiple bulk sampling trenches visible across the vast terrain. We stopped at Timmins1/2 first and examineda trench (09A- I think) that had been extended in the recent program because it had to be stopped in previous program due to budgetary constraints. Based on the grades at the point it was terminated last year we may expect to see good grades in the extended trench and an incremental increase in the overall bulk grades for T1.
We drove through the T2 area and up a small incline to the Snow White/88 zone areas.This was the most transformed area since my last visit. There were several new trenches in this zone, one of them measuring greater than 150 m in length!That is all surface exposed (at least after overburden removal) quartz-diorite and gives you an idea of the potential tonnage in this region. And for those who would like to see an open pit- I think that this zone might be a good starting point provided bulk sampling grades don’t disappoint. If you look at the recent map you will see that the mineralized zones are parallel to one another as in Timmins2 and I was told the vein structure in 88 may be somewhat similar to the T2 orientation. Moving even further South on the property we reached the 88 zone, where a number of new trenches had been blasted. One trench cut through the 10 m vein section that HOOV described earlier where they had hit VG in every hole that had cut through it.You could sense Dany’s excitement about that zone by the way he stood proud as a peacock atop the trench as he spoke.As we stood there and looked back (~ 600 m) toward the main road we reminded ourselves of how much gold lay between us and the road and we smiled.
We next moved up to the piles of crushed rock to be used for the bulk sampling protocol. As I poked through the piles from the 88 zone hoping to find my next anniversary present it was immediately obvious to me that the crush size was much smaller than I had seen of the previous piles in April. This apparently will greatly improve the bulk sampling protocol and I like the sound of that.
Lastly, we moved to the drill at Laval’s mountain where we got to see some of the first core being drilled at this site. I have to say that, like positive carry, I was a critic of moving the drill all the way out to this location when the money could be spent on drilling the Timmins1 site and getting us closer to the 43-101. I also worried that it looked more distracted than it did anything else, especially in light of the fact we were still missing some assays from T1. I said as much to Frank and Sasha, but was told that there was very strong rationale to drill there and that that information would be made public in a NR after assay data from Timmins1 was released.As we drove up to Laval’s Mountain we could see the tracks that had been cut in the trees, the drill churning away and another “road” of logs built up the sloppy mountainside where the next set of holes would be drilled- evidence that this will be a highly efficient operation with very little drilling downtime. I recognized at least one of the drillers from the April campaign so I am confident we are still in good hands. As we watched them put another length of pipe down the hole Dany and Frank Glass were huddled around a small patch of what they called cooked rock (metamorphic I assume) in a brownish colored soil that they explained was due primarily oxidized iron from the rock below. It turns out that this type of feature is consistent with the features at the boundaries of the diorite and regional host rock at Timmins1 and similar features have been identified at another known mineralized zone to the northeast of GNH properties. It also turns out you can draw a straight line along NE18 to line up all of these similar features (a possible fault structure connecting these three sites). You can see the excitement in Frank Glass’ eyes as he tries to put all this new information together. My favorite part was when turned and looked me in the eyes to tell me how lucky I was to be here see this story develop with my own eyes - I had to agree with him on that one.
We made our last stop back at the exploration office. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to visit the core shack, or the new office core storage facility but we did get a chance to talk to Paul Nichols, the geologist who has been mapping and logging core for GNH who was back at the office. Paul was sitting at his computer reviewing 2D slices of the Timmins1 deposit to review the best locations for new drill holes in the upcoming drill program. Paul was able to tell me that the company believes that the diorite zones between Tmmins1 and the new area north of the road zone are connected (imagine a down-dipping diorite slide) but that we just haven’t drilled it at the right depth to fill in the gaps.He also explained that the new AR hole series is aimed at defining mineralization underneath the road zone at depth. The thing that struck us is that the company has enough data entered already into the computer to generate these 2D projection models. In my line of work we take 2D fluorescent image slices and we stack them together using a 3D rendering program to generate a 3D model of the structure I am imaging. This type of analysis (while expensive) gives you a preliminary volume estimate of your structure provided that you have enough high quality information to generate the 2d stacks. It seems to be that we are getting closer and closer to the stage where this will be possible for Timmins1/2/88 and that will be a key step toward letting the world know the size of this deposit.
I cannot speak to the feasibility of mining this deposit and I did not get a chance to have these discussions with Tilsley on this topic. I do think that 2011 will be a huge year for GNH but I do not dare try to make sp predictions or anything might be perceived as pumping at this time. I was VERY comfortable with every part of the operation that I observed while on this visit. I believe the company needs to market itself better with the information and summarization of its own news releases. It needs to find a balance between the conservative academic style of Mr Tilsley, the exuberance and business savvy of the GNH management, and the experience of our new board members, in particular Mr. Zurowski. I feel that if they can attain this balance the longs in this play will do very very well. I am obviously not the CEO, nor do I pretend to know the specific rationale for decisions that have been made thus far but I feel that if we are working toward a tonnage target for T1/T2/88 that releasing updates on visuals (intercepts of quartz in diorite) for each of the zones would allay fears that the exploration program was coming up empty or that tonnage would fall well short of expectations. These are my thoughts/suggestions that I have conveyed to management on one or more occasion, and for which they were grateful for my constructive suggestions.
As we walked out of the exploration office to leave for home we walked past multiple white buckets neatly labeled, sealed, and ready for shipment to Actlabs – more bulk sampling samples processed and ready to go. For me this was more evidence that the work on the ground continues to build shareholder value on a daily basis despite posts on Agoracom that the “blue sky is falling”. I spent another dizzying 1.5 hr ride with Frank Glass on the way back to the airport but by then my note taking capacity was exhausted. I left mentally exhausted, excited, intrigued with much anticipation for the news that I know will come soon- but I am still not sure when. Personally I am very keen to see the results from the 88 zone trenches that cut through the 10 m zone enriched in VG hits and based on what I have seen I am patient enough to wait for them.
These are my thoughts. I am sure I will have follow-up comments as I remember other things but I am sure that I am already risking reader fatigue with the length of this post.
Best regards,
Scott