Florissant
           Scientific
                     Society

 

M E E T I N G   N O T E S

Deep drilling in Cripple Creek Gold District

Speakers: Tim Brown (with additional comments from Dave Vardiman)

October 24, 2004

 Location: Anglo Gold office/mines, Victor, CO.

 Photos

BRIEF SUMMARY

 

Good news, bad news:

Deep drilling results project a loss of gold values below about 7000 feet elevation, or depth of 3000 feet below the surface, with a significant increase in moly values.  Essentially, the gold district with depth becomes a molybdenum porphyry.   Not a good outcome when you’re in the gold business.

 The good news is that previously undiscovered shallow high-grade gold ore has been confirmed, in spite of the extensive mining history over many decades in this “mature” district.   This is a tribute to careful integration of multiple geologic/ geochemical/ geophysical tools, assisted by sophisticated computer software.

 The Wildhorse Project (WHEX) drilling was initiated in 2001, with continued exploration/development in 2002 and 2003.  A high-grade sub-horizontal ore body containing about 135,000 oz Au at approximately 550 feet depth was delineated.  This zone, named the “Gold Bug”, displays a NW trending fabric whereby NE and SW dipping fractures intersect, creating optimal plumbing.  This will likely be mined by open pit.  Discovery success raises an interesting operational dilemma:  how to mill this rich ore.  Heap leaching is not the preferred choice because of the high grade.

 The Gold Bug lies along a linear trend, where there are notable changes between low and high CSAMT resistivities.  There are several other interesting anomalies of somewhat similar nature where future exploration may be warranted.

 The oral presentation was capped by a brief field trip to the core repository and Cresson/East Cresson open pits.  A stop at a dump site where many representative lithologies could be examined and collected concluded the day.