I think it might be dangerous to speculate now given that the geo who supposedly is well experienced with the area got it wrong. Greg was fairly certain where you have arsenopyrite mineralisation you will have good gold in this part of the world and that the core looked exactly the same as the core from the POGO deposit. A prospector told me once "gold is where you find it and not where it's suppose to be". Sadly the saying is fitting for the returned assays intervals. So until the assays drop in, any prediction would just be wild guesswork.
There are a few things that I think would be quite helpful. Disclamier here, I don't know anything about POGO style mineralisation so this is all just pure guesswork. And some of the questions I'm asking will require many research projects to unravel and definitely not something one borehole or even one exploration seasons can answer. But it's always good to have the big picture stuff in the back of your head.
Firstly, there are quite a few historic boreholes with gold intercepts.
WP12-01: 2.5m @ 1.78 g/t Au
WP12-02: 1.8m @ 1.34 g/t Au
ER03-05: 0.1m@ 373 g/t Au
MR12-01: 1.2m @1.71 g/t Au
RML if they haven't already should re-log the historic holes if they are available and compare the lithology, alteration, mineralogy, As %, Bi (ppm), Magsus, etc. with the current hole(s) to see if there is any correlation of gold with any of the logged attributes. Would be interesting to see what sort of As% and Bi (ppm) concentration correlates to the better gold grades.
Naturally, if they can get the POGO or Goodpaster logs that would be better. The association of Au to As and Bi is clear but how much As and Bi before you can expect economic gold grades. Based on the current hole and scale bar, I'm squinting here, >0.5% As equates to a sniff ~0.2 g/t Au. How does the historic and POGO, Goodpaster holes compare?
The 'better interval' around 120-130m is near the Biotite-rich granite (pink colour). Does this intrusive body have any association with the gold? There seems to be an abundance of this dolomite-sericite alteration associated with this intrusive. Quartz veining intensity is also higher around this body. Could this intrusive body be a potential marker to follow and vector in? Are there any geochem ratios that would suggest we are getting closer? What does silica alteration and chlorite alteration mean? Hotter, or cooler? what temperature and pressure does the gold drop out at?
Now the big picture stuff. We are in the right area, we need to find the structural trap (i.e. the shallow dipping shear zone with the stacked sheets). What is the relationship of the major, moderate and minor structures to the timing of the gold mineralisation? What were the field stresses the area experienced leading to the formation of these structures and gold mineralsation? Why was there a shallow angle shear at POGO and could the same feature repeat elsewhere or manifest in a different form (POGO have the shallow dipping sheets and the sub-vertical systems). The second hole could indicate the orientation of the target structure if similar shallow dipping structure is intersected. Hopefully more gold in it as well.
Those rock chips at Half Ounce Gulch and other prospects showing >5.1 g/t Au. What are those rock chips of? are they in-situ?, What is the prospect model and how does it fit into the bigger target model for the area? Are there any mapping done and RC samples at the current target locations?
No doubt these questions are also burning in the back of any geo's mind. I am certain the team would have carefully considered them when choosing their targets. Exploration is puzzle solving and that's what I love about the game and with a bit of luck, fortunes can be made. We are in the right ground so we are already half way there.
GLTA, wait for the assays.
Best
J
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