Below you will find extensive information on the TJ Ridge Project. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us via phone, or .
Acquisition Terms
Roxgold acquired the TJ Ridge property by issuing 4.5 million shares (subject to an escrow agreement) to acquire a private company that held title to the underlying properties. Additional consideration includes two conditional share issuances: (i) 1 million shares upon the definition of a 43-101 compliant resource equivalent to 1 million measured ounces of gold equivalent (gold + silver) prior to January 15, 2010; (ii) 1.5 million shares upon the definition of resource of 2 million measured ounces of gold equivalent prior to January 15, 2012
Back to Top
History
cover on the TJ Ridge Project |
Since the early 1990s over 2,500 soil samples have been collected and analyzed by ICP-MS. These samples have been merged with data recovered from early reports to yield a database of over 4,000 samples. Analysis of mineralized rock samples indicated the gold mineralization is usually associated with some or all of the pathfinders; arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena and more locally sphalerite with the higher gold values tending to have elevated bismuth and antimony values. Soil sample values of Au > 30 ppb; Ag > 2 ppm; As > 100 ppm; Pb >50 ppm; Zn > 140 ppm; Bi > 0.4 ppm are considered anomalous. (Background in the Bowser sediments is Au < 5 ppb.)
Back to Top
Geology
Heavy forest cover hinders geological mapping of the property with outcrops generally confined to creek beds resulting in bed rock exposure in the primary target to be less than 1%. . Nonetheless, an early structural interpretation identified a circular feature that was postulated to be a buried intrusive, a hypothesis that gained support when mapping in creek beds noted zones of pervasive carbonate alteration. Exploration in 2007 and 2008 resulted in the location of monzonite intrusive and feldspar porphyry rocks of providing the heat source necessary for the introduction of mineralization in to the surrounding sedimentary rocks.
Typical dense forest and moss cover on the TJ Ridge Project
The Property is primarily underlain by sediments of the Bowser Lake Group (fine to medium grained arkosic sandstone and intercalated siltstone, shale, argillite and minor conglomerate). On the West side of the property these sediments have been intruded by near vertical quartz-feldspar porphyry dacite to rhyolite dykes. On the East side of the property a monzonite intrusive penetrating the sediments, both of which have been later penetrated by feldspar porphyry dykes .
Roxgold believes the geology of the TJ Ridge Project is supportive of a Carbonate Base Metal Gold System geological model which requires the emplacement of an intrusive into a large sedimentary basin. Few geological environments in British Columbia are supportive of this gold deposit type. The best known example of a Carbonate Base Metal Gold System is the Porgera deposit in Papua New Guineau which contained over 13 million ounces of gold in open pit and underground resources. An explanation of this model is in Roxgold's 2009 brochure.
Back to Top
Previous Exploration
Roxgold has gained a much stronger understanding of the geology and factors controlling mineralization over the past two exploration seasons where it has completed 564 line kilometers airborne magnetometer -- EM survey , 20km of Induced polarization surveys, several kilometers of mechanized trenching and about 8,000 metres of diamond drilling.
The West Side anomalies were the first to be tested. From the one section was systematically tested, mineralization appears to be structurally controlled and associated with quartz veins and quartz stockwork zones generally related to graphitic shear zones. Within these structures significantly anomalous zones of gold-silver +/- lead zinc mineralization were discovered, but the vast majority of the anomaly remains untested. This mineralization is believed to be distal to the intrusive activity and therefore a lower priority target.
Exploration on the East Side resulted in the discovery of a variably mineralized, altered monzonite that correlates well with both a strong gold-arsenic-bismuth soil geochemistry anomaly and appears to lie on the flank of significant airborne EM conductor. Drilling in 2007 intersected the monzonite in three drill holes; ROG-07-16, ROG-07-17 and ROG-07-18. The anomalous gold + silver is associated with arsenopyrite - pyrite- sphalerite - galena mineralization occurring in sub-parallel sheeted quartz veins, and in areas where the sheeted quartz veining is more pervasive, as pyrite - arsenopyrite disseminations within the monzonite. Later petrographic work indicated the monzonite pre-dated the mineralization and in fact formed a cap limiting the movement of mineralized solutions introduced at the same time as a later porphyry dyke. At the end of the 2008 exploration program high grade mineralization with visible banded textures was located in the Discovery Zone. This mineralization, which has assayed as high as 13.8 g /t gold and 3356 g /t silver, is interpreted to be a leakage zone where the mineralized solutions have forced their way up structural weaknesses such as fractures in the monzonite.
The relationship between the intrusive, the mineralization and a significant airborne EM conductor about 200 meters SW of ROG-07-18 remains to be explained, but given the size and signature of the conductor it is believed to be related to lithology. View Interactive Geophysics - Geochemical Map. While soil geochemistry has proven a very effective exploration technique elsewhere on the property, the area in the vicinity of the EM conductor lies in a slight depression partially covered by till build up or marshy areas due to the flatter topography where standard soil geochemistry techniques are not effective.
2009 Exploration Program
Exploration in 2007 and 2008 built support for the Carbonate Base Metal Gold System geological model and highlighted the importance of locating zones of structural weakness that provide conduits for the mineralized solutions. In the fall of 2008 Roxgold undertook a systematic evaluation of regional structural trends and identified a secondary 030o degree structure in addition to the previously known 340o structure. Areas where these two structures intersect and are coincident with gold- silver soil geochemistry anomalies are priority targets as they provide an excellent environment for mineralized fluids to force their way to surface. In 2009 Roxgold plans to undertake a mechanized trenching program to assess some of these priority targets. The objective is to locate additional leakage zones of mineralized solutions and improve the geological understanding such to better define drill targets for future exploration.
Back to Top
Conclusions
With mineralization and soil geochemistry anomalies located over some 4.5 kilometers of strike length, it is believed there is either a large heat source or multiple heat sources driving the mineralized solutions. The size of a deposit is often related to the size of the heat source and resulting alteration facts which offer Roxgold great potential for a significant discovery. Carbonate Base Metal Gold System can create very high grade mineralization and prior exploration has tested only small portions of this highly prospective geological environment but has nonetheless uncovered zones of both narrow high grade mineralization and very wide intervals of lower grade mineralization.
Back to Top
Technical Reports:
(3.8 Mb) (5.3 Mb)