Gold and Silver
The Ptarmigan Hills Blackfly project is targeting a Cretaceous intrusion-related gold system over an area of over five square kilometers.
Ni-Cu Palladium
The Ptarmigan Hills Mosquito project is targeting a Permian nickel-copper sulfide resource with palladium indicated over four square kilometers.
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Generate custom solutions with the possibility to create synergy. Amplify outside the box thinking yet be on brand.
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Demonstrating sprints in order to innovate. Build innovation to innovate. Drive outside the box thinking and try to think outside the box.
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Leverage cloud computing but funnel users. Repurposing stakeholder management yet think outside the box. Grow core competencies with a goal to re-target key demographics.
Sub Heading 7
Generate custom solutions with the possibility to create synergy. Amplify outside the box thinking yet be on brand.
Sub Heading 8
Demonstrating sprints in order to innovate. Build innovation to innovate. Drive outside the box thinking and try to think outside the box.
Sub Heading 9
Leverage cloud computing but funnel users. Repurposing stakeholder management yet think outside the box. Grow core competencies with a goal to re-target key demographics.
Mining Gold in British Columbia
British Columbia is among the worlds greatest jurisdictions to mine gold and silver.
Endowed with rich geology and innovative mining policies, British Columbia has been one of the worlds greatest jurisdictions to mine gold and silver for over 150 years. Our fact sheet covers how the Blackfly gold project benefits from the legacy of mining in British Columbia and why the project is poised to potentially become British Columbia’s largest gold mine.
Overview
Ptarmigan Range Resources is focused on the development of its Ptarmigan Hills projects including the Blackfly intrusion-related gold system (IRGS) and the Mosquito nickel-copper sulfide (NiCuS) palladium resource. Both projects are located within a contiguous 10sq km land package conveniently located in the Kamloops mining division where they are close to infrastructure and accessible by road, 20km south of Shuswap lake and the Trans Canada highway.
Cretaceous IRGS mineralization is hosted in late Paleozoic rocks of the Omineca terrane near the Intermontane terrane contact locally known as the Louis Creek fault and the southern extension of the Tintina-Rocky Mountain crustal scale unconformity.
Over its length the Tintina fault follows the cratonic margin cutting across a broad range of lithologies. In Alaska where the Fort Knox (9.5moz) and Pogo (5.1moz) mines are located, the country rocks are metamorphic rocks of the Yukon Tanana Terrane. In the Yukon where the Brewery Creek (2.4moz) and Eagle (3.2moz) mines are located, the fault traverses sedimentary rocks of the Selwyn Basin. In central British Columbia the fault divides the Omineca from the Intermontane terrane in slip-strike contact at the Louis creek fault located 5km southwest of the work area. In all of the regions the fault transects, mineralization is found within Cretaceous calk-alkaline intrusions and their aureoles up to several kilometers from the exposed stocks.
Local Geology
The project area is located at the western margin of the Omineca crystalline boundary within the Monashee decollement, comprising deformed and metamorphosed North American continental margin and oceanic accreted terranes. Paleozoic Kootenay terrane rocks including quartzite, psammite and schistose conglomerate outcrop east of the work area. Permian Slide Mountain terrane mafic intrusions hosting NiCuS and palladium mineralization occupy the center of the work area. Cretaceous Bayonne suite granodiorite and monzonite occupies the north, south and eastern regions of the work area. Intrusion related mineralization is hosted in veins, fractures, unconformities and disseminations through the intrusions and country rocks. Several types of tholeiitic-basaltic and andesitic volcanic rocks of unknown age are found throughout the work area.
Local geology with metals occurrences
Exploration
Following the discovery of intrusion-related mineralization in 2005, mapping and sampling in 2010 returned 288-94,700gpt silver with up to 0.72gpt gold over 500 meters in a broad zone of structurally controlled mineralization and sheeted veins. In 2013 the structurally controlled mineralization was extended another 500 meters with the discovery of quartz veins with alteration grading 210-2670gpt silver with trace gold. In 2016 the company completed a property wide soil sampling program establishing the geochemical profile of the IRGS system while discovering several new gold and silver occurrences. Palladium was indicated in 22 locations across the property. In 2019 the company decided to locate the source of the palladium by performing a detailed analysis of the bedrock units across the property which identified 15 different varieties of ophiolites and gabbros hosting palladium in reef and contact style nickel-copper sulfide mineralization.
Spectrally enhanced satellite image used for targeting beyond the zones of previously identified mineralization
Geochemical Model
Soil sampling has proven to be an indispensable tool in the geochemical modeling of the project. Highly mobile ions combined with thin overburden paint an extremely accurate picture of the mineral systems on the property. Intrusion-related gold and silver mineralization shows model IRGS characteristics including widespread tungsten and lead with a bismuth-gold core overlain by silver, antimony and zinc.
Nickel-copper sulfide and palladium mineralization is widespread but is less predominant in soils due to the limited outcrop and concealed nature of the strata-bound mineralization.
When compared to the other calc-alkaline intrusive suites along the Tintina fault, the local Bayonne suite with its Au-Ag-Bi-Sb-Te-W signature most closely resembles the Mayo suite in the Yukon host to the Brewery Creek and Eagle mines.
Geochemical profile as defined by alkaline ionic leach soil sampling. It should be noted that while this technique provides the most sensitive detection results of mobile ions, it does not measure the total metals concentrations measured by acid dissolution assays and should not be relied on to determine economic grades.
Structurally Controlled Mineralization
This simplified block model demonstrates the zones of metasomatic alteration and locations of structurally controlled mineralization including quartz filled shears and sheeted veins.
The eastern Blackfly target shows the highest temperature emplacement and precious metals associated with camptonite, aplite and sheeted veins hosting significant bismuth and tungsten. The western Blackfly target demonstrates lower temperature emplacement of gold and silver mineralization in sheeted veins and shears associated with bismuth, antimony and zinc.
Platinum group metals occur across the property but are found mainly in the northern and western regions of the property where they are found disseminated and concentrated in strata bound reefs in mafic host rocks, while contact mineralization is associated with phase partitions.
Block model of structurally controlled mineralization
Exploration Goals
Exploration goals include: further hardrock sampling of known occurrences including bulk sampling and metallurgical testing; identifying drill targets and azimuths near primary occurrences by performing a six square kilometer induced polarization survey over the majority of the property including the Blackfly and Mosquito targets, while simultaneously gaining a greater understanding of the nature of the relationship between these targets to better optimize drill targeting and resource calculation. If a relationship can be established between the intrusion related gold and the tholeiitic mineralization, it will provide great insight to further exploration for similar deposits throughout the cordillera.
First vertical derivative of the project area showing the proposed IP survey
Projects
Assessment Reports
2013 Assessment Report
– Structurally controlled mineralized trends identified and mapped
– Gold-silver occurrences identified and sampled
– Tungsten, bismuth, antimony, zinc mineralization identified suggesting IRGS model
2016 Assessment Report
– Satellite spectral mapping used to identify potential mineralization.
– Illite and hematite were identified as targets for soil sampling
– IRGS metallogeny proven and palladium was discovered along with new zones of gold and silver
2019 Assessment Report
– Palladium mineralization targeted along with hydrothermal gold
– Predominant bedrock lithology defined as mafic to intermediate
– Reef and contact style NiCuS-Pd identified and mapped, pyritic fracture controlled gold identified
The Ptarmigan Hills tour is a virtual project location visit leaving the Kamloops airport traveling east 50km across the Intermontane terrane to the project location on the eastern side of the Omineca terrane boundary.
Precious metals hard rock occurrences are indicated by various colored icons. Primary gold occurrences are indicated by gold colored icons, palladium occurrences are indicated by red icons, and silver occurrences are indicated by green icons.
