Geology and Geothermal Potential- of the AWA Claim$koup, JAN t-l 5 2004 I Squamish, Gold COmIniSSioner’S Office I VANCOUVER,B.C. I

Prepared for

Lisa Rummel & AWA Spa

Glenn J. Woodsworth, P. Geo.

April 2003 3

SUMMARY

A geologicalstudy was done on the AWA group of 6 mineral claims with a view to assessingthe geothermalpotential. The claims are almost entirely underlain by granitic rocks of the latest JurassicCloudburst pluton and, south of the Stawamus River,by the mid-CretaceousSquamish pluton. Fracture and joint analysisshows a , weak north-northeast trend, but fractures tend to be widely spaced.No signsof faulting or of igneousactivity related to Garibaldi were seenon the .zproperty. Faults,if they exist, arelikely to be narrow, making them difficult drilling targets. The low regional heat flow-. and the lack of a “plumbing system”in the granitic, rocks on the property indicate that the geothermalpotential is very low. No further work is warranted.

INTRODUCTION

The AWA claim group consistsof 6 mineral claims,AWA #l to 6, stakedOctober 8, 2002,and owned by Lisa Rummel. The claims are situated in and just eastof the District of Squamishmunicipality, northeast of the subdivision of Valleycliffe (Figure 1). On the southwest,the claim group abuts StawamusChief Provincial Park and private property of the Valleycliffesubdivision and Squamishwaterworks. I was contractedby the owner to makea geologicalappraisal of the geothermal potential of the claim group and to make suggestionsfor further work. Field work was done in two long days;this work was supplementedwith an air photo study and review of the recent geologicalliterature on the region. Accessto the claims is by good gravelroad along the StawamusRiver. A road to the Mamquam power station cuts through the heart of the claim group, and the forestry road trends northeast acrossthe southeastpart of the u: claims.

-l- ‘: Mamquam

Figure 1. Location of the AWA group of claims. Base map is the Land & Water BC map of the Squamish-Alice Lake area (map 0926.075). Claim boundaries are taken from mineral tenure maps on tile with the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management. Contour interval is 20 m.

-2 GEOLOGICAL SETTING

The Squamishregion is part of the western belt of the (seeFigure 2 and Monger and Journeay,1994 for a summary of geologyof the Coast Mountains at this latitude). Essentiallyit consistsof plutonic (granitic) rocks of Middle Jurassicto Late Cretaceousage with lesseramounts of metamorphosedvolcanic and sedimentary rocks;mainly of Triassicto Cretaceousage. These rocks havebeen affectedby predominantly mid-Cretaceousfaults that strike generallynorthwest and dip very : steeply.Movement on these faults was predominantly southwest-sideup and, unliie theeastern Coast Mountains, there is little evidenceof faulting continuing into early Tertiary time. No igneous activityis known in the Squamisharea from about 86 Ma to the beginning of Garibaldi volcanismperhaps 2-3 million yearsago. The consistsof Plioceneto Pleistocenevolcanic rocks that are part of the ! Cascademagmatic arc. In the Squamisharea, Garibaldi volcanism ceasedduring or d shortly. after the end of glaciation.

PROPERTYGEOLOGY

Topography and Physiography

The AWA claim group is in the low country betweenthe Stawamusand Mamquam ,d Rivers,both substantialrivers. Most of the claim areaconsists of knobby, hilly country with elevationsup to 320 metres.Bedrock is well exposedin this terrain, and overburden (mainly a thin layer of glacialtill and soil) is thin. The central part of the J claims is a flat-bottom valley of about 100 metres elevation; a small, swampy lake is centrally located in the claims in this valley.The southwesternparts of the claim group are in the StawamusRiver valley at an elevation of about 70 to 85 metres. ,J There is no outcrop in thesevalleys. : ‘, ,..J Bedrock

Exceptfor the small portion of the property south of the StawamusRiver, the AWA claim group is entirely underlain by quartz diorite to tonalite of the latest Jurassic

r (145-147 Ma) Cloudburst pluton (Figure 3). The rock is medium grained and mainly composedof plagioclasewith lesserquartz~ and hornblende. On the property, the rock Ll is unfoliated to weakly foliated and is everywherealtered to a low metamorphic grade. Chlorite and epidoteare the common metamorphic minerals. This rock unit is perhapsthe dominant unit iu the region betweenthe StawamusChief and Garibaldi Lake.

-3- Glacial and post-glacial Granitic rocks, mainly sediments Jurassic in age Pliocene and Pleistocene Older volcanic and volcanic rocks metamorphic rocks, Triassic to Cretaceous in age Granitic rocks, mainly 0 10 Cre&ceous in age km Figure 2. Geology of the Squamish region. Geology is slightly modified from Monger and Journeay (1994).

--d The rocks are cut by basaltic dykesthat averageabout 1 m in width. The dykesare I dark greento almost black in colour, very fine grained, are heavilyaltered to chlorite d and epidote,and have fracture setsconsistent with the host Cloudburst quartz diorite. \ My view (and the prevailing one among geologistswho haveworked in the area) is d that thesedykes represent feeders to Early Cretaceousvolcanic rocks of the Gambier Group and thus would be about 100-140million yearsold. The steepcliffs south of the Stawamti River are composedof coarsegrained J , calledthe Squamishgranodiorite. This rock is differentiated from the : Cloudburst quartz diorite by its coarsergram size,a higher percentageof quartz, r > abundant potassium-feldspar,presence of biotite rather than hornblende, absenceof j penetrativefoliation, and lack of pervasivemetamorphic alteration. Publisheddates from this body rangefrom 96 to 103Ma (mid-Cretaceous).Geological Survey of Canadamaps show the contact between the two units as following the StawamusRiver valley.This interpretation appearsto be correct: there is no Squamishgranodiorite on , the property: the nearestappears to be at the junction of Plateauand WestwayDrives. L4 in the Qlleycliffe subdivision.The nature of the contact, whether fault or intrusive, is not known. The GSCmaps show it as an inferred fault, with southwestside up, but , without the contact being exposedanywhere in the region, this conclusionis probable, n_rl but debatable.Certainly on a regionalscale the Stawamus-IndianRiver valley systemis controlled by faults (probably Cretaceousin age) but the structures do not always I follow the valley floor. si, No evidencewas seenon the property for dykesthat might be feedersto volcanic 1 activity of the Garibaldi Belt. Such dykesare easyto distinguish from the Cretaceous dykesthat are present on the property: they are fresher,have their own joint patterns, ‘iJ and chilled margins are commonly conspicuous.

Fracture Analysis

For a geothermalsystem to exist,there must be a “plumbing system”whereby water can circulate,pick up heat, and return to the surface.Because the Cloudburst quartz diorite and associatedbasalt dykes have no porosity and no permeability, any plumbing systemhas to be in the form of faults and fractures. To this end, a intense searchof the property was madefor faults and fracture systemsthat may serveas conduits for hot water. No faults or pervasivefracture setswere seen.Joints and fractures are spaced,on average,about 0.5 to 1.0 m apart. The most intensefracturing seenhad fractures spaced2-5 cm over a width of 1 m; thesewere cut by one of the black basaltdykes. Fracture surfacesinvariably havechlorite and epidote,the samealteration assemblage as the Cloudburst quartz diorite itself. Dating thesefractures is not feasible,but my impression,based on alteration assemblageand the crosscutting relationshipswith the dyke at one point, is that the fracture and joint pattern is relativelyold.

-6- Figure 4. Top: equal-areaplot of polesto the most conspicuousjoints and fractures on the AWA claims.The strongestseti are shown in red. Bottom: rose diagram of samedata set with histogram (shaded) showing the weak north-northeast maximum in the data. Seetext for discussion.

-7- Joints and fractures are everywhereextremelv narrow. Many arehealed and sealed by the alteration minerals; no evidenceof low-temperature (<2dO”C) alteration such as clayor zeolites.None of the observedfractures appearedcapable of hosting any sustainedflow of water. Directional analysisis shown in Figure 4. Joints and fractures tend to be very steep (most dips are greaterthan 75’). No strong directional pattern emerges,but , there is a weak,maximum at 022’ (north-northeast) and a relativeabsence of west- northwest-trending structures; the significanceof this is discussedlater in this report. ! Outcrop is sparsein the central, northeast-trending valley that bisectsthe property. But an examinationof the Mamquam River canyon,upstream from the hydra-electricplant, did not show any conspicuousor pervasivenorth-northeast fracture or fault systems-andthis suggeststhat extensivevalley-parallel systems are absentfrom the property. Joints and fractures in the Squamishgranodiorite south of the StawamusRiver show the samepattern as rocks to the north, but fractures are more widely spaced.

Surficial Deposits

Much of the lower-elevationparts of the property are underlain by thick depositsof graveland sand. The valley bottom is broad and flat and slopesvery gently from about 105 m at the north to about 85 m at the south. The sand and gravelappear to be glacialoutwash depositsdating to a time when the lower SquamishRiver valley was blockedby ice and the Mamquam River flowed southwestand joined the Stawamus River near the southwestedge of the property. This conclusion was alsoreached by Friele and Clague (2002), who suggesteda date for this diversion of about 13,000years ago,based on radiocarbon dating in the region. Although there are few sections through the sediments,they appearto offer good permeability and porosity. The thicknessof the sedimentsis unknown, but is probably in the order of 10 to 40 metres Giant boulders are present in the medial valley floor northeast of the swampy lake. They may representlandslide blocks from late-glacialor post-glaciallandslide on the property, or they may havebeen transported on ice in the waning stagesof glaciation. If they are present beneaththe surfacethey will be an impediment to drilling. The StawamusRiver valley is filled with sand,gravel and boulders depositedby ,J the river. Thicknessis unknown; at a guess,probably 10 to 30 metres. The upland parts of the areaare coveredwith a few metres of glacialtill, talus, ’ I boulders and soil through which steeper,bluffy outcrop areasare exposed. d

-8- Groundwater Temperatures

Standing and flowing water temperatureswere measuredwhere encounteredon the property (mainly in the medial valley). Temperaturesranged from 9.8” to 10.1° C, with the highest temperature at the outtlow of the swampy lake,where it flows through a culvert under the road. For comparison, Browning Lakenorth of Britannia Beachhad an averagetemperature of 10.7” C when measuredduring the field work.

I “1 :. u DISCUSSION

’ , RegionalDistribution of Hot Springs and VolcanicRocks i \ Knownhot springs in southwestBritish Columbia mainland fall into two categories: those related to volcanism of the Garibaldi belt, and those with no clear relation to geologicallyrecent (< 2.5 million years) volcanism.A brief description of the geology of thesetwo types of springswill help clarify the geothermalpotential of the AWA claim group.

Hot Springswith no geologicallyrecent volcanic affinity. This category includesall j* springs in and near the Lillooet River valley between Pemberton and the FraserRiver. The bestknown are Harrison, Clear Creek, Sloquetand Skookumchuk. Pitt River also J falls in this category.Although no young volcanism is known near thesesprings, several(Skookumchuk, Clear Creek) are near Miocene (-16 to 26 Ma) plutons. These plutons form a belt running from the North CascadeMountains of Washington J through the FraserValley just west of Hope and up the Harrison/Lillooet valley system to SalalCreek. The plutons are generallythought to be the roots of deeplyeroded , , Miocene volcanoesof the Cascadevolcanic arc and tend to havehigher heat- d generationvalues than the generallyvery low valuescommon in the Coast Mountains. The other, and perhapsdominant, control on thesesprings is structural. Many of the springs (Sloquet,Pitt, Skookumchuk,and perhaps others) are situated along LJ northeast- or northwest-trending faults that appearto havebeen active in Miocene 1 time, and perhapsmore recently (Journeayand van Ulden, 1998). LJ Miocene plutons are not present on the AWA property, nor are they likely to be found nearby.Northeast-trending faults are alsonot known on the property, but it is possiblethat they do occur beneaththe gravelsof the central valley.

-9- Hot Springsrelated to geologicallyrecent volcanic affinity. This category includes known springs around the Mount Meagerand Mount Cayleyvolcanic complexes. Volcanic activity extendedintermittently from perhaps3.8 million yearsago to 2400 yearsago and the springs reflect high local geothermalgradients and, at Meager,the J probable presenceof a shallow chamber.The local structural controls for these springs have not been established,to the best of my knowledge.In the Mount , Garibaldi complex, the youngestvolcanic activity is probably the postglacialRing LJ Creek lavaflow, which erupted between 12,800and 10,600years ago (Brooks and :Priele, 1992). “I. No springs are known around , the southern of the major li volcanic complexesin the Garibaldi belt, although there.arehints of local anomalously , > high heat flow in TableMeadows and elsewhere.Nor are any springs known to be t&i associatedwith the small volcanic centresat the Castle (west of S&unish) or with the eroded remnants at Watts Point on Howe Soundbetween Squamish and Britannia Beach,although, conceivably,the anomalouslywarm water near Britannia Beachmay- be relatedto the Watts Point centre. The Castlevolcanic centre is the closestto the AWA claim group. But volcanism at r , the Castleappears to be controlled by north-south structures, whereasthe property is LJ west of the Castle,suggesting that high heat flow related to the Castlevolcanism is unlikely on the property. Similarly the volcanic centresof the Mount Garibaldi complextend to be aligned in a north-south direction; the AWA property is perhaps 6-10 km west of the southerly extensionof the line of volcanic centres.In other words, the AWA claim 12 group is in an area roughly midway betweentwo potential thermal sourcesand unlikely to be affectedby either.

;i Regional Distribution of YoungDykes and Brittle Faults

;; “Young” dykesin the Squamish-Garibaldiarea show a strong north-northwest to north-northeast trend (Joumeay and van Ulden, 1998).Ages of thesedykes are not well constrainedbut they areprobably mainly Miocene and younger; at least someare related to Garibaldi volcanism.No such dykeswere observedon the AWA property. I; “Young” brittle faults and fractures likewiseshow a strong north-south trend. Some of thesefractures cut Garibaldi volcanicsand are thus very young. According to Journeay(pers. comm. 2003),the north-south faults tend to be lessthan 1 m wide, but with zonesof increasedfracture density asone approachesthe fault. Suchfaults are responsiblefor the conspicuousgullies on the SquamishChief; thesetrend 010” and project well west of the AWA claims. It is possiblethat the weak north-northeast (022’) trend of fractures on the property is related to such faults, but the trend is weak and the fractures arenot closelyspaced. In my opinion, the possibility of finding faults of this trend on the property is low.

-lO- Journeayand van Ulden (1998) alsonote a northeast-trending fault and lineament system,which they interpret as reactivation of older northeast-trending structures. Again, thesestructures tend to be lessthan 1 m wide. Certainly the medial valley on the AWAproperty has this trend and if projected to the southwestfollows the scarp of the SquamishChief. It is possiblethat it follows the trace of a northeast- trending fault, but the fracture data from the property givesonly weak support to this , suggestion,and Journeayand van Ulden (1998) do not map any such fault.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER WORK

The AWA property is underlain by quartz diorite and tonalite of the latest Jurassic Cloudburst pluton and (on the south sideof the StawamusRiver by the mid- CretaceousSquamish pluton. The Cloudburst pluton is cut by dykes (probably feeders to Cretaceousvolcanic complexes),and the plutons and dykeshave extensive epidote and chlorite alteration. No low temperature alteration indicative of near-surface hydrothermal systemswas seen. Joints and fractures in the Cloudburst pluton are very narrow, tend to be steep and widely spaced,and havea weak north-northeast maximum. No evidenceof faults or pervasivefractures that might support a low-temperature geothermalsystem was found. Jointing in the Squamishpluton is similar to that in the Cloudburst but more , widely spaced. J Heat flow in the Squamisharea is low. A value of 31 mW/mr has been measured in the old Britannia mine (summarizedon the Geothermal Map of B.C.), , correspondingto a temperature gradient of about IS’ C/km. In the absenceof L.4 anomalousheat sourcesbeneath the claim group (e.g., related to Garibaldi volcanism), temperaturesof 20°C would be expectedin a drill hole at a depth of about 1300 ’ ? metres.But, to utilize such heat requiresthat the rocks have significant permeability to d allow circulation of significant quantities of water. Suchpermeability tends to be lacking in the Cloudburst and Squamishplutons. In my opinion the geothermalpotential of the AWA property is very low, no I; higher than any randomly selectedlow-elevation areain the Squamisharea. The only possibilitiesare in the northeast-trending valley that bisectsthe area and in the J StawamusRiver valley,because the moderately thick surf&l depositspreclude a completesearch for faults and fractures. The possibility of a northeast-trending fault running up the valley cannot be ruled out, but if one exists it is unlikely to exceed1 m in width and hencewould make a very difficult drilling target. A northwest-trending fault following the StawamusRiver valley is entirely possible,but, again,the low ’ , density of brittle faults and tiactures in outcrops nearestthe river suggest&at such a Li fault would be narrow, and its permeability is unknown. The relativelylow

-ll- temperature gradient and the thin (~40 metres?)nature of the surficial deposits probably eliminate the possibility of finding warm water in an aquifer in these sediments;contamination with cold water from the StawamusRiver would be another complication. As for the upland areasof the property, there is no reasonto supposethat permeability of rocks in the coveredareas is any greater than that in the exposed outcrops, i.e., very low. I do not recommend any further work on this property. However,if it is desired : to do geophysicalwork, then such work should be restricted to the valley bottoms. I h&e outline two possiblelines on Figure 4. d Line A-A! follows the main road from the west edgeof the AWA property and. / extendspast the small, swampy lake.This line would intersect the contact betweenthe Stawamusand Cloudburst plutons and any northwest-trending faults that might be LJ following the StawamusRiver valley. Line B-B’ follows the old road from near where the claim group abuts the ii subdivision,then climbs uphill through the bush to the Mamquam River road. This line will test for the presenceof thermal anomaliesrelated to northeast-trending faults in the valley containing the small lakeand provide an additional passthrough the II extensiveflat valley-bottom surlicial sedimentson the property. j; REFERENCES

Brooks,G.R and Friele, P.A.1992. Bracketing agesfor the formation of the Ring Creek lavaflow, Garibaldi volcanic belt, southwesternBritish Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences29, E. 2425-2428. Friele, P.A.and Clague,J.J. 2002. Readvance of glaciersin the British Columbia Coast Mountains at the end of the last glaciation;Quaternary International, v. 87, p. ;j 45-58. Journeay,J.M. and van Ulden, J. 1998.Neogene structural elementsof northern Cascadia,British Columbia; GeologicalSurvey of ,Current Research J 1998-A,p. 195-206. Monger, J.W.H., and Joumeay,M. 1994.Guide to the geologyand tectonic evolution J of the southern Coast Mountains; GeologicalSurvey of Canada,Open File 2490, 77 p.

-1l- STATEMENTOF QUALIFICATIONS and CONSENT

I, Glenn J. Woodsworth, do hereby certify that:

1. I am a consulting geologistwith offices at 3649West 18th Avenue,Vancouver, BC V6S lB3.

’ 2. I hold a B.Sc.degree in geologyfrom the University of British Columbia (1970) and a Ph.D. degreein geologyTom Princeton University (1974).

3. I am a RegisteredProfessional Geoscientist, Association of ProfessionalEngineers and Geoscientists,Province of British Columbia (P. Geo., registration number 20123).

4. My primary employment since 1974has been as’ageologist, first with the Vancouver ,office of the GeologicalSurvey of Canadaand (since 1998)as a self-employed LJ geologicalconsultant.

, 5. My experienceincludes a wide variety of geoscienceprojects and professional .J publications, mainly, but not limited to, bedrock geologicalmapping and analysis. Most of this work has been done in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, including someof the pioneer geologicalmapping in the Vancouver-squamish- Pemberton region. I have a strong professionalinterest in hot springs and geothermal resourcesand am the author of“Hot Springsof Western Canada”(1997,1999).

6. I personallydid the field work on the AWA claims, and I am the soleauthor of this report, which is basedon my field work.

7. I haveno financial interest or sharesin this or any other property or venture owned by LisaRummel and/or AWA Spa.

8. I givemy consentfor Lisa Rummel and/or AWA Spato use this technical report as an AssessmentReport, if desired,and for use by other regulatory authorities as required. Lj Dated at Vancouverthis the 7th day of April 2003

-13- AWA SPA INCORPORATED 875 Evelyn Drive, West Vancouver,BC. V7T 1Jl Tel. 604 926-9271

April 15,2004

Statement of Costs directly applicable to Assessment Work

Advanceto Mr. Glenn Woodsworth,P. Geol. for 2.5 daysfieldwork andpreparation of a report on the geologicalpotential for a hot springor mineral springat Squarnish,B.C. March 5,2003 C.$l500.00

Balanceowing and paid for 5 dayspreparation of report titled “Geology andGeothermal Potentialof the AWA Claim Group, Squamish,British Columbia” April 2003 Paid April 5,2003 C$1710.00Inc. GST & PST.

Total cost of work done: C.$3,210.00

Lisa Rurnmel, President,Awa SpaInc.