ASSESSMENT REPORT
Geological Survey On the MONTE CRISTO PLACER PROJECT
New Westminster Mining Division
Latitude: 49° 57’ 24’’ N; Longitude: 122° 25’ 38’’ W
NTS 092G
For
NORTH BAY RESOURCES INC. PO Box 162 Skippack Pennsylvania 19474 USA
By
Dan V. Oancea PGeo
October 3, 2015
2015 Assessment Report on the Monte Cristo Placer Project Page 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Summary Page 3 2 Conclusions Page 4 3 Recommendations Page 4 4 Introduction Page 5 4.1 Location, Access and Physiography Page 5 4.2 Placer Claims Page 6 4.3 Climate, Local Resources, Infrastructure Page 8 4.4 History and Development Page 8 5 Geology and Mineralization Page 9 5.1 Regional Setting Page 9 5.2 Mineralization and Deposits Page 9 5.3 Property Geology and Mineralization Page 10 6 Prospecting Survey Page 12 7 Discussion and Conclusions Page 15 8 Recommended Work Page 18 9 Cost Statement Page 19 10 References Page 20 11 Statement of Qualifications Page 21
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 - Index Map After Page 3 Figure 2 - Topography and Access Map After Page 5 Figure 3 - Placer Claims Map After Page 7 Figure 6 - Geology Map After Page 11 Figure 4 - Sampling Map (1) After Page 13 Figure 5 - Sampling Map (2) After Page 14
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 - Placer Titles Page 7 Table 2 - Sample Locations Page 22
PICTURES
Plate 1 - Peninsula Formation Conglomerates Page 13 Plate 2 - Peninsula Formation Gravels Page 15
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1. Summary
The Monte Cristo gold-platinum placer project is located on the Lower Lillooet River some 12 km south of the Lillooet Lake in the New Westminster Mining Division of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The property could be accessed by following Highway 99 from Vancouver to Pemberton and to the community of Mount Curie for about 160 km, then turning south on the in-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road for another 60 km.
The Monte Cristo property consists of 16 placer claims 100% owned by North Bay Resources Inc of Skippack, Pennsylvania, USA. It covers 332.59 ha that straddle the Lower Lilloet River. The river flows southeast from the Lillooet Lake towards the Harrison Lake. The placer property occupies part of the broad U-shaped glacial river valley which is flanked by moderately to steep terrain. The property is covered by NTS Map Sheet 092G.
Rocks underlying the Monte Cristo placer property are represented by marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Gambier Group surrounded by other intrusive rocks of Mesozoic age. An important northwest trending thrust zone – the Fire Creek Fault - parallels the Lower Lillooet River. Geological constrains point to the Lillooet River being of Pliocene to Miocene age.
The placer property is underlain by alluvium of minimum a Quaternary age. The alluvium was derived from reworking of the country rock's Cretaceous conglomerates, and of the Pleistocene glacial till material. The material might have also been possibly mixed with glacial outwash material. The Monte Cristo placer tenures occupy several well developed terraces of the Lower Lillooet River that are extending from 121 masl to above 150 masl.
In 1858, the Lower Lillooet River was part of a portage trail between the Harrison and Lillooet Lakes, which was built by gold seekers that were looking for ways to access the Fraser River placers and later the Cariboo gold fields. Coarse gold was discovered along this route by miners travelling to the Cariboo. No known placer mining operation had been recorded on the river but several attempts were made in the 1970s and 1980s to economically produce gold and platinum from placer leases located north of the Harrison Lake. The precious metals were described as fine to micron size and enjoying a wide distribution in the alluvial deposits that occupy the wide Lower Lillooet River Valley.
In 2012, North Bay Resources undertook a first pass prospecting and sampling survey of their Monte Cristo placer claims. Coarse gold was identified in many of the samples
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Fig. 1: Monte Cristo Placer Project Index Map
Legend
0 140 280 km. Scale: 1:8,000,000 Map center: 54°39' N, 124°32' W This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for general Notes: Dan V. Oancea PGeo for North Bay Resources Inc., July 2015 reference only. Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, current, or otherwise reliable. THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION. collected from an area located on the eastern bank of the river near the Skookumchuck Hot Springs - assay ran up to 5.70 g/t gold.
The writer of the present report was engaged to assess the prospectivity of the claims and short field surveys were undertaken in April and November 2014. The present report documents a two day July 2015 assessment work. The easier to access, permit and mine part of the Monte Cristo placer property is located on the western side of the river therefore that part of the property was surveyed in 2014 but assays were not able to replicate the high grade gold and platinum assays reported back in the 1970s. The July 2015 fieldwork surveyed the eastern bank and tested for the presence of coarse gold. A few fine gold colors had been tentatively identified in Cretaceous conglomerates above the alluvial bench that hosts the Skookumchuck Hot Springs. No other visible gold was returned by sampling and panning at different locations but that does not preclude the existence of visible and/or micron gold in some of the eastern bank locations.
2. Conclusions
The results of the prospecting surveys as well as literature search and the interpretation of available geological data indicate that while the Monte Cristo placer tenements have the potential to host precious metals in certain stratigraphic levels or fluvial terraces of the Lower Lillooet River, an economic accumulation of precious metals has yet to be found. Field results point to the fact that fine gold is not ubiquitous and has no uniform distribution throughout the thick pile of alluvial sediments of the Lower Lillooet River. Nevertheless the presence of coarse gold on one of the eastern terraces of the river as indicated by previous work on the claims - and mentioned in historic documents - indicate that possible economic accumulations of gold could exist with gold most likely derived from local sources.
3. Recommendations
Further exploration work is warranted on the Monte Cristo placer property. It is recommended to undertake a more detailed geological and sampling survey that would clarify the Lower Lillooet River's alluvial stratigraphy and gold (and possible platinum) distribution as well as the gold balance and particle size distribution. The presence of fine or micron gold on the eastern bank (near Minfile occurrences) has yet to be proved and needs to be further researched. The presence and origin of coarse gold needs also to be further investigated. Whenever possible attention has to be directed towards sampling the bedrock alluvium interface.
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Areas of interest would be delineated and bulk sampled or outright mined to provide funds for the possible development of the placer claims. The possibility of developing commercial gravel pits that would serve the needs of the region's road builders, which includes the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation, should also be taken into consideration.
4. Introduction
4.1 Location, Access and Physiography
The Monte Cristo placer property is located on the Lower Lillooet River of the southern Cascade Mountains in the New Westminster Mining Division of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is covered by NTS Map Sheet 092G.
The property could be accessed from Vancouver by travelling north on Highway 99 past Whistler and Pemberton and to the small community of Mount Curie over a distance of 164 km. From Mount Curie turn south on the in-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road for another 60 km in order to reach the northern boundary of the Monte Cristo placer claims. To access the western side of the claims the road crosses the Little Lillooet Lake over the 156 m in length and 25 m mainspan Tenas Bridge which was built in 1999. The road is being used by local forestry companies.
The Lower Lillooet River route known as the Douglas Road was a gold rush-era (1858) transportation route from the Coast to the Interior of British Columbia which was used to access the Fraser River and Cariboo gold fields.
Mount Curie is an Indian Reserve (population 800) belonging to the Lil'wat people. It was originally named after John Curie a former California and Cariboo, B.C. gold miner. In 1885, Curie, the first non-indigenous settler of the area became a rancher (along with his Lillooet Indian wife).
The Lillooet River ('nkukutsa' in native language) begins at the Lillooet Crown Icecap which is located 80 km northwest of Pemberton. The Upper Lillooet River valley is about 95 km in length and enters the Lillooet Lake 15 km from Pemberton near Mount Curie. The Lillooet Lake is about 25 km in length and covers an area of 33.5 sq km. Old First Nations stories tell of a huge water snake that inhabits the lake.
The Lower Lillooet River flows out of the southern tip of the namesake lake over a 55 km distance until it joins the larger Harrison Lake. The Lower Lillooet River valley is bordered to the west by the Garibaldi Provincial Park. The placer property is
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Fig. 2: Monte Cristo Project Access & Topography
Legend
0 600 1200 m. Scale: 1:17,500 Map center: 49° 57' 29" N, 122° 25' 23" W This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for general Notes: Dan V. Oancea PGeo for North Bay Resources Inc., July 2015 reference only. Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, current, or otherwise reliable. THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION. surrounded by forested mountainous terrain. Part of the property is covered by mostly young coniferous forests.
The eastern part of the Monte Cristo claims hosts the Skookumchuck Hot Springs, which represent a touristic attraction especially in summer time.
The Monte Cristo placer claims are located in between the Indian Reserve 3 Sweeteen to the north and Indian Reserve 4 Skookumchuck.
4.2 Placer Claims
The Monte Cristo property consists of sixteen placer claims that cover 332.59 hectares (821.85 acres). The claims are 100% owned by North Bay Resources Inc. and are centred at 49° 57’ 24'' N and 122° 25' 38'' W. The mineral property is covered by the NTS 092G098 map.
A group of placer claims which overlap the eastern bank of the river (surrounding the hot springs) are partially or totally located on former private land subsequently acquired by the Federal Government. The land is to be held in trust for the in- SHUCK-ch Nation until land claim negotiations with the province are completed.
Placer claims affected by this land deal are: 1027600, 1027602, 1027604, 1027606, and 1027608.
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TABLE 1: PLACER TITLES AT THE MONTE CRISTO PROJECT
Tenure Claim Owner NTS Good to Status Area (ha) Number Name Map Date* Number
1016826 MC IR 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027600 MC 1 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.78
1027602 MC 2 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.78
1027604 MC 3 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.78
1027606 MC 4 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.78
1027608 MC 5 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.78
1027609 MC 7 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027610 MC 6 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/21 GOOD 20.79
1027612 MC 8 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027614 MC 9 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/21 GOOD 20.79
1027616 MC 10 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027618 MC 11 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027619 MC 13 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027620 MC 12 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027622 MC 14 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
1027621 MC 15 204090 092G098 2015/Nov/20 GOOD 20.79
TOTAL 332.59
*Subject to acceptance of the present Assessment Report.
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Fig. 3: Monte Cristo Project Placer Claims Map
Legend
0 600 1200 m. Scale: 1:17,500 Map center: 49° 57' 29" N, 122° 25' 23" W This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for general Notes: Dan V. Oancea for North Bay Resources Inc., July 2015 reference only. Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, current, or otherwise reliable. THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION. 4.3 Climate, Local Resources, Infrastructure
The climate is moderate with an annual average temperature of 10° C. Rainfall averages 160 cm per year with December being the wettest month.
Forestry has historically been the primary industry in the region. There is no operating hardrock mine in the vicinity except for the Bralorne gold mine which is located about 100 km north of the Monte Cristo. Small scale placer mining operations also exist in the region but none for the time being on the Lower Lillooet River. A note has to be made that as resulting from their Notice of Work Platinate Minerals & Industries Ltd intend to work their gold and platinum placer lease claims located on Tuwasus Creek, which is a western tributary of the Lower Lillooet River situated less than 6 km northwest of Monte Cristo.
Infrastructure is good with well-maintained logging roads connecting the project area with the community of Mount Curie.
Accommodation, food and gas could be provided and sourced from Pemberton and Whistler and some from the small community of Mount Curie.
4.4 History and Development
In 1857, gold was discovered on the Fraser River and that led to a short lived gold rush. Due to difficult access to the newly discovered gold placers and because of hostile Indian populations an alternate access route to the Fraser River was built in 1858 on the Lower Lillooet River – i.e. the Douglas Road. In the 1862-1864 period, as a result of the discovery of rich gold placer deposits in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, a new wagon road was built in the Fraser Canyon by the Royal Engineers. Most of the supplies and miners used this new route and as a result the Douglas Road (through the Lower Lillooet River) fell into disuse.
The transient miners panned the Lower Lillooet River and discovered coarse gold but not in large enough quantities that would have made them change their plans and mine these new locations. In 1882, A.G. Warnford Lock in his book Gold: Its Occurrence and Extraction wrote that: “Lillooet River – Flowing into Harrison Lake. Some gold found here, and at various points on the portages towards Lillooet.”
Hardrock mining took place on the Fire Mountain, which adjoins and is located immediately southwest of the Monte Cristo placer claims. Discoveries were made starting with 1896 and in subsequent years adits were driven and gold-silver-base metals ore was processed at on-site mills.
As described in previous assessment reports (AR26299, AR27667, AR27668) the occurrence of platinum in deltaic sands of the Lower Lillooet River at the place where 2015 Assessment Report on the Monte Cristo Placer Project Page 8
it enters the Harrison Lake was noted in 1966. According to the aforementioned reports in the 1970s and 1980s exploration work and processing tests were made on auriferous and platiniferous sands of the Lower Lillooet River.
Alluvial gold and platinum were also discovered on Tuwasus Creek, a western Lower Lillooet River tributary located 6 km upstream of the Monte Cristo claims (AR29814).
5. Geology and Mineralization
5.1 Regional Setting
The Canadian Cordillera is made of five geological belts that record their Mesozoic accretion to the ancestral North America. The Monte Cristo property is located in the southern part of the Coastal Belt which is the second westernmost belt. The Belt comprises the Coast and Cascade Mountains and extends from south of the British Columbia - Washington border to the north past the Yukon border (1,500 km).
The Cascade magmatic belt, which includes local plutons like the Rogers Creek Intrusive complex, boasts numerous porphyry and epithermal deposits occurrences.
5.2 Mineralization and Deposits
The Monte Cristo gold-platinum placer project is located 12 km south of the end of the Lillooet Lake and the presence of several gold mineralized zones on or in the vicinity of this stretch of river provides support to the theory that the coarse gold found on the river is derived from local sources.
The Fire Mountain mineralization located immediately southwest of Monte Cristo as well as other documented mineral occurrences located immediately west of the placer claims are hosted in a belt of volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Fire Lake Group, which extends for 40 km northwest from Harrison Lake. The Fire Lake Group is an island arc sequence preserved in a roof pendant, which occurs mostly west of the Lillooet River near the eastern margin of the Jurassic to Cretaceous Coast Plutonic Complex. The assemblage has been subjected to thrust faulting, large amplitude folding and regional metamorphism up to greenschist facies. Immediately to the east of the Money Spinner occurrence (Minfile 092GNE002) in the Lillooet Valley, the Harrison Lake shear zone and related structures are interpreted as an important mineralization controlling structure. The Fire Mountain prospects are represented by veins and lenses carrying gold, silver and copper mineralization.
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Quartz veins and stockwork gold-silver-polymetallic mineralization have been discovered and some of them mined immediately west of the Monte Cristo placer claims: the Mayflower (092GNE010), Easy-Joe (092GNE026), and Easy No.1 (092GNE011).
New mineral occurrences were recently discovered on the Rogers Creek, which is an eastern Lower Lillooet River tributary located 2.5 km upstream of the Monte Cristo claims. Since 2008, Miocene Metals Ltd has been exploring this mineral property; the company delineated important occurrences of porphyry style copper-gold- molybdenum mineralization related to the Miocene Rogers Creek Intrusive Complex.
Other assessment reports (AR29814) also indicate that economic concentrations of gold (up to 64.01 g/t), platinum (up to 0.46 g/t) and palladium (up to 1.5 g/t) exist in the gravels carrying black sands on the Tuwasus Creek, which is a Lower Lillooet River tributary located 6 km upstream of Monte Cristo.
5.3 Property Geology and Mineralization
The area surrounding the Monte Cristo property is underlain by the Jurassic Harrison Lake Formation and the overlying Lower Cretaceous Fire Lake Group.
The Fire Lake Group represents one of a scattered series of Jurassic-Cretaceous pendants in the southern Coast Mountains. The nature of the depositional environment for strata in many of these pendants and the correlation between units, are uncertain. The Fire Lake Group was correlated with the Gambier Group. (Lynch, 1990).
The Fire Lake Group includes the Lower Cretaceous Peninsula and Brokenback Hill formations. The Peninsula is a fining upwards sequence, with trough cross-stratified fluvial conglomerate and coarse marine beach deposits at the base, succeeded by arkose and slate. The overlying Brokenback Hill Formation is mainly volcanic. It progresses upwards from feldspar crystal tuff, to andesite flows, breccia, and heterolithic volcanic conglomerate, to volcaniclastic sandstone, and is topped by welded pyroclastic deposits. (Lynch, 1990).
The Peninsula Formation is the oldest stratigraphic unit in the Fire Lake Group. Due to the fact that this unit is well represented in the part of the valley occupied by the Monte Cristo claims a detailed description would be provided. The basal part of the formation consists of a 1,200 m thick package of conglomerates. Clasts include andesite, rhyolite, and feldspar porphyry, as well as chert, jasper or quartzite, siltstone, detrital quartz and feldspar crystals, and a few granite clasts. Beds are generally thick, moderately to well sorted with well rounded pebble to cobble sized fragments in a clast-supported framework. The stratigraphically lowest part of the formation contains trough cross-stratified channel gravel and sand cemented by calcite, apparently deposited in a fluvial environment. Conglomerate passes upwards
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into coarse beach deposits with fauna and flora more typical of the near shore marine environment. The overlying arkose member is approximately 800 m thick. The Peninsula Formation is marked by an upward fining cycle; presumably it represents a general transgression deposited during a period of volcanic quiescence. Facies progress upward from fluvial, to beach, to possibly marine shelf (Lynch, 1990).
The BCGS Geological Fieldwork 1984 Ray & Coombes paper presents a few more details including the fact that the basal conglomerate package (the Peninsula Formation) might also include rare thin mafic flows. It also mentions that conglomerate clasts are up to 8 cm in diameter.
Three phases of deformation including two distinct phases of folding and thrusting, and later block faulting are observed. The first deformation is characterized by shallow angle and bedding-parallel thrusts, which superpose the Peninsula Formation onto the Brokenback Formation as witnessed on the Fire Mountain.
The second deformation is represented by a large northwest-striking high-angle thrust (the Fire Creek Thrust) which juxtaposes lower against upper Brokenback Hill Formation members. The Fire Creek Thrust is part of a family of Late Cretaceous steep angle thrust faults which transported high-grade, deep seated rocks of the Northwest Cascade System and Cascade Metamorphic core onto the supracrustal rocks of the Fire Lake Group.
Prominent steep dipping, northeast-striking faults characterize the latest deformation. These faults are Tertiary and localize Tertiary dykes and plutons. Surface traces are straight, and they are typically marked by physiographic depressions. Within the Fire Lake Group the Skookumchuck and Sloquet Creek hot springs are controlled by such structures. (Lynch, 1990).
The roof pendant rocks are surrounded by the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous Pemberton Diorite Complex; by other unnamed Cretaceous dioritic rocks; and, by the Miocene Rogers Creek Intrusive Complex. An important northwest trending thrust fault - the Fire Creek Thrust - parallels the Lower Lillooet River.
Fine to micron size gold and platinum mineralization had been described on the Monte Cristo property by previous authors. According to AR2589 it has been ascertained that its alluvial sands contain an average of 1.23 g/t gold, 1.57 g/t platinum, 0.68 g/t palladium, 0.07 g/t iridium and 2.3 g/t silver.
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The report notes that: “The sands containing the precious metals occur along the 34 mile ancient river bed, are laterally one-quarter one-half mile wide, and are occasionally characterized by paired benches flanking the narrow, fast-flowing, shallow river. In most instances the Lillooet River is entrenched within the sands occupying a bed some 100 feet deep. These sands have been classified and re-distributed in post-Pleistocene time over a period of some 10,000 years.”
A 2012 sampling orientation survey was conducted by North Bay Resources on the eastern bank of the Monte Cristo placer claims. It encountered consistent economic values (up to 5.70 g/t) of (visible) gold on one of the lowest terraces of the river which hosts the hot springs.
The writer's 2014 surveys investigated the western bank of the Lower Lillooet River but no important accumulations of precious metals had been identified in the project area.
6. Prospecting Survey
A two day (mob/demob included) prospecting survey was undertaken during the month of July 2015. The scope of the survey was to understand the geological setting and sample/pan the river's east bank alluvial terraces because in this area (the Skookumchuck bench) a 2012 survey identified visible gold.
Easy access to the east bank terraces is provided by the well-maintained Lillooet Forestry Road that runs parallel to the river. Well-developed alluvial terraces have been encountered at approximately 130 masl (the Skookumchuck Hot Springs bench) and 120 masl.
The Skookumchuck bench is located on private land that was described in chapter 4.2. The bench is forested and hosts the namesake hot springs, which are located within a campground managed by local Indian bands. On the bench there are multiple access restricted areas which are marked as having an archeological significance.
Samples have been collected from accessible parts (only) of this alluvial bench but they did not return any colors. During the 2012 survey an experienced placer mining crew managed to dig samples from the same bench but from locations that are now inaccessible (including the Monte Cristo Minfile location) as nowadays they are marked as protected archeological sites. The Monte Cristo Minfile location is located immediately outside of the campground area but in an area that seems to be protected therefore it was not sampled by the writer.
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Plate 1: Basal fluvial Peninsula Formation conglomerates (Wp 223)
In an effort to find the source of visible gold (therefore being able to track it down to possible economic accumulations on lower benches) the writer sampled the conglomerate and gravel outcrops located immediately above the road and the bench hosting the campground (waypoints or wp 223 & 224). The above the road outcrops (Plate 1) are typical of the cemented basal fluvial conglomerates of the Lower Cretaceous Peninsula Formation as described in the previous chapter - i.e. slightly cemented (by calcite) fluvial conglomerates topped by a thin layer of mafic volcanic flows. These old fluvial conglomerates sometimes carry disseminated pyrite. The wp 223 outcrop was sampled and a few fine gold colors were tentatively identified in the pan concentrate.
Conglomerate outcrops (similar to wp 223 & 224) continue south along the main forestry road for over 300 m. Conglomerates and/or gravels have also been found in an outcrop (wp 226) located below the main forestry road at a distance of almost 400 m south from
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Fig. 4: Monte Cristo Project Sampling Map (1)
Legend
0 110 220 m. Scale: 1:3,000 Map center: 49° 57' 51.2" N, 122° 25' 49.8" W This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for general Notes: Locations marked with blue asterisk & Wp number. Dan V. Oancea PGeo for North Bay Resources Inc., July 2015 reference only. Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, current, or otherwise reliable. THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION. the wp 223 outcrop. It is part of a succession of volcanic greenstone, granodiorites and alluvial matter. The gravels had been sampled but returned no gold colors. As this was placer assessment work no effort was made to thoroughly map the road outcrops but one would note the presence of younger Brokenback Formation volcanic greenstone (calc- silicate) rocks along the east bank road. Unmapped granodioritic intrusive rocks outcrops had also been noted on the eastern side of the road.
The east bank road continues south through areas that are narrow therefore there is not enough room in between the steep side of the mountain (made of hard Brokenback Formation rocks) and river to host any alluvium - i.e. the river is characterized by a lack of alluvial terraces on its eastern side immediately south of the hot springs. The road starts to widen again at wp 217. The flat is covered by shrubs and it lacks gravels. The land becomes wider at wp 218 but the bench displays mostly glacial till material and no to very little gravels. Wp 219 represents the southern part of the claims located at the border with Skookumchuck 4 Indian Reserve (IR). The bench is wider but it presents the same characteristics i.e. covered by glacial till but no visible alluvial material. Samples have been collected from this terrace but as expected the pan concentrate returned no visible colors.
In order to understand the general geological setting the traverse followed the road farther south on the IR land to an important local gravel pit (wp 220) managed by the local Indian Band. The gravel pit exposes outcrops of fluvial gravels resting on a softer argillite basement (Plate 2) or coming into contact with harder intrusive rocks. The gravels are thinner northward and become thicker and bedded/layered on the southern side of the outcrops. The fluvial gravels' (interpreted as basal Peninsula Formation conglomerates) significance is that they might represent a short marine regression episode that was then reversed and followed by a period of stability and then by another period of marine transgression -i.e. the upward fining of the Peninsula Formation.
As the road continues south it is obvious that a large package of alluvial matter (30 m) is present in outcrops above the road. The connection between them and the previous described fluvial gravels has not been established at this moment.
Other traverses made on the Skookumchuck bench, which is hosting the hot springs, were hindered by the fact that access was restricted to the most important part of the claims hosting the Monte Cristo Minfile location. The parts of the bench that the writer was able to sample were not the most prospective and pan concentrates did not return any colors.
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Fig. 5: Monte Cristo Project Sampling Map (2)
Legend
0 140 280 m. Scale: 1:4,000 Map center: 49° 57' 8.5" N, 122° 25' 15.7" W This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for general Notes: Locations represented by blue asterisks and Wp number. Alluvial samples (e.g. MC-15-219) panned to concentrate. Dan V. Oancea PGeo for North Bay Resources Inc., July 2015 reference only. Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, current, or otherwise reliable. THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION.
Plate 2: Basal fluvial Peninsula Formation gravels - IR gravel pit (Wp 220)
7. Discussion and Conclusions
The Lower Lillooet River valley is a wide U-shaped valley which was carved by the bulldozing action of Pleistocene glaciers. The thick sequence of alluvium existent on the Monte Cristo claims could represent a Quaternary valley-fill sequence.
According to S. Tribe (2002) geological constrains point to the Lillooet River being of Pliocene to Miocene age. The river is following the trace of the late Cretaceous Owl Creek, Fire Creek and Lake Harrison faults and therefore it postdates them. At the same time the lower part of the river carved a 2,000 m valley through a Miocene granodiorite stock - the Rogers Creek Intrusive Complex - located some 20 km south of the Lillooet Lake and this fact suggests a younger maximum age. A minimum Quaternary age is based on its glacial deposits.
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All mineral deposits and mineralization located within its present or former catchment area and which are older than the river's minimum age have contributed to the precious metals content of its alluvial deposits of both the Upper and the Lower Lillooet River.
The writer's theories on the origin of alluvial gold in the Lower Lillooet River area (fine gold from the Upper Lillooet River's volcanic terranes, or carried by metamorphic fluids circulating on the deep crustal faults; and, local origin for the coarse gold, or derived from the glacial till) had been detailed in his previous assessment reports. One more possible source of gold has to be added i.e. the (presumed) Lower Cretaceous basal conglomerates of the Peninsula Formation as indicated by the fine gold colors that had been tentatively identified in panned concentrates of material from one outcrop located on the eastern bank above the Skookumchuck Hot Springs bench. If proved right they could represent a paleoplacer deposit type. The pyrite present in these old fluvial deposits (at least theoretically) could also host fine or micron gold that might have contributed to the endowment of the down slope Monte Cristo Minfile occurrence.
Quaternary alluvial material is not represented on the region's geological maps but the physiographic aspects of the valley as well as the presence of glacial till and alluvial material indicate the extent to which the valley was carved by glaciers. The part of the Lower Lillooet River valley covered by the Monte Cristo placer claims features asymmetrical alluvial terraces - better developed on the western side of the river. On the eastern side of the river terraces were developed in instances where country rock was softer - e.g. represented by the Peninsula Formation conglomerates/gravels. As noted in previous reports the west bank of the river hosts a thick package of alluvial matter (unconsolidated and not graded/bedded) and features terraces at different levels. The Skookumchuck Hot Springs bench as well as the one located on the southern border of the claims (wp 219) on the eastern side of the river are located at 130 masl. The lowest well-developed terrace located on the western side of the river is also located at 130 masl, therefore they represent recent (Holocene) paired terraces.
The eastern wp 219 bench could represent a terrace carved by glaciers that removed the softer Peninsula Formation conglomerates and left behind some till material. Unless the glacier has scraped clean the bedrock/gravel interface this fact might facilitate an easier access to the bedrock, which could be prospective for hosting visible gold therefore needs to be sampled.
The bulldozing action of the glaciers along the wide valley created conditions for the removal and dilution of any gold and platinum placers that could have existed before the advent of the latest bout of glaciation. Therefore there is a distinct possibility that the only concentrations of precious metals in placers that one would be able to find are Holocene – i.e. the most recent ones - and they would be either located on the 2015 Assessment Report on the Monte Cristo Placer Project Page 16
youngest/lowest elevation benches (130 masl), or could be found elsewhere at the gravel/bedrock interface (if preserved).
None of the writer's 2014-2015 samples had been collected from the bedrock/alluvium interface, which is an area that is generally known to host possible economic precious metals accumulations. Outcropping bedrock was noted in some instances along the eastern banks of the river, and therefore the depth to bedrock should not be great in those locations.
The presence of (unmapped) granodioritic intrusions alongside the east bank road indicate that there is potential for hardrock gold on the Monte Cristo claims as this is the geological setting that characterizes precious metals mineralization in the Fire Mountain area. This aspect further strengthens the idea that the visible gold identified on the placer claims has a local origin.
At this moment the writer considers that the thick package of unconsolidated massive alluvial deposits present on the west bank represents material resulted from the reworking of the Cretaceous Peninsula Formation conglomerates/gravels and of the till material left behind by glaciers. This material was then mixed with recent Holocene alluvial material. This interpretation implies that the aforementioned package is less prospective in hosting economic gold placer deposits.
The writer has not studied other 'classical' outcrops of the Peninsula Formation but taking into account their old age and the fact that they must have been subjected to intense diagenesis processes the writer considers that it is unusual to see Cretaceous age unconsolidated gravel deposits. In this respect their origin and age might be questionable.
In conclusion the results of the recent prospecting surveys as well as literature search and the interpretation of available geological data indicate that while the Monte Cristo placer tenements have the potential to host precious metals in certain stratigraphic levels or fluvial terraces of the Lower Lillooet River an economic accumulation of precious metals has yet to be found.
Field results point to the fact that fine gold is not ubiquitous and has no uniform distribution throughout the thick pile of alluvial sediments of the Lower Lillooet River. Nevertheless the presence of coarse gold on the lower terraces of the river as indicated by previous work (2012) on the claims - and mentioned in historic documents - indicate that possible economic accumulations of gold could exist with gold most likely derived from local sources (hardrock and possible paleoplacer types).
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8. Recommended Work
Further exploration work is warranted on the Monte Cristo placer property. It is recommended to undertake a more detailed geological and sampling survey that would clarify the Lower Lillooet River's alluvial stratigraphy and gold (and possible platinum) distribution as well as the gold balance and particle size distribution. Attention has to be directed toward sampling the most recent terraces and the bedrock-alluvium interface. The Lower Cretaceous conglomerates of the Peninsula Formation have to be re-sampled to verify the existence of visible gold in the basal fluvial conglomerates. The presence of fine or micron gold on the eastern bank (near the Monte Cristo Minfile occurrences) has yet to be proved and needs to be further researched.
Areas of interest would be delineated and bulk sampled or outright mined to provide funds for the development of the placer claims.
The legal status (protected or not) of the location that hosts the Monte Cristo Minfile occurrence needs to be clarified.
The possibility of developing commercial gravel pits that would serve the needs of the region's road builders, which includes the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation, would also have to be taken into consideration.
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9. Cost Statement
Salaries:
Dan Oancea PGeo:
- 2.0 Days Fieldwork @ $400/day...... $800.00
Truck rental:
- 2.0 Days ...... $252.03
Gas: ...... $129.77
Accommodation:
- 1.0 Days ...... $20.00
Food:
- 2.0 Days ...... $106.96
Report Cost:
Dan Oancea PGeo
- 1.0 Day @ $400/day...... $400.0
TOTAL $1,708.76
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10. References
1. Assessment Reports: 2589, 27667, 27668, 29814, 29877, 34871, 35360;
2. Geology of the Fire Lake Group, Southeast Coast Mountains, B.C. in GSC Paper 90-1E, by J.V.G. Lynch, 1990;
3. Geomorphic Evidence for Tertiary Drainage Networks in the Southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia in Geological Survey of Canada, 2002-A13 by Selina Tribe;
4. Gold: Its Occurrence and Extraction, by A.G. Warnford Lock, 1882;
5. Harrison Lake Project in BCGS Geological Fieldwork 1984, by G.E. Ray & S. Coombes;
6. Minfile 092GNE002, 092GNE010, 092GNE011, 092GNE013; 092GNE019, 092GNE026, 092GNE040;
7. Technical Report on the Miocene Metals Ltd 's Cu-Au-Mo Properties, Southwestern British Columbia, Canada by Barry McDonough, April 2011.
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11. Statement of Qualifications
I, Dan V. Oancea , of 507-1148 Heffley Crescent, Coquitlam do hereby certify that:
1. I am a registered Professional Geoscientist in the Province of British Columbia, Canada and a Fellow of the Geological Association of Canada.
2. I have a B.Sc. degree in Geological Engineering and Geophysics from Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, which I graduated in 1987.
3. I have practised my profession for 17 years.
4. As a result of my experience and qualification I am a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
5. I have authored this report which is based upon review and compilation of data relating to Monte Cristo placer property and upon personal knowledge of the property gained from on-site survey work carried out in July 4-5, 2015.
6. I do not own interest in the Monte Cristo placer property.
Vancouver, Respectfully submitted
October 3, 2015 Dan V. Oancea PGeo
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Table 2 – Monte Cristo Important Locations and Samples
Station Sample No. *Sample Elevation UTM E UTM N Description Type 216 - - 132 masl 541117 5534498 Narrow road washed. Volcanic greenstone (Brokenback Formation) outcrops but no alluvium. 217 - - 130 masl 541392 5533888 On an alluvial bench. Glacial till; no gravel preserved.
218 MC-15-218 Grab 127 masl 541463 5533611 On the alluvial bench. Mostly till but little gravel and sand present and sampled. No gold colors. 219 MC-15-219 Grab 130 masl 541593 5533402 On the alluvial bench. Mostly till but little gravel and sand present and sampled. No gold colors. 220 - - 130 masl 541710 5533112 IR gravel pit. Peninsula Formation conglomerates in contact with basement rocks. 223 MC-15-223 Grab 167 masl 540674 5535094 Fluvial gravels of the Peninsula Formation sampled. Fine gold colors returned. 224 MC-15-224 Grab 169 masl 540838 5534895 Fluvial gravels of the Peninsula Formation topped by volcanic flow sampled. No gold colors. 226 MC-15-226 Grab 133 masl 540929 5534744 (Presumed) Peninsula Formation gravels sampled. No gold colors. 227 MC-15-227 Grab 135 masl 540890 5534713 The place where the Skookumchuck hot springs flow into the Lillooet River. Beach sand rich in heavy minerals sampled. No gold colors.
UTM Zone 10 NAD 83
* Sample Type: Grab Sampling (Hand Dug) of Alluvial Matter & Processing by Panning
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