Location
The road-accessible Zinger Property is located 24 km west of Cranbrook, British Columbia. The 14,000 hectares (140 km²) property covers a 20 km strike length of favourable geology with gold and copper deposit potential.
History
The 1860s gold rush brought thousands of people to the Cranbrook area to placer mine the creeks for gold. To this day, small-scale placer operations can be found along Perry Creek, which runs the length of the Zinger Property. Anecdotal data suggest that the Zinger Property was likely explored by prospectors for the bedrock source of the placer gold found in the creek as far back as the mid-1800s.
The earliest recorded work on the property was in the period between 1915 and 1921 on the Yellow Metal prospect.
Prospecting, geological mapping, soil geochemistry, and geophysics have since been carried out over various parts of the large Zinger Property. Sections of the property have been worked by a number of companies including Gallant Gold Mines Ltd. (1981), Trans-Arctic Exploration Ltd. and Fort Steele Grubstaking Syndicate (1985), Partners Oil & Minerals Ltd. (1987), Unique Resources (1987), Consolidated Ramrod Gold Corp. (1992), and National Gold Corp. (2000).
In 2003, Chapleau Resources Ltd. carried out rock grab sampling, soil geochemistry, and 20 diamond drill holes in localized areas. Hole Z-03-16 returned the best result of 0.484 g/tonne gold over 17.5 m on what PJX now calls the South Gold Target area. Limited trenching and geology was done by SG Spirit Gold Inc. (formerly Ruby Red Resources Ltd.) in 2009.
Exploration Potential
PJX has consolidated 100% of the mineral rights to claims that now comprise the Zinger Property. PJX has also compiled historical data, identified data gaps, and infilled those gaps with mapping, prospecting, soil and rock geochemical surveys, airborne and ground geophysical surveys, and targeted drilling campaigns. This work has increased our knowledge of the geological controls on mineralization, the type of deposits we look to discover, and helped consolidate the land ownership required to properly explore the targets.
Two large areas, each with multiple targets to explore, have been identified to date. The South target area has orogenic-type gold mineralization, and the Northwest target area has intrusive-related gold and copper mineralization potential, including Reduced Intrusion Related Gold System targets, such as the Gar target, which is possibly analogous with Kinross’s Fort Knox deposit in Alaska and Snowline Golds’ Valley Discovery in the Yukon. Additional gold and copper mineralization potential exists outside these two areas on the property. These other areas are at a less advanced stage of exploration.
South Target Area
Gold in rock grab samples associated with quartz-sericite-carbonate veining can be traced for over 6 kilometres. Gold values range from being anomalous to over 30 g/t.
The gold trend appears to coincide with the first phase of folding (“F1”), where open to relatively tight north-northeast (“NNE”) striking folds have axial planes dipping sub-vertical to steeply west. Gold-mineralized veins are hosted in sericite-carbonate altered Proterozoic-aged Creston Formation quartzites, argillite, and siltstones. PJX vertical diamond drill hole ZG12-02 was drilled along the hinge of an F1 fold and intersected 0.5 g/t gold from 3 m-25 m depth. Further drilling is required on strike.
Northwest (“NW”) trending faults cut the fold structures. Alteration (sericite-carbonate-quartz) mineralization locally extends south-southwest (“SSW”) from these NW-trending fault structures along the folds. These extensional faults appear to have served as conduits for up-flow of mineralizing hydrothermal solutions.
Gold also occurs with veining and alteration associated with a second phase of folding (“F2”) that strikes NNE, similar to F1, but has shallow southeast-dipping axial planes that dip sub-parallel with the terrain slope. Intersection of F1 and F2 folding may influence the location of higher gold grades.
High gold values in soils occur locally. Two soil grids (East and West grids) have gold values ranging up to 4,941 ppb (4.941 g/t) gold in the soil.
Early Time VTEM airborne survey conductivity data suggests surface gold mineralization appears to be associated with resistive zones that could reflect quartz flooding and veining.
Late Time VTEM data shows the geophysical signature of rocks at depth and suggests that a larger resistive zone occurs at depth and may reflect an area with increased F2 folding and a possible increase in gold mineralization. Where this larger resistive zone intersects F1 folding at depth is one of the future exploration targets in the South target area on the Zinger Property.
VTEM Earl Time
VTEM Late Time
Zinger Map geology-Soils
Gold Run Lake – West Grid gold soils
Gold Run Lake – East Grid Gold Soils – 2
Gold Run Lake – East Grid Gold Soils – 1
Zinger Stacked Profile Line 4550
Zinger Series of Stacked Profiles – 2
Zinger Series of Stacked Profiles – 1
West Grid Gold in Soil
Stacked VLF and Gold Soil Profiles – 1
Stacked VLF and Gold Soil Profiles – 2
West Grid VLF Anomaly Maps
Northwest Target Area
Gar Target
Intrusive-related gold mineralization occurs along a 10 km trend on this part of the Zinger Property. The Gar target has characteristics analogous to Reduced Intrusion Related Gold Systems (RIRGS), such as Kinross’s Fort Knox deposit in Alaska and/or Snowline Golds’ Valley deposit in the Yukon.
Grab samples of sheeted quartz veins in the granodiorite to granitic Gar intrusion returned gold values ranging from anomalous to 28,841 ppb (28.84 g/t) gold. A pre-PJX historical 1,600 m long gold-in-soil anomaly occurs over the Gar intrusion. The intrusion is largely covered by overburden and has not been drill tested.
Gar characteristics similar to Reduced Intrusion Related Gold Systems (RIRGS) such as Fort Knox or Snowlines’ Valley Discovery.
Sheeted vein in Gar intrusion, 1365 ppb (1.36 g/t) gold
Visible Gold in quartz vein in Gar Intrusion (magnified photo)
Visible Gold in Pyrite in quartz vein in Gar Intrusion (magnified photo)
Gold in sheeted quartz veins in granodiorite to granitic intrusion
Gold in soil, 1600m anomaly
Bismuth in soil
Molybdenum in soil
Gold in rock grab samples of sheeted quartz veins within the Gar intrusion and in hornfels to skarn altered sedimentary rocks above and around the intrusion.
Airborne Magnetic Survey - Magnetic lows A and B support the potential for Reduced Intrusion Related Gold Systems at the Gar target area. Magnetic lows occur at or near the valley bottom in swamp or overburden areas and in the vicinity gold bearing sheeted veins in blocks of granite to granodorite. Magnetic Low B is larger than A and has a distinctive northeast orientation, similar to the gold bearing sheeted veins.
Airborne Mobile MT Survey - Apparent Conductivity (33 Hz) Map for the Gar Intrusion target area. Blue area represents a high resistivity (low conductivity) zone at depth, estimated to be 1.5 to 2 km below surface. Both magnetic lows appear to occur above and on the periphery of the large resistive zone. The highly resistive zone may represent a large intrusive body at depth that is the source of reduced intrusions with gold at surface.
Large (1600 m) historical gold in soil anomaly is coincident with the Gar intrusion and magnetic low A. Part of magnetic low B is coincident with the strongest part of the soil geochem anomaly as well as sheeted veins with gold in outcrop. Both magnetic lows occur in swamp or overburden covered areas near or at the valley bottom.
Next Steps
South Target Area
Airborne geophysics has identified an area at depth where gold may be concentrated by the intersection of two phases of folding and cross faults. There is potential along the 6 km trend to discover multiple gold deposits. Rock units potentially favourable to host gold need to be mapped and projected to depth where the two phases of folding may intersect. These areas at depth should be targeted by drilling close to cross faults that have the greatest carbonate-sericite alteration.
Northwest Target Area
The Gar RIRGS-type gold target has never been drilled. Much of the intrusion remains concealed beneath overburden; however, the highest vein densities occur near the valley bottom. Visible gold occurs as individual grains and with pyrite. Pyrite content is low, however additional geophysics, such as an IP (Induced Polarization) survey, may be able to detect zones with higher pyrite content prior to drilling.