Old Timer

Project Overview

The Old Timer Property is a 2,020-hectare, road-accessible property located in southern British Columbia, approximately 17 km southeast of Nelson. The Old Timer Property represents the northern-most gold occurrence in the Ymir Camp, where gold mineralization occurs in quartz-filled shear zones, with the most productive veins following regional-scale north to northeast-trending structures.

Project Geology

The property is comprised of northeast-trending quartz-filled shear zones mostly within Ymir Group metasediments. Quartz veins vary from cm-scale veins to over 1.5 m in thickness, and from massive veins to quartz-filled tectonic breccia. The best gold values are obtained from the more massive veins and from veins with the highest sulfide content. The strongest gold values also tend to be associated with elevated lead values, with the presence of galena in quartz being a good indicator of gold mineralization. Mineralization is developed in shoots that rake obliquely in the plane of the vein. In plain view, these shoots are lensoidal in shape with a greater vertical component than horizontal. Understanding the shoot geometry is a key component to exploring and developing this style of deposit.

Project History

Total recorded production from the Ymir Camp is approximately 240,000 ounces of gold, which was mined primarily during the periods 1899-1905 and from the early 1930’s to the early 1950’s. The two main producers were the Yankee Girl, located 4.6 km south of the Old Timer Property, and the Ymir, 1.5 km south of the Property.

Numerous historic exploration pits, adits and shafts are present on the Property, but the majority of this early work is undocumented. More recent exploration includes several soil and rock geochemical and ground geophysical (mag, VLF) surveys. Most of the work has focused on the Old Timer occurrence, where a 100 m portion of the vein was stripped in 1980, with 25 tons were mined and shipped to the Trail smelter returning an average grade of 0.116 oz/t Au and 2.5 oz/t Ag (Fenwick-Wilson, 1984).

Between 1988 and 2005, a total of 35 diamond drill holes were drilled on the Property. The majority of historic drilling was completed over a 750 m strike length along the Old Timer shear zone. Drilling identified one mineralized shoot, located generally at depth below the stripped zone (the Old Timer trench), with 2 possible additional shoots suggested by holes drilled approximately 100 and 325 m to the southwest. Highlights from drilling included:

• 5.37 m grading 4.4 ppm Au
• 2.9 m at 17.6 ppm Au
• 1.52 m at 19.8 ppm Au
• 3.66 m at 13.2 ppm Au
• 4.8 m at 13.3 ppm Au

2020/2021 work programs included geological mapping, prospecting, rock, soil and stream sediment sampling, and a drone-based magnetic survey. 3D modelling of the Old Timer vein was also completed, using Lidar bare earth data to accurately establish the positions and elevations of drill collars. The purpose of the program was to provide a geological and structural framework for mineralization, to visit, sample and assess all of the known zones of mineralization, to assess the merits of detailed soil geochemical sampling as a method for tracking known zones of mineralization, and to determine if geological contacts, structures and known veins could be delineated on the basis of magnetic signature.

Three new zones of mineralization were discovered during the 2020-21 work program. Detailed geochemical surveys indicated that veins can be traced using this method, while drone-based magnetics showed that magnetics provides a method for differentiating the granodiorite intrusive from hornfelsed metasediments. Magnetic data also appears to be effective at identifying vein structures and post-vein faults.

Exploration Targets

Eight zones of mineralization are known on the Property, the Old Timer:

• Pathfinder
• Summit
• Elise
• Loki
• Idun
• Freya
• Bragi

The Idun occurrence is currently the most promising target. It covers a strong, persisent magnetic linear feature and 2 parallel, northeast-trending structures with quartz veining. Numerous historic exploration pits are present in the Idun area, with a rock sample from the dump of one working returned 9.8 ppm Au. Elevated gold values were also returned from a detailed soil geochemical lines to the north and south of the main pit.