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GoWest Gold Ltd.

Frankfield Property

Oct 10, 2013
Profile
 
The Frankfield Property has been the site of the majority of Gowest’s exploration investment to date, where the Company is focusing on continuing to advance the Bradshaw Gold Deposit (formerly Frankfield East) toward production, with a targeted start-up of late 2015. The Frankfield Property covers an area of 643 hectares and is comprised of six mining leases. The Bradshaw Gold Deposit currently contains approximately 945,600 ounces of gold in the Indicated category (6.0 million t at a grade of 4.9 g/t) and 536,800 oz. Au in the Inferred category (3.7 million t at a grade of 4.2 g/t Au). This deposit is open along strike and at depth.

 
Location
 
The Frankfield Property is located in the southwest part of Tully Township, approximately 32 km north-northeast of the City of Timmins, Ontario. Surface access to Frankfield is easily gained from Timmins via Highway 655 and an all-weather gravel road that turns east off Highway 655, 33.2 km north of the intersection Highways 101 and 665 and 11.5 km north of the Kidd Creek Mine access road. This 13.5 km long all-weather road ends at the Prosser/Tully Township line. The site of Gowest’s Bradshaw Gold Deposit is approximately 1.5 km further east along a drill road.

 
Geology
 
The property is underlain by tholeiitic basalt flows and komatiitic basalt to peridotite flows of the Kidd-Munro assemblage. The tholeiitic basalt flows dominate the northern half of the property and the komatiitic peridotite flows the southern half. Thin (<10 m) units of pyritic graphitic argillite interflow sediments are commonly at or close to the contacts of the komatiitic peridotite flows in the north tholeiitic volcanic sequence. Depositional indicators demonstrate a steeply north dipping and north younging direction for the Kidd-Munro assemblage on the property. The stratigraphy has been deformed by at least two periods of deformation, as is common in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt.
 
Three gold mineralization areas presently exist on the Frankfield Property: the Bradshaw Gold Deposit (see description below), the Sheridan Gold Deposit (“Sheridan”) (formerly the Texmont deposit) and the Dowe gold zone.
 
In the northwest part of the property, the Sheridan Gold Deposit is hosted in a carbonate, hematite and sericite altered shear zone within a sequence of tholeiitic basalt flows. The shear zone strikes N086°E and dips 75° to the north. Sheridan is a sulphide mineralized zone of 3-5% disseminated pyrite and very fine microscopic arsenopyrite with quartz vein flooding. Intex reported in 1982 that the  Sheridan Gold Zone (formerly Texmont zone) contained 103,400 t averaging 7.54 g/t Au across and average width of 3 m along a strike length of 152 m and to a depth of 75 m. Gowest is not treating this historic mineral resource estimate as a NI 43-101 compliant resource verified by a qualified person and the estimate should not be relied upon. Subsequent drilling by Cyprus Gold (Canada) Limited in 1991 showed that the deposit extended to at least a depth of 360 m. Gowest drilled six diamond drill holes in 2010. The two best intersections obtained were 4.1 g/t Au over a down-hole length of 13.7 m and 4.1 g/t Au over 0.6 m. The Gowest drilling has traced the Sheridan Gold Zone for 250 m and it is open along strike and at depth below 200 m. Gowest has not prepared a mineral resource estimate for this deposit.
 
The Dowe gold zone is located in the southeast part of the Frankfield Property. Intersections of 2.86 g/t Au over 3.38 m, 1.8 g/t Au over 12 m and 1.9 g/t Au over 3.4 m have been reported from drilling in 1997-1998. Mineralization is reported to occur in quartz veins within a wedge of mafic volcanic rocks enclosed in ultramafic rocks. The mafic rocks are reported to be ankeritized and slightly silicified. Visible gold has been reported, together with pyrite. No arsenopyrite has been reported. The showing is reported to have a strike length of at least 150 m and has not been closed off.

 
History
 
Gowest has been exploring the Frankfield Property since 1983. A number of diamond drilling campaigns have been carried out on the property and semi-continuous diamond drilling has been carried out since 2004. Following a reorganization and change of the Company’s management team, Gowest has more than doubled the size of the original mineralized envelope at the Bradshaw Gold Deposit since 2010 when it contained an Inferred mineral resource of 510,000 ounces (oz.) of gold (Au) (2.4 million tonnes at 6.5 grams per tonne gold “g/t Au”).
 
In mid-2011, Gowest contracted a HELITEM electromagnetic and magnetic airborne geophysical survey (“the airborne survey”) covering what was then – before Gowest added more land to the project area – the entire NTGP to map the geology and structure of the area.
 
In June 2011, ACA Howe calculated a National Instrument (NI) 43-101 compliant resource at the Bradshaw Gold Deposit of 348,000 oz. Au in the Indicated category (1,621,000 t at a grade of 6.68 g/t Au) and 838,900 oz. Au in the Inferred category (4,342,000 t at a grade of 6.01 g/t Au). A positive Preliminary Economic Assessment Study was completed in 2011 that, using a gold price of US$1,200/oz., demonstrated a pre-tax net cash flow of $US 265 million and a 3.3 year payback period based on the 2011 resources with annual production rate averaging 95,000 oz. Au over a 10-year mine life.


Highlights of PEA
 

Note: The PEA is preliminary in nature. It includes Indicated and Inferred mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability; there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized.
Gold Price $1,200 /oz (versus 24 month average of $1348 / oz)
Initial Capital Cost $167 million (includes buyout of 2% NSR)
Life-of-Mine (LOM) Sustaining Capital $86 million  
LOM Pre-tax Net Cash Flow (PNCF) $265 million (23% internal rate of return – IRR)
Average LOM Cash Costs $660 /oz (includes G&A)
Overall Gold Recovery 95%  
Average Gold Production (10 years) 95,000 oz / year
Mine Production Rate 1,500 tonnes per day (tpd)

In 2012, the Company completed the environmental baseline work for mine permitting, a First Nations Memorandum of Understanding agreement, a positive full-scale ore sorting optimization test and a drilling program focused on further resource expansion at the Bradshaw Gold Deposit and other regional exploration targets. Site reviews were carried out for the construction of an ore processing facility. The resource expansion drilling program confirmed gold mineralization to at least 1.4 km along strike and 1.1 km vertical depth (deposit remains open). Based on this drilling, an updated a NI 43-101 compliant resource of approximately 945,600 oz. Au in the Indicated category (6.0 million t at a grade of 4.9 g/t Au) and 536,800 oz. Au in the Inferred category (3.7 million t at a grade of 4.2 g/t Au) was completed by Neil N. Gow, P. Geo., an independent Qualified Person, on November 15, 2012.
 
Gowest is currently conducting underground advanced exploration and mine development plans, carrying out permitting activities, and detail diamond drilling is ongoing for mine stope development at the Bradshaw Gold Deposit. The completion of mine site permitting is anticipated in late 2013 with bulk sampling and a feasibility study planned for 2014.

 43-101 Technical Report


Bradshaw Gold Deposit
 
Gold mineralization in the Bradshaw Gold Deposit occurs primarily within a fractured, sulphidized and brecciated hydrothermal alteration horizon in basaltic flow rocks at or near the contact with steeply north dipping (85º) footwall ultramafic rocks to the south. This portion of the deposit is identified as the geological Main Zone. The mineralization is not confined to narrow vein-like structures (as can be seen in many other deposits in the area) but rather, in a more massive/tabular structure than is consistently present throughout the mineralized horizon. This characteristic is shared by the major past gold producers in the Porcupine camp including Hollinger, McIntyre and present producer Goldcorp at their Dome and Hoyle Pond deposits. Within the geological Main Zone, higher-grade gold mineralization is localized along the footwall of the horizon, termed the MZ1 Zone and along the hanging wall of the horizon, termed the MZ2 Zone. Pervasive silicification, minor ankerite veining, hematite staining along with the presence of tourmaline generate a recognizable mauve to pink hue for the Main Zone. Total sulphide content of the mineralized horizon varies from 3-30% with occasional 2-5 cm wide bands of massive arsenopyrite and pyrite. The largest concentrations of sulphides correspond to the highest gold concentrations.
 
A second type of gold mineralization is hosted within the basalt flows. This mineralization forms multiple structures parallel to the strike and dip of the Main Zone and are referred to as Hanging Wall Zones as they are located immediately north of the Main Zone. They are seen as highly silicified zones accompanied by intense bleaching, brecciation and quartz flooding, tourmaline, 5-10% pyrite and arsenopyrite. As in the Main Zone, higher concentrations of arsenopyrite give rise to higher gold values. A total of three such parallel structures (HWZ1 to HWZ3) have been identified in locations and are significant contributors to the total number of ounces of gold contained within the overall Bradshaw Gold Deposit.


Mineral Resource Estimate


Bradshaw Gold Deposit (formerly Frankfield East)  – Gowest Gold Ltd.  November 15, 2012
  Indicated Resources
Lens ID
 

Volume
 

Tonnes
 

Oz Au
 

Grade g/t Au
 
MZ1 521,908 1,487,438 241,497 5.05
MZ2 469,064 1,336,832 200,283 4.66
HWZ1 484,036 1,379,503 214,659 4.84
HWZ2 451,000 1,285,350 207,033 5.01
HWZ3 185,060 527,421 82,070 4.84
Totals 2,111,068 6,016,544 945,542 4.88
  Inferred Resources MZ1 995,816 2,838,076 425,198 4.66
MZ2 33,232 94,711 9,987 3.28
HWZ1 189,852 541,078 69,409 3.99
HWZ2 (50m) 41,856 119,290 16,951 4.42
HWZ3 (50m) 34,988 99,716 15,228 4.75
Totals 1,295,744 3,692,871 536,773 4.22


Notes:

  1. (CIMM) Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) definitions were followed for Mineral resources.
  2. Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3 g/t Au.
  3. Mineral Resources are estimated at a long-term gold price of US$1,200/oz, and a US$/C$ exchange rate of 1:1.
  4. A minimum width of 2m was used.

The mineral Resource estimate is based on drilling up to April 2012


To date, the deposit has a drilled strike length in excess of 950 m, trending N070-080°E, and has been tested to a depth in excess of 1,000 m. MZ1 Zone mineralization ranges in width from 1-12 m (true width). The MZ2 Zone mineralization ranges in width from 1 to 6.9 m wide (true width). The widths of the Hanging Wall Zones typically vary from 2 to 4 m up to a maximum of 12 m. The deposit remains open at depth.


Source: http://www.gowestgold.com/index.php/north-timmins-gold-project/frankfield-property/