Optimum Ventures samples 285.4 g/t gold at Harry property, British Columbia
Optimum Ventures Ltd. [OPV-TSXV; OPVLF-OTCQB] reported further highly encouraging results from a limited surface exploration program conducted on a recently discovered zone on the 80%-optioned Harry property in northwestern British Columbia, in late 2021 prior to the onset of winter.
The sampling program was conducted on and in the region of the newly discovered Swann zone, which is exposed over a small area and consists of quartz and semi-massive to massive mineralization with visible gold within an intensely altered zone. Determination of its true width and strike length will be part of the focus in the 2022 exploration program.
At the Swann Zone surface sampling, sample No.S21-1 returned 0.762 g/t gold, 352 g/t silver, 2.61% copper, 0.13% lead and 0.11% zinc. Sample No. S21-2 returned 285.4 g/t gold, 1,872 g/t silver, 1.91% copper, 0.74% lead and 0.90% zinc. Sample No. S21-3 returned 23.397 g/t gold, 75.29 g/t silver, 0.20% gold, 0.87% lead and 1.01% zinc. Sample No.S21-4 returned 122.4 g/t gold, 1,949 g/t silver, 2.07% copper, 0.81% lead and 0.36% zinc. Sample No.S21-5 returned 3.42 g/t gold, 40.68 g/t silver, 0.11% copper, 1.68% lead and 2.05% zinc.
Following the surface sampling program, Optimum completed four short diamond drill holes on the Swann zone as a requirement under the option agreement on the property. Optimum geologists have logged, split and sent cores for assay. Logging of the core has indicated up to six metres of semi-massive to massive mineralization associated with highly altered sericitic rocks and quartz veining.
The Harry property comprises three contiguous claims covering area of approximately 1,333 hectares along the Granduc Access Road near Stewart, B.C. The property is bordered by Ascot Resources Ltd. to the east and south, Pretium Resources Inc, to the north, and Scottie Resources Corp to the west. The property lies along the northwestern portion of a geological corridor prospective for gold-silver mineralization that host several former and operating mines. The property hosts several 500-metre wide zones of intense alteration that trend northwest along the claim length.
Work completed in late 2021, while only on about 10% of the property, indicates that sulphide zones occur within quartz-bearing structures trending both east to west (south dip). Where these structures are crosscut by northwest-trending structures (dipping east), semi-massive to massive sulphides occur. Within these sulphides, sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite and pyrite are present. Fine visible gold is occasionally present within the massive mineralization. The Swann zone is several hundred metres east of the Milestone, where 2020 trench sampling returned 7.86 oz/ton gold (269.5 g/t) across a 2-metre width.