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Kalzas Tungsten Project, Yukon
Target | Project Summary | Detailed Property Description | Related News Releases | Photo Gallery
Target
- High grade, open pit tungsten deposit
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Project Summary
Copper Ridge owns a 100% interest in the Kalzas tungsten deposit in central Yukon. A previous operator, Union Carbide, carried out the initial exploration at Kalzas in the early 1980's and showed it to have the potential to be one of the largest tungsten deposits in the world. Sampling by Copper Ridge in 2001and 2002 showed the potential to define a high grade deposit of plus 1% WO3 over widths of 1 to 6 m. The Yukon Geological Survey characterizes Kalzas as the largest wolframite deposit in the world.
On August 8, 2007, the Company reached an agreement whereby Prospector Consolidated Resources Inc. ("Prospector") will have the right to earn a 100% interest in the property by paying $25,000 on signing the agreement and issuing 6,000,000 shares. Prospector is planning a major drill test at Kalzas during the 2008 field season.
The tungsten mineral wolframite occurs in sheeted veins, stockworks and disseminations. Within the roughly 1.5 square kilometer zone of mineralization, higher grade zones occur in competent quartzite and siliceous conglomerate beds that are steeply dipping and strike northwesterly across the property. Drilling will be required to demonstrate the continuity of high grade within these stratigraphically controlled zones.
The mineralized zone is believed to be underlain by a 90 million year old Tintina Gold Belt intrusion. Coincidentally, many of the Tintina Gold Belt gold deposits, including Scheelite Dome, are known for their tungsten association. At Kalzas, arsenic, bismuth and antimony occur within the core area of the tungsten deposit, suggesting the possibility of gold mineralization closer to the interpreted intrusion.
The deposit is ideally situated on the upper slopes of a mountain ridge that would allow ready access for mining with a low stripping ratio and downhill transport for ore to a processing facility.
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Detailed Property Description - Kalzas Tungsten Property, Yukon
Ownership and Location
Copper Ridge owns a 100% interest in the eight contiguous unpatented quartz claims comprising the Kalzas property.. The property vendors retain a 2% net smelter return royalty, of which 1% can be purchased for $500,000.
On August 8, 2007, the Company reached an agreement whereby Prospector Consolidated Resources Inc. ("Prospector") will have the right to earn a 100% interest in the Company's Kalzas tungsten property, Yukon, by paying $25,000 on signing the agreement (paid), issuing 6,000,000 shares of Prospector to the Company in stages up to January 1, 2014, or the commencement of commercial production from the property, whichever comes first. The initial 500,000 shares will be due upon regulatory approval of the agreement. Prospector must also complete $4,080,000 in exploration expenditures on the property by December 31, 2010. Prospector will also be required to issue 2,000,000 share purchase warrants to the Company, 1,000,000 of which will be issued upon regulatory approval and will be priced at $0.25 in year one and $0.50 in year two, and 1,000,000 of which will be issued on or before December 31, 2010, with a two year life and price to be determined at the time of issue. Copper Ridge will retain the right to purchase half of the underlying 2% NSR royalty from the property vendors.
The Kalzas property is located 71 kilometers southeast of the town of Mayo in the central Yukon in the Mayo Mining District.
Access and Geography
Access to the property is by helicopter from Mayo or fixed-wing aircraft from Mayo or Whitehorse to an airstrip on the property. A winter road has been used to access the property in the past.
The mineral claims are on the Kalzas Twins peak, the top of which is 1,990 meters. The peaks form a prominent landmark above the Kalzas plateau, which lies at approximately 1,500 meters. The property is covered by talus with some sparse bush and black spruce at lower elevations.
Previous History and Geology
The Kalzas property was staked by prospector J.D. Randolph in 1978 following the discovery of tungsten mineralization. The property was optioned to Union Carbide in 1980. Union Carbide performed mapping and sampling in 1981 and 1982 and trenching in 1982. In 1983, they drilled 2 holes totaling 668 meters and completed further trenching. After some further trenching again in 1984, and a dramatic drop in the price of tungsten, Union Carbide dropped the property. The owner did additional trenching in 1990, 1991 and 1993.
The property host rocks are Proterozoic Windermere Supergroup quartz-rich clastic sediments. The deposit is underlain by a large, possibly Tombstone age (90 million year old) felsic pluton as indicated by aeromagnetics. A large hydrothermal system, 2 km to 2.5 km in diameter, underlies the Kalzas Twins, zoned from a potassic core, through a quartz-tourmaline-sericite zone to a peripheral phyllic (quartz-sericite-pyrite) zone.
Mineralization
Wolframite, a tungsten mineral and cassiterite, a tin mineral, occur with a number of other minerals, including scheelite, molybdenite, galena, beryl, arsenopyrite, quartz and feldspar in sheeted quartz veins, stockworks and breccias within the alteration zone. The Company undertook a work program that included rock chip sampling of exposures along roads and trenches and re-sampling of some of the drill core. Highlights of the sampling, within an area 500 m long and 300 m wide, include:
2001 Trench Sampling Highlights
Trench Width Grade
(m) (% WO3)
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South Upper Road 66 0.493%
North Upper Road (east end) 16 0.306%
North Upper Road (middle) 8 0.705%
North Upper Road (west end) 70 0.427%
North Middle Road 20 0.268%
North Lower Road 66 0.429%
------------------------------------------------
(WO3 is tungsten trioxide, the common method in which
tungsten grades are reported.)
In 2002, the Company completed a more detailed sampling program with the collection of 121 chip channel samples, mostly of one metre in length and 7 to 9 kg in weight. Large samples were collected in an effort to mitigate the issue of heterogeneous samples, including a possible nugget effect resulting from the presence of coarse crystals of the tungsten mineral wolframite in some of the sample intervals. All samples over 0.2% WO3 in the original geochemical analysis were assayed. The sampling program was conducted under the supervision of Aurum Geological Consultants Inc. and Acme Analytical Laboratories Ltd. carried out analytical work.
2002 Trench Sampling Highlights
Location Length
(m) % WO3
------------------------------------------------
Lower Levels 4.0 0.539
Middle Road 2.0 0.605
Middle Road 3.0 0.783
Middle Road 1.2 1.211
Upper Levels 2.0 0.902
Upper Levels 1.0 1.097
Upper Levels 1.0 1.665
Upper Levels 8.0 0.608
Upper Levels 0.4 3.165
South Upper Levels 6.0 0.712
Including 2.0 1.669
South Upper Levels 2.5 1.266
South Upper Levels 15.0 0.597
Including 2.0 2.552
Including 6.0 1.219
Geological observations suggest that these high-grade zones would have a steep and elongate orientation within a zone up to 100 m wide and approximately 400 m along strike.
In 2005, Copper Ridge completed five narrow diameter drill holes for a total of 397.4 m. Results are summarized in the table below:
Hole # From(m) Interval(m) WO3(%)*
KZ05-01 11.0 48.0 0.153
includes 29.6 11.4 0.304
and 29.6 8.4 0.393
and 29.6 2.4 0.688
and 36.1 1.9 1.122
KZ05-02 33.0 29.0 0.130
includes 50.0 2.1 0.391
KZ05-03 3.0 8.0 0.246
includes 28.0 2.0 0.240
49.2 4.6 0.260
69.6 9.8 0.211
KZ05-04 16.0 5.5 0.221
64.9 19.8 0.145
includes 64.9 3.6 0.231
KZ05-05 0.0 24.4 0.304
includes 7.0 7.0 0.419
and 9.0 8.4 0.533
and 9.8 0.5 1.220
and 16.9 0.5 1.390
58.4 1.6 0.380
84.0 1.0 0.720
The drilling confirms the continuity of mineralization beneath the mineralized trenches. However, the Company believes that because of the nugget effect caused by the large size of the wolframite crystals and the narrow diameter of the core sampled, these results do not give an accurate representation of the actual grades to be expected from the deposit.
Proposed Program
Prospector is planning a major drill test at Kalzas in 2008. This will include a test of the known, near surface mineralization either with a large diameter core drill or perhaps a reverse circulation drill. Prospector is also considering a deep drill test to attempt to probe the upper contact of the buried intrusion below the mineralized zone.
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Related News Releases
| September 15, 2008 |
Drilling Commences At Copper Ridge'S Kalzas Tungsten Project |
| August 14, 2007 |
Copper Ridge Farms Out Kalzas Tungsten Property |
| December 22, 2005 |
Copper Ridge - Project Update |
| September 28, 2005 |
Drilling Confirms Continuity Of Tungsten Mineralization At Kalzas |
| August 12, 2005 |
Drilling Underway at Kalzas High Grade Tungsten Deposit |
| May 03, 2005 |
Copper Ridge Plans Drill Test of High Grade Tungsten Deposit |
| April 06, 2005 |
Copper Ridge Exploration Update |
| November 18, 2002 |
Kalzas Tungsten Assay Results |
| January 14, 2002 |
Assays Confirm High Grade Tungsten |
| December 06, 2001 |
Copper Ridge - Exploration Update |
| September 06, 2001 |
SIGNIFICANT TUNGSTEN MINERALIZATION OUTLINED AT KALZAS |
 Visit the Kalzas Photo Gallery
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