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Figure 1. Project Location Map
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Figure 2. Regional and land use map, showing general location of
the project on the Caliente 1:100,000 sheet. Orange color indicates land managed
by the U.S. BLM; white areas indicate private land.
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Figure 3. Project claim map, showing the location of patented lands
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Figure 4. Regional geologic map
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In December 2008 Ironwood received a
Canadian National Instrument 43-101-compliant report that was written by Clyde L. Smith, Ph.D., P.Eng. and David S. Smith M.S., M.B.A. – this report has been updated and is
available here.
Clyde Smith is a Qualified Person (QP) as defined by
Canadian National Instrument 43-101; both authors are independent and had no financial interest in the project. The following is an excerpt from the full report.
The Cobalt Canyon project is located in the Chief or Caliente mining district of southeastern Nevada, in Lincoln County on the east flank of the Chief Range about 115 miles northeast of Las Vegas and 5 miles north of the town of Caliente (Figure 1).
The Cobalt Canyon project originally consisted of 22 unpatented claims (approximately 363 acres) and three patented claims covering 59 acres, for a total of approximately 422 acres of land. As of November 30, 2009 the Company acquired an additional 32 claims covering 274 acres, therefore the project now encompasses 696 acres consisting of 57 claims in total.
The project is located in high desert at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. Access to the project is good by paved highway and 4-wheel-drive gravel road. Outcrop exposures are good, and old mine workings are accessible throughout the project and in relatively good shape. Ely, Nevada, 113 miles north, is an active mining town with an experienced labor force. Power is available in Meadow Valley approximately 4 miles to the east. No surface water is available on the project, but groundwater has been reported in drill holes at depths of approximately 300 feet. The Union Pacific Railroad follows U.S. Highway 93 from Caliente north past the access roads to the project.
The Chief Mining district lies on the east side of the Chief Range, composed principally of Late Proterozoic and Early Cambrian quartzite, Cambrian limestone, and Tertiary intrusive and volcanic rocks. The Cobalt Canyon project is in a complex structural environment. Three generations of faulting have been identified, and the property is located near a number of large crustal features. The oldest episode of faulting is a north-striking, east dipping, low-angle fault, the Stampede Detachment Fault, which manifests as a breccia up to 20 m thick. The second faulting event consisted of a major Miocene episode of high-angle strike-slip, oblique-slip and normal faulting and low-angle normal/detachment faulting, and was likely contemporaneous with mineralization. These faults likely formed the pathways for the mineralizing fluids in the district, and the mineralized Old Democrat Fault is of this era.
The project presents three types of mineralization for exploration: high-angle vein mineralization, high-angle/detachment intersections, and disseminated porphyry mineralization. All three types of mineralization could be potentially suited to bulk-tonnage, open-pit mining, principally for gold; favorable results could also give rise to a higher-grade underground operation in the high-angle or detachment intersection settings. The first exploration objective is to determine the lateral and vertical extensions of known mineralization in the high-angle structures such as the Old Democrat Fault. Geologic mapping and sampling should focus on this type of mineralization. The second exploration objective is to identify intersections between high-angle mineralized structures and the low-angle Stampede Detachment Fault such as at the Gold Chief Mine. The third exploration objective—a longer-term goal—is to test the district’s potential for porphyry-style mineralization.
Cobalt Canyon appears to have potential for 1.5 million ounces of gold—and possibly considerably more—as either an open-pit or underground target. Given the high grades in some samples—up to 1.16 opt Au, Cobalt Canyon appears to have potential for an underground mine. If mineralization is also disseminated in wall rocks around the mineralized structures as suggested by several samples, the property may also hold tonnages and grades that could support an open-pit mine. The block outlined by current surface sampling could hold 69 million metric tons; if the ore were a grade of 0.02 opt Au,
the project could contain approximately 1.5 million ounces of gold. If this grade of mineralization extended deeper or farther along strike, the resource could approach 3 million ounces of gold. Although the possibility of a deposit this size is limited, the potential for discovering up to 1.5 million ounces of gold on the project appears to be quite good. We believe that the project deserves substantial exploration.
The Cobalt Canyon project shows a number of intriguing characteristics and deserves a comprehensive modern exploration program.
We will begin the following Phase 1 exploration program in early 2010.
- Regional reconnaissance mapping and prospecting along the mineralization trend north and south of the claim block.
- Property-wide soil geochemical sampling on lines 200 feet apart with 100-foot sample spacing.
- Follow-up soil sampling on lines 100 feet apart with 50-foot sample spacing.
- Petrographic analysis of ore specimens and critical lithologies.
- Ground magnetic survey on property-wide soil grid.
- Selective induced potential (IP) surveys of geologically identified targets.
- Identify drill targets.
- Initial core drilling: 5,000 feet in drill holes of approximately500 feet average depth.
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Figure 5. General geology of the Chief Mining District
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Figure 6. Regional structural map
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Figure 7. Sample location map
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