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The Plata property hosts silver-gold-lead-zinc mineralization with potential for high grade vein and bulk tonnage deposits. It is 100% owned by Rockhaven Resources Ltd. with no underlying royalties. The property is favourably located within the Tintina Gold Belt, a precious metal province that includes major deposits such as Pogo, Fort Knox, Donlin Creek and Keno Hill. The Plata property shares numerous similarities with the nearby Keno Hill Silver Camp, which historically is the second largest primary silver producer in Canada.
Previous operators have carried out mapping, soil geochemical surveys, excavator trenching, diamond drilling, percussion drilling and small-scale high-grade mining intermittently since 1969, with exploration expenditures totalling about $5.8 million. A total of 2,041 tonnes of hand sorted material have been shipped from veins on the Plata property to smelter, yielding about 9,020 kg (290,000 oz) of silver. Prior to the company acquiring the property, less than 3000 m of drilling had been done and only a few of the veins had been tested.
Rockhaven purchased the property from Strategic Metals Ltd. in January 2008. Strategic conducted a property-wide magnetic and variable time-domain electromagnetic (VTEM) geophysical survey in 2007. Rockhaven drilled 4,113 m in 51 holes in 2008 and followed up with a program of excavator trenching and 346 m of drilling in two holes in 2009.
The Plata property lies within Selwyn Basin, a tectonic element that comprises deep water clastic sediments, cherts and minor carbonates deposited along the North American continental margin during Paleozoic time. The property geology consists of quartzite, shale, phyllite and limestone, which are imbricated by southwesterly directed thrust faults. A series of narrow, steeply dipping felsic dykes and north trending normal faults are younger than the thrust faults.
Three types of significant mineralization have been identified on the Plata property:
- High grade, silver-rich siderite-sulphide lenses are hosted in vein faults. The best mineralized lenses occur in dilatant zones developed where the steeply dipping faults cut competent strata. These lenses are typically a few metres to 100 m long and a few centimetres to 10 m wide. They are mineralized with heavily disseminated to massive galena, tetrahedrite and minor sphalerite in a gangue of siderite with lesser quartz and minor barite and calcite. The lenses commonly grade between 1,714 and 10,285 g/t (50 and 300 opt) silver with 30 to 70% lead and 5 to 20% zinc. Most of the veins on the property are of this type.
- High- to medium-grade silver and gold are found in sulphide-quartz-clay veins within the Plata Thrust (Aho Zone). The P-3 and P-4 veins are historical work areas within the Aho Zone. These veins show good consistency of widths and grades, both laterally and down dip. They are mineralized with arsenopyrite, pyrite, galena, boulangerite, tetrahedrite and sphalerite in quartz- and clay-dominated gangue. Trenching and drilling done by the company have shown that these veins are part of a laterally continuous structure that extends at least 850 m along strike and 500 m down dip.
- Medium- to low-grade, silver- and gold- bearing scorodite altered quartz veins are controlled by shallowly dipping, clay-altered shear zones. These zones have good potential to host bulk tonnage mineralization. The newly discovered Etzel and Ladue showings are examples of this type of mineralization.
The locations of major veins are noted on the above annotated photograph. For scale, the surface trace of the Plata Thrust shown on the picture is approximately 1.5 km.
A 275 line km, magnetic and VTEM geophysical survey was carried out by Geotech Ltd. on behalf of Strategic in 2007. Results outlined strong EM conductors that often strengthen at depth. The locations and orientations of some of these conductors coincide with known vein and fault zones. However, many conductors are not explained by known veins or faults, and thus may represent buried mineralization.
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An excavator has used to re-examine partially mined veins and to explore for new veins beyond known exposures. Chip samples collected in 2009 from the P-2 zone confirmed high grade silver, lead and zinc mineralization that had been identified by previous operators and discovered additional mineralization along strike.
The Plata property has demonstrated potential for high grade vein and bulk tonnage mineralization, and there is good reason to expect that additional silver-gold-lead-zinc discoveries will be made.
Rockhaven Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration company exploring for silver and gold in mining friendly jurisdictions in Canada. It is focused on growth through acquisition of advanced stage projects and recognition of new grassroots targets. Rockhaven's current properties are Plata, Zap, Groundhog and Ruby Range. All are favourably located in promising mineral belts. Systematic exploration is planned to unlock the potential of these highly prospective silver and gold projects. For more information, please check the company's website: www.rockhavenresources.com.
2008 Maps and Images
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