The Lara Project is a high-grade volcanogenic gold and base metal deposit and is considered to hold excellent potential for the establishment of sufficient reserves to justify a mining operation.
The Property is underlain by the McLaughlin Ridge Formation (Horne Lake-Cowichan uplift) which is correlative with the Myra Formation (Buttle Lake uplift) sequence of felsic volcanic rocks that hosts the Zinc (Zn)-Lead (Pb)-Copper (Cu)-Silver (Ag)-Gold (Au) Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (“VMS”) deposit of Myra Falls (~147 km to the north). The past producing Cu-Pb-Zn-AU-Ag mine and mineralized zones at Mt. Sicker, ~2 km southeast of the Property, are also hosted by the felsic volcanic rocks of the McLaughlin Ridge Formation (Belik, 1981; MINFILE, 1990a).
The Lara Project was the subject of previous exploration activity in the 1980’s consisting of 323 historical drill holes totalling more than 58,263 meters, as well as 679 meters of pre-production underground access and drifting. The most recent exploration work on the Property was a carried out in 1998 by Nucanolan Resources Ltd. who completed a diamond drilling program of 12 drill holes (2,559 meters) with their best reported intersection of 3.16 m@ 2.48% Cu, 1.19% Pb, 12.3% Zn, 49.80 g/t Ag, 2.30 g/t Au.
A high grade, historic resource (not NI 43-101 compliant) was reported in 1998 by Nucanolan Resources Ltd. to be 580,000 tonnes grading 5.87% Zn, 1.22% Pb, 1.01% Cu, 0.138 opt Au (4.3 g/t Au) and 2.92 opt Ag (90 g/t Ag) over and average thickness of 8.3 feet or 2.53 meters (Archibald, 1999).
A Mineral Resource Estimate was completed on the mineralized zones within the Coronation Trend in 2008. Wireframe models were generated for mineralization envelopes in which a continuous zone of >1.0%Zinc-Equivalent could be consistently followed and modeled. In most instances, the significant intersections were reconciled from section to section without the inclusion of low-grade intervals. The Coronation Trend was modeled as six discrete zones with a total strike length of approximately 1,180 meters along a 118° trend. The average dip of the zones is approximately 65° to the north-northeast. The true width of the zone models ranges from 2 to 15 meters and averages approximately 5 meters.
The presence of additional polymetallic zones in a predominantly felsic volcanic package and the presence of numerous untested geochemical and geophysical anomalies are encouraging for continued exploration on the property. These features are complimented by existing infrastructure including nearby power and population centers.