Location & Topography
This property encompasses two principal old mine workings: the Waverley, located on the Tangier claims, and the Tangier, located on the Waverley claims. These showings are situated at the head of Sorcerer Creek, about 1 km below the watershed boundary separating that creek from the head of Tangier Creek, near Revelstoke, British Columbia. The approximate centre of the property is 48 km to the northeast of Revelstoke. The claims cover the Tangier Creek Valley to the southeast and the upper waters of Sorcerer Creek to the northwest.
The topography of the project area is fairly steep, consisting of glaciated ridges trending roughly northwest-southeast, transected by smaller creeks. Relief is of the order of 1500 m vertically with the highest mountains approaching 2500 m elevation. Steep faced cirques, knife-edge ridges, and cliffs over 90 m are common above 2000 m. The Waverley workings are located on the northeast side of the creek valley, at an elevation of approximately 1400 m. The Tangier workings are at a lower elevation, below tree line near the saddle of two valleys.
The lower portions of the property are covered with a dense forest and underbrush is mostly willow, alder and devil's club. Thin overburden occurs on the higher elevations and above tree line of the claims.
Access to the property is via logging road from Highway 23 north of Revelstoke.
Geology
The project area lies within the Kootenay Arc, a series of Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks host to a variety of mineral deposit types throughout the region. The property is underlain by a package of rocks comprising (from youngest to oldest) the Lower Paleozoic Lardeau Group; the Lower Cambrian Badshot Formation; and the Precambrian Hamill and Horsethief Creek Groups. These rocks strike northwest-southeast, roughly parallel to the trend of the local topography. They have been extensively folded and are highly deformed. Large-scale regional faults transect the property along a general NW-SE trend. In the southern portion of the claims, the Lardeau Group strata have been intruded by Mesozoic-aged granitoid stocks.
Mineralization
Mineralization comprises polymetallic veins and manto-type replacement deposits. Gold- and silver-bearing sulphide bodies occur along fault margins and sedimentary contacts within the Lardeau Group rocks. Larger bodies of mineralization are reported to occur at the intersection of cross-cutting faults. Sulphide minerals comprise veined, massive, and disseminated sphalerite, galena, and tetrahedrite with accessory pyrite. Oxidation can be intense in places, with the development of significant iron and copper oxides, as well as lead sulphates and carbonates:
1. The Waverley Workings
These are old underground workings, which are quite extensive and date back to 1897 and 1898. The mines were closed down in 1890 and were idle until 1918. Work done from 1918 to 1921 includes some 66 m (200 feet) of tunneling. The lower zone occurs at 1403-1433 m elevation and the upper zone occurs at 1463-1509 m elevation.
Assays for both zones are reported at 10% lead, 1% zinc and 0.5 oz/ton silver
Review of the reports on the Waverley Tangier prepared by the Minister of Mines, indicates that the Waverley claims, located on the northern part of the property, on the Sorcerer Creek, were originally (and erroneously) noted on a map in 1918 to be situated on the Downie Creek. They were described in 1896 by P. Leake, M.E., Revelstoke, B.C., as follows:
"The veins found on the Waverley and Montgue and adjoining claims on Downie Creek, are enclosed in walls of calcite, and a tunnel has been driven on the Waverley close to the hanging wall, showing a continuous body of highly mineralized ore (at this point about 6 ½ feet wide) composed of quartz, galena, tetrahedrite (grey copper), with some hydrous ferric oxide, resulting from the decomposition of iron pyrites, and occasionally stephanite (brittle silver) and cerargyrite (horn silver). Of the six samples taken from the portion of the vein, the average amount of silver per ton was 104 ounces, some picked specimens running as high as 1,400 ounces per ton. The total width of the vein is about 40 feet, containing 9 feet of good ore, 6 feet on hanging wall and 3 feet on and south-easterly trend, and an easterly underlie of about 2 feet to the fathom. The cropping can be traced for many claims showing it to be continuous and following its natural course and dip, the ore being much of the same character, containing, however, footwall, the vein, in conformity with others found in this district, having a north-westerly more gold but less percentage of copper. The Tangier Claim is on this vein, and assays taken went 100 ounces of silver and 1 ½ ounces gold per ton."
In addition, the George claim located on the southern part of the property was once called the 'Georgie' and has a historic mention from 1896 which reads:
"The Georgie and Reggie mineral claims situated about 19 miles from Alert Canyon on the north fork, and about 600 feet from the trail built this summer to Downie Creek, are owned by David and Emily Woolsey, and have been bonded for $10,000. Six men are working driving a tunnel 160 feet to tap a vein at a considerable depth. An assay of ore from these claims gave 2 ozs. 17 dwt.* in gold, 1,155 ozs. in silver per ton, and 13.9% copper."
*[2 oz 17 dwt. - (dwt. = pennyweights/short ton) - 1dwt = 0.05 oz/T so 2 oz/T 17 dwt would convert to 2.85 oz/T]
This historical data complements the NI43-101 Technical Report written by James A. Turner, PGeo. in February 2009 and filed on SEDAR. In his report, Turner refers to the Waverley claim and lists assays from grab samples taken by Barovic in 1987 in the underground workings as described below:
Armadillo Resources Ltd. |
Table of Waverley Sample Results |
Location |
Sample |
Gold |
Silver |
Lead |
|
|
(oz/T Au) |
(oz/T Ag) |
(% Pb) |
| Tunnel 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
0.16 |
37.2 |
34.4 |
|
2 |
0.23 |
69.7 |
27.5 |
|
3 |
0.16 |
15.8 |
9.1 |
|
4 |
0.20 |
44.6 |
17.5 |
|
5 |
0.05 |
32.4 |
22.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tunnel 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
0.04 |
13.6 |
4.8 |
|
2 |
0.12 |
12.0 |
3.1 |
|
3 |
0.05 |
26.5 |
1.7 |
|
4 |
0.06 |
18.9 |
4.7 |
|
5 |
0.10 |
16.7 |
42.2 |
|
6 |
0.06 |
22.4 |
3.7 |
|
7 |
0.09 |
11.0 |
5.8 |
|
8 |
0.02 |
13.5 |
14.6 |
|
9 |
0.25 |
96.3 |
24.4 |
|
10 |
0.04 |
37.8 |
12.6 |
Samples taken by Turner in 2007 from the Tangier dumps and referenced were as follows:
Armadillo Resources Ltd. |
Table of Tangier Sample Results |
Location |
Sample |
Gold |
Silver |
Lead |
|
|
(oz/T Au) |
(oz/T Ag) |
(% Pb) |
Dump |
|
|
|
|
|
19776 |
0.25 |
43.4 |
32.6 |
|
19777 |
0.18 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
|
19778 |
0.27 |
18.8 |
16.5 |
2. The Tangier Workings
The Tangier development consists of old surface workings, adits, and drifts, , all of which are either caved or inaccessible. The Tangier veins and replacement bodies consist of galena-sphalerite-silver mineralization located on the edge of Sorcerer Creek. The vein was drifted on for 220 m to the southeast. Mineralization in the drift consisted of calcite, some quartz, and a fine-grained mixture of pyrite, jamesonite, galena, sphalerite, with, in several places, small amounts of grey copper. The mineral identified as jamesonite (lead-sulphur-antimonide) is quite abundant, but finely intergrown with the sphalerite. It is thought to contribute a large percentage of the lead in the ores. The vein is in the marble at or near a schist contact and occurs generally between two well-defined fault walls. Occasionally, replacement of wall-rock limestone has resulted in greater thicknesses of sulphide mineralization. Some mineralization was noted in the schists to the west of the vein proper. The width of the zone varies from 0.5 (1.5 ft) to 1.6 m (5 ft) and averages about 0.65 m (2 ft).
The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), in 1928, reported that 15 tons of sulphide ore, shipped to Wales early in the mine life, contained 49.5 g/t Au (1.5 oz/t Au), 4290 g/t Ag (130 oz/t Ag) and 25% lead.
A stockpile of dump material, measuring approximately 25 m x 4 m x 3 m deep, lies near the old Tangier workings. Grades from this dump have been published in BC Government reports and by earlier operators. James Turner, P. Geo., took grab samples from the dump and the results are summarized below:
| Description |
Cu (ppm) |
Pb (ppm) |
Zn (ppm) |
Ag (oz/t) |
Au (oz/t) |
| 19776 Grab from Tangier dump |
0.033 |
32.6 |
2.34 |
1489 |
8.57 |
| 19777 Grab from Tangier dump |
0.001 |
0.11 |
1.94 |
8 |
6.13 |
| 19778 Grab from Tangier dump |
0.025 |
16.5 |
1.96 |
646 |
9.27 |
Samples taken by Silver Phoenix President, William Murray, in 2005, reported six samples from the Tangier workings:
| Description |
Cu (ppm) |
Pb (ppm) |
Zn (ppm) |
Ag (oz/t) |
Au (oz/t) |
| D1 Grab from Tangier dump |
29 |
3407 |
7196 |
.20 |
.010 |
| D2 Grab from Tangier dump |
4 |
147 |
24 |
.07 |
<.001 |
| D3 Grab from Tangier dump |
5 |
34 |
29 |
.02 |
<.001 |
| D4 Grab from Tangier dump |
4 |
8 |
4 |
<.01 |
<.001 |
| Cut 1 Grab from Tangier dump |
19941 |
>9999 |
>99999 |
103.74 |
.162 |
| Cut 2 Grab from Tangier dump |
1718 |
>9999 |
>99999 |
28.45 |
.049 |
Armadillo plans to thoroughly sample the dump to estimate the tonnes and grade of the material.
Recent Exploration
In 2003, 10.5 km of trail construction was initiated and in 2007 Discovery Consultants of Vernon, BC conducted a silt and rock geochemistry program over the northwest portion of the property. The results are preliminary and further exploration is in progress. A total of 68 silt and 14 rock samples were collected. The samples came from streams and various outcrops along the northwest extent of the showings.
The samples were analyzed for Au and 35-element ICP. Preliminary results verify the strike potential of the Waverley-Tangier showings.
2009 Work Program
In his NI43-101 report, Turner (2009) recommended expenditures of C$620,000 in a Phase One program which included data compilation, acquisition of satellite imagery and topographic mapping, followed by geologic mapping and geochemical sampling. Phase Two comprised road refurbishment, dump removal, diamond drilling, as well as airborne and ground geophysics. This second phase program is estimated to cost C$570.000.
In June 2009, Armadillo completed a multi-sensor airborne geophysical survey over the Waverley-Tangier property. The survey was carried out by Precision GeoSurveys Inc., of Vancouver, and encompassed 1317 line-km of magnetometer and multi-channel spectrometer, flown over the core claims of the property. After a preliminary review of the data, the Company increased its mineral claims holdings by 6,895 ha from 4,449 hectares to 11,344 ha.
2009 Exploration Photos
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Property Tenure
The property comprises 25 mineral claims totaling 4,449 ha held under an option agreement with Silver Phoenix Resources Inc. under which Armadillo can acquire a 60% interest.
To maintain and satisfy the option agreement, Armadillo must make payments and issue shares to Silver Phoenix as follows:
| OPTION PAYMENTS |
| |
Payments to be made |
Shares to be issued |
| Following acceptance date |
$75,000 |
175,000 |
| One year from acceptance date |
$75,000 |
150,000 |
| Two years from acceptance date |
$100,000 |
150,000 |
| Three years from acceptance date |
$100,000 |
150,000 |
| Total |
$350,000 |
625,000 |
In addition, in order to maintain and exercise the option, Armadillo must also do a minimum of $1.2 million work of exploration and development work on the property on the following schedule:
- Within first year from acceptance date, $200,000;
- Within second years of acceptance date total, $300,000;
- Within third years of acceptance date total, $1,000,000;
- Within fourth years of acceptance date, $1,500,000;
For a total expenditure of $3,000,000
Assay Results from Waverley-Tangier: high of 22.30 g/t gold and 1,310.0 g/t silver
In February 2010, the Company received all of the analytical results from its 761.6-metre diamond drill program conducted at its Waverley-Tangier vein-hosted gold, silver, lead, zinc project in the Revelstoke Mining District of east central British Columbia. Results include:
| Hole No |
From |
To |
Interval |
Gold |
Silver |
Lead |
Zinc |
| |
(m) |
(m) |
(m) |
(g/t) |
(g/t) |
(%) |
(%) |
| 2 |
50.90 |
62.48 |
11.58 |
1.66 |
148.7 |
0.36 |
1.37 |
| includes |
54.41 |
60.20 |
5.79 |
2.42 |
245.2 |
0.63 |
2.64 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 |
49.53 |
62.03 |
12.50 |
2.45 |
145.4 |
0.62 |
0.90 |
| includes |
51.82 |
53.34 |
1.52 |
6.80 |
162.5 |
2.01 |
2.70 |
| and |
59.58 |
62.03 |
2.44 |
5.30 |
567.9 |
0.56 |
0.64 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 |
62.48 |
71.02 |
8.53 |
3.20 |
190.3 |
0.28 |
1.92 |
| includes |
63.28 |
71.02 |
6.22 |
4.37 |
261.1 |
0.38 |
2.55 |
| includes |
67.82 |
68.58 |
0.76 |
22.30 |
1310.0 |
1.50 |
0.34 |
Notes:
- Downhole distances represent apparent widths, although the orientation of the interpreted mineralized zone is such that they are close to true widths.
- Holes #1, 3, 6 and 7 had no significant results. Hole # 4 was not sampled.
Mineralization consists of sphalerite, silver-bearing jamesonite, stibnite and native silver disseminated within a tabular, steeply-dipping zone of quartz breccia. The zone varies in apparent width from 8.5 metres in Hole 8 to 12.5 metres in Hole 2. The entire mineralized section is hosted in laminated limestones and calcareous phyllites.
From the results of the 2009 drill program a mineralized zone has been identified over a strike of 100 metres to a depth of 50 metres with an average thickness of 10 metres open at both ends and at depth. Management is particularly encouraged by the +5-metre intervals in holes 2, 5 and 8 that average in excess of 0.5 grams gold per tonne.