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| | |   The Trout Creek property is located approximately 50 miles northwest of Winnemucca, Humboldt County, Nevada and is situated along the east flank of the Jackson Mountains at the headwaters of Trout Creek (Fig. 1). Access is west from Winnemucca via the improved county Jungo Road -35 miles and then north on the Bottle Creek road for -16 miles to the unimproved Trout Creek road for 9 miles to the property. History and Previous Work In 1987 Amax Gold Inc. staked a total of 180 lode claims optioned 36 more. In 1988-1989 Amax Gold conducted additional detailed geologic mapping and sampling program. Amax drilled a total of 15 reverse circulation holes totaling 5790 feet in two phases: 1)1988 drilling consisted of 6 holes (2575 feet) and 2) 1989 drilling consisted of 9 holes (3215 feet). All holes, except GT-1, were drilled vertically. The results of the drilling are shown in Table 1. No further significant exploration has been done since late 1989, although a ground magnetics survey by Great Basin Geophysics was completed in 1992 for assessment work. The claims were dropped in the mid-1990's. Geology The eastern Jackson Mountains are principally comprised of the Happy Creek Igneous Complex, a Triassic-Jurassic age volcanic sequence ranging from intermediate to basic composition. The Happy Creek sequence containing intercalated greywacke and other clastic rock units and intruded by intermediate to basic rocks magmatic rocks. Stratigraphically above the Happy Creek sequence are Triassic phyllite and Cretaceous continental clastic rocks of the King Lear Formation. The King Lear is comprised of an alluvial sequence of conglomerate derived from the underlying Happy Creek sequence with intercalated red and green siltstone, greywacke and subordinate lacustrine limestone deposited above the Happy Creek Complex in tectonic basins. Above the King Lear is the Pansy Lee Conglomerate, a Cretaceous or Tertiary (?) pebble conglomerate unit characterized by exotic cobbles of chert and quartzite. A series of Tertiary volcanic and intercalated volcanoclastic rock sequence is comprised of a dozen or more lithologic units overlie the pre-Tertiary siliceous clastic and volcanic rocks in the Trout Creek area. Most are covered by alluvium and were defined by drilling. These units are extensively altered and mineralized and are the host for all gold mineralization discovered to date. Amax geologists mapped a series of felsic to intermediate volcanic units with intercalated volcanoclastic rocks containing abundant volcanic detritus and volcanic clasts consisting of siltstone, sandstone, volcanic and pebble conglomerates. The volcanic rocks include welded to non-welded, rhyolite tuffs, tuff breccias, lapilli tuff hypabyssal flow-dome intrusions. Dacite porphyry flows and plugs cover a large area along the western edge of the property. An andesite or basaltic-andesite dike(s) was intersected in the subsurface in several drill holes. Tertiary (?) basalts cover large areas to the south of the property boundary. Late Tertiary or Quaternary gravels overlie the volcanics and were encountered in many drill holes. Much of the area surrounding the property is covered by Quaternary alluvium. Structural mapping on the claim block is severely hampered by Quaternary overburden that covers a large part of the area. However, several high-angle faults project onto the property from outcrops of pre-Tertiary rocks. The most prominent trend N20-30°W and N30-40°E. The N3040°E orientation appears to control silicification of outcrops in the Trout Creek drainage (Fig. 4). Numerous northwest-trending fractures and a few faults exhibiting minor displacement occur in the volcanic rocks. In addition, a series of N 70° E structures appear to dissect the principal silicified outcrops in the Trout Creek drainage. Hydrothermal Alteration and Mineralization The early stage silica is crosscut and overprinted by later stage multiphase silicifcation event and associated silica veining. It is these later stages of silicification that contain anomalous gold (+Ag) and trace element (As, Sb, Hg) concentrations. This silica contains limonite after pyrite and, rarely, relict pyrite is preserved. Open spaces, including hydrothermal breccias and breccia veins, are commonly lined and/or infilled with quartz, drusy quartz, iron oxides, and locally jarosite. Chalcedonic and quartzose silica veins crosscut (with sharp contact relations) exhibit crudely developed banding, are commonly cream to yellowish-tan color, locally contain finely disseminated pyrite, and are several up to several inches in thickness. Just east of the silicified outcrops, the alluvial covered areas contain an abundance of float exhibiting crustiform and cockade textures, variably banded quartz and chalcedonic vein material, containing FeOx that is similar in character to many of the numerous examples of mineralized epithermal vein systems that occur throughout Nevada. The volcanic wallrocks are brecciated and variably silicified and argillic clay altered. Breccia zones and fractures are commonly infilled with quartz containing grains of oxidized pyrite. Intense argillic alteration is not preserved in outcrop although it was encountered in the drill holes. The argillized rocks are intermixed in complex relationships with silicifed and lesser propylitized rocks and where intense the primary rock textures are obliterated by intense clay replacement. Unoxidized zones are bluish-gray and contain finely disseminated pyrite and where oxidized tan to orange clays. Geochemistry Results of the rock chip sampling of the Rattlesnake Knob zone showed that the silicified and chalcedonic-veined volcanoclastic rocks in outcrop contain low but consistently anomalous levels of gold with 20 of 24 samples containing 34 to 103 ppb (up to 206 ppb Au) and silver (2 to 3 ppm, up to 4.5 ppm Ag), and anomalous concentrations of arsenic (34 to 230 ppm As), antimony (5 to 83 ppm Sb), and mercury (0.13 to 0.87 ppm Hg). Drilling Results  Clearly, the relatively shallow depth of drilling and only a single angle hole in a steeply dipping structurally controlled hydrothermal system are inadequate to properly test the high-grade vein potential on the property. Although Amax discovered and operated the Sleeper deposit, located just -21 miles to the east across Desert Valley, they explored the Trout Creek property only for its bulk minable potential using a model similar to that of the Wind Mountain or Sulphur deposits. The mineralization at these deposits is hosted in similar types of mixed volcanic and clastic rocks occurring as near shallowly dipping, tabular zones easily explored using vertical holes. Exploration Potential The exploration potential for high-grade epithermal veins on the Trout Creek property remains very high because only a relatively small portion of the area has been explored using relatively shallow, vertical drilling techniques suitable only for defining bulk minable mineralization. Several important aspects of the property are outlined below:
Maps and Photos
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