100% owned by Almaden Minerals

“The Elk gold deposit has an important gold resource that can add significant value to our company, particularly in light of the recent increase in gold’s valuation with respect to fiat currencies. Almaden’s management is excited about the project and will continue to move it towards production.” J. D. Poliquin, Chairman of Almaden

overview | geology | vein structure | resource estimates | maps | past work

 

June 15th, 2010

The 2010 Elk exploration program is now underway. The first $C1.5 MM stage of this year’s program will include further infill and step-out drilling within the resource area, a preliminary economic evaluation on the deposit, and exploration of several areas identified on the property where trenching, soil sampling and drilling have identified significant potential. Overall 8,000 meters of diamond drilling is planned.

J.D. Poliquin, Chairman of Almaden commented, ‘”This year’s exploration program at our Elk has three objectives: to move more resource from inferred to higher confidence categories, expand the resource base and drill test other targets on the property. We also look forward to reporting the results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment of the open pit potential of the current resource shortly.” Read more: June 15th, 2010

 

The Elk Gold Project (formally known as Siwash) is located 45 kilometers southeast of Merrit, in southern British Columbia, Canada. The property has excellent infrastructure; a four-lane highway crosses at the northern portion of the claim group and major power lines are located within 20 kilometers.



The property has been extensively explored by soil geochemical surveys, trenching and diamond drilling from 1987 to 2004. Several zones of gold bearing pyritic quartz veins have been found to date.

The Siwash North Vein system is the most significant and has been the focus of most of the work to date. The main shoot, named the “Mother Shoot” has been successfully mined by open pit and also explored to depth by a decline. The mine is known for its very high gold grades. In the 1990s, 51,750 ounces of gold were produced from 18,400 tons of mesothermal quartz vein ore extracted from the B vein system in open pit and underground operations.

 

Mesothermal Veins

Mesothermal gold deposits are formed from hot water that precipitates gold under high temperature and pressure, generally at great depths in the earth’s crust (around 10km). This process has formed throughout geologic history but younger examples such as the Elk Gold Mine include the Mother Lode District, California and the Bralorne-Pioneer District, B.C. In these deposits, high gold grades tend to be continuous over large vertical ranges. Nearly 80% of B.C.’s gold production has been mined from mesothermal veins.

The Elk property is underlain by Upper Triassic volcanics and sediments of the Nicola Group and by Middle Jurassic granites and granodiorites of the Osprey Lake Batholith. Gold-silver mineralization is hosted primarily by pyritic quartz veins and stringers hosted by altered granite and in some cases volcanic rocks.

To date a total of 8 mineralized veins have been discovered on the property, and 4 veins systems have been drilled in the Siwash North Area: the Siwash Vein, the WD Vein, the GCW Vein, and the Bullion Creek.

Siwash Vein
The Siwash Vein system has been the focus of most of the work on the Elk property to date. Shallow portions of the high grade section of the system - named the “Mother Shoot” - have been successfully mined by open pit. The B zone is a significant area in the Siwash system with a strike length of 900m. A 2004 drill program tested the B Vein to a 400m depth.

WD Vein
Located 200m north of the B Vein, the WD zone has been tested at intervals of 25m along a strike zone of 710m and to a depth of 430m. A 2005 drill program confirmed the continuity of the vein structure and gold grade across this area with all holes intersecting the vein. Four additional holes confirmed the continuity of the WD zone to the south and west of the 2004 drill grid.

Gold Creek West Vein
The Gold Creek West Vein is a relatively recent discovery and represents another significant drill target.

Bullion Creek
The Bullion Creek Vein is another recent discovery, which has only been pierced by 6 drill holes to date and tested to a depth of 75 meters.

image: high grade drill intersection showing vein the granite from the WD Vein

 

Between 2004 and 2009, Almaden has conducted a number of resource calculations on the Elk Gold Project. Please scroll down the page to review all.

2009: Almaden received an updated geological model and 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate from Lions Gate Geological Consulting Inc. The new model and resource estimate incorporated drilling results from 2007 not included in the previous estimate prepared by Giroux Consultants Ltd. in April, 2007. A review of the new and historical data resulted in a revised geological model and mineral resource estimate. The new model recognises eight separate vein zones that comprise the B vein system and four separate zones that comprise the WD vein. Almaden's management believes that this new model and resource more accurately reflects the geology of the vein system. J.D. Poliquin, chairman of Almaden commented, “This review and resource update gives us renewed confidence in the Elk gold project. The proposed scoping study is the next logical step in our effort to increase shareholder value and advance the property towards production“.

Table 1: 2009 LGGC Resource Estimate

 

The Elk project has resource estimate blocks that are both close to surface and may be amendable to open pit mining methods and deeper high grade blocks that may be amenable to underground mining methods. Mr. Gordon Zurowski, P.Eng. of PEG Mining Consultants Inc. (“PEG”) produced a pit shell that LGGC incorporated in the mineral resource estimation tabulations. The input parameters used by PEG for the pit shell do not result from project specific studies but are considered to be reasonable cost assumptions for the style and size of the Elk project. The 2009 mineral resource estimate for the Elk project is declared using 1.0 Au g/t cut-off for blocks that are within the resource estimation pit shell and a 5.0 Au g/t cut-off for blocks below the pit shell. A summary of the 2009 LGGC estimate is provided in table 1. LGGC has reviewed the pit-shell parameters and finds them reasonable for inclusion in the mineral resource estimation.

For purposes of an equitable comparison, LGGC also tabulated the gold grade blocks of the 2009 estimate using a global cut-off of 1 g/t Au which was also used in 2007 (Table 2). The 2009 mineral resource estimate includes a minimum vein thickness of between 1.2 and 1.5 meter wide for the vein solids, resulting in dilution of the more narrow vein intercepts. This dilution, accompanied by an updated geological interpretation of the vein sets, has lowered the grade of some vein intercepts but has resulted in an increased tonnage for the 2009 mineral resource estimation.

 

Table 2: Comparison of 2009 and 2007 Estimates

Please see news release from October 6th, 2009 for a full discussion of the 2009 Resource Estimate.

A 2007 resource estimate incorporating the 2006 diamond drilling results was calculated using the industry standard geostatistical estimation methodology, kriging. It includes assays from 487 surface and 301 underground diamond drill holes, totaling more than 79,873 meters of core.  Drill sections are 10m to 50 m apart, with holes spaced on average between 15m and 25m. More than 8,000 individual gold assays and analyses, with an average interval length of 0.5m, were used to develop the mineral resource estimate. Gold assays were examined using graphical and statistical techniques and as a result capped at 302 g/t gold (8.8 oz/t gold).  A total of 12 assays were capped. Please see December 11th, 2007 news release for more details.

The updated 2007 resource with a 1 g/t cutoff is as follows:

Cautionary Note to US Investors: The United States Securities and Exchange Commission limits disclosure for U.S. reporting purposes to mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. We use certain terms on this web site, such as "reserves," "resources," "geologic resources," "proven," "probably," "measured," "indicated," or "inferred," which may not be consistent with the reserve definitions established by the SEC. US investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No. 001-32702. You can review and obtain copies of these filings from the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

 

A 2006 resource calculation was conducted to included this additional resource, and two estimates were calculated to incorporate all exploration results to date: (1) a two dimensional model which considers only the B and WD veins in what would be an underground mineable resource, and (2) a three dimensional model which considers the parallel splay veins in the B vein structure only. This calculation allows for the possibility of bulk tonnage mining "Bulk Open Pit Target." Please see February 19th, 2007 news release for more information.

2006 resource calculation:

 

In 2004, a resource estimate of the Elk Gold Mine was calculated which only considered the results from the Siwash and WD vein structures. In the course of analyazing data for the 2004 calculation, however, it was noted that adjacent to both the Siwash and WD vein systems, parallel and less continuous splay veins had been intersected by drilling.

 

July 2007: New maps of Elk drilling
	Plan view of site   Section 2100E   Section 2200E   Section 2320E   Section 2470E

	Longitudinal Section WD Vein - click map to enlarge. (File is very large - opens as a pdf. )
	Vertical longitudinal Section - click map to enlarge. (File is very large - opens as a pdf. )

 

October 6th, 2010: Almaden has received an updated geological model and 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate from Lions Gate Geological Consulting Inc. (“LGGC”). The new model and resource estimate incorporated drilling results from 2007 not included in the previous estimate prepared by Giroux Consultants Ltd. in April, 2007. A review of the new and historical data resulted in a revised geological model and mineral resource estimate. The new model recognises eight separate vein zones that comprise the B vein system and four separate zones that comprise the WD vein.

Almaden's management believes that this new model and resource more accurately reflects the geology of the vein system. J.D. Poliquin, chairman of Almaden commented, “This review and resource update gives us renewed confidence in the Elk gold project. The proposed scoping study is the next logical step in our effort to increase shareholder value and advance the property towards production." read more +

 

May 2008: A metallurgical performance test of ore samples from the Elk was conducted. Average gold recoveries of 95% were achieved using a gravity plus cyanidation flowsheet over a range of head grades. [more +]

December 2007: Almaden is pleased to announce that it has received a report from Giroux Consultants Ltd. updating the resource for the company’s 100% owned Elk gold project which incorporates the 2006 diamond drilling results. [more +]

October 2007: Almaden commences another phase of drilling.

January 2006: Drilling intersects High-grade Gold [more +]

March 2005: The drill program of 10, 265 meters in 44 holes has been completed with geological interpretation and reassaying. [more +]

 

image: The white markers indicate the location of drill holes.

August 2004 : Drill program completed.

May 2004 : Updated resource estimate by Gary Giroux MA Sc., P. Eng., of Giroux consultants Ltd. who has supervised the resources calculation. [more +]

December 2003 : a 30-hole, 6570-meter diamond drill program was carried out to test the continuity of mineralization. Preliminary results reported. [more +]

January 2003: Results from the 2002 drilling program. [more +]

September 2002:Completion of a sixteen hole, 5,000 meter diamond drill program.December 2001 : A comprehensive review of the Elk property data base was recently carried out by Leo King P. Eng, an independent consultant. King states that

"there is a good probability of outlining several potentially economic, high-grade gold shoots within the known vein structures. As well, the property is likely to host additional undiscovered gold-bearing veins. An aggressive drill program to be carried out in three stages is recommended as the next step in evaluating the economic potential of the Elk property."

A possible extension to the B and WD vein systems was found roughly 2km along strike to the east, on the other side of an area of overburden cover and no outcrop, as part of a trenching program. Grab samples of the vein material taken at surface returned averaged analyses of 0.922 oz/ton (31.6 grams/tonne) gold and 3.04 oz/ton silver (104.4 grams/tonne). A 0.5 by 0.5 m panel sample of the same vein taken in the wall of the trench returned 0.635 oz/ton gold (21.8 grams/tonne) and 0.96 oz/ton (32.9 grams/tonne) silver. [more +]

August 2000: Fairfield Minerals Ltd. has completed a twelve-hole 1400-metre drill program on its Elk property located in the Okanagan area of Southern British Columbia. The program targeted three gold bearing quartz vein systems in the Siwash mine area. Mineralized structures were intersected in all holes at or near their projected locations.