The drilling, which is expected to begin in early June, will test the highly-conductive geophysical “A” Anomaly, located on the “Green Mohave 2” U.S. Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) mining claim in the Peck Mining District of Yavapai County. It is contained within the prolific ore-bearing Central Arizona Volcanic Belt (“CAVB”). The CAVB is an approximately 5,400 square mile area of volcanogenic massive sulfide (“VMS”) ore occurrences, generally of undersea volcanic origin. The ore is generally characterized as comprised of copper sulfide minerals, as well as varying amounts of gold and silver. Copper grades from 3% to more than 10% have been recorded within the CAVB. The area contains 29 historic mines, many of which produced from the 1890’s to the 1940’s. The largest of these, the United Verde Mine and its “Extension” at Jerome, Arizona, during its life produced 34.6 million tons or ore. The United Verde Complex produced 3.7 billion pounds of copper at grades in excess of 10%, 1.45 million oz. of gold and 56.5 million oz. of silver.
MCR’s target, the “A” Anomaly, was originally revealed by a Geotech airborne (VTEM) survey and later further delineated by ground geophysics, using a hybrid controlled-source, magneto-tellurics (CSAMT) system (see Press Release dated May 14, 2014).
Several of the historic mines, which adjoin the ridge that contains Anomaly “A” have significant silver oxide upper zones, thought to have been derived by “supergene” (descending) ground and magmatic fluids during the CAVB’s Proterozoic’s (1.7 billion years) existence.
From recent geophysical interpretation, the primary zone comprising the Anomaly “A” appears to be a highly-conductive “tabular” body, approximately 700m in strike length on the surface, with a depth extending from near-surface to over 400m. Its thickness appears to exceed 30m. A secondary conductive zone extending to about 425m in depth appears to be about 15m in thickness. A third conductive zone may be reflective of an oxide cap.
The first 800m phase of the 2,000m drill program will consist of a total of 3 holes from 2 drill pads. These holes will test the upper and middle zones of the anomaly, the latter being the primary target, where both conductive and magnetic responses in the geophysical surveys were the strongest. The first hole (from pad #1) will penetrate the upper zone, in hopes that a rich silver oxide zone will be present similar to those in the two adjacent mines, the Peck and Silver Prince.
Read the press release here.