Mining at the Bud property’s Morrison showing from the late 1890s to 1903 produced 2,918 tons containing 230 ounces of gold, 837 ounces of silver and 23,629 pounds of copper, according to historic reports.
High gold-copper grades from a 2018 field program indicate another encouraging project in the portfolio of a company now drilling for niobium-tantalum in Quebec. Saville Resources TSXV:SREreleased 20 sample assays from its Bud property, located in an historic southern British Columbia mining camp that has attracted considerable exploration activity.
Six highlights show elevated gold grades coinciding with elevated copper:
- - 4.57 g/t gold, 27.7 g/t silver and 6.7% copper
- - 4.44 g/t gold, 17 g/t silver and 6.84% copper
- - 3.54 g/t gold, 76.4 g/t silver and 2.41% copper
- - 1.96 g/t gold, 12.3 g/t silver and 1.2% copper
- - 1.74 g/t gold, 19.3 g/t silver and 1.65% copper
- - 1.23 g/t gold, 66.3 g/t silver and 7.14% copper
The program shows renewed interest in the 381-hectare property following a hiatus. Excavator trenching in 2003 revealed 1.9 g/t gold, 19.5 g/t silver and 1.5% copper over 1.3 metres. One sample averaged 7.8 g/t gold, 9.3 g/t silver and 2,156 ppm copper, while another graded 51.6 g/t gold, 403 g/t silver and 4.16% copper.
A three-hole, 538-metre drill program in 2005 identified a large hydrothermal system with prospective structure and stratigraphy, the company stated. A few selected intervals showed:
- - 3.82 g/t gold, 5.5 g/t silver and 656 ppm copper over 1.15 metres
- - (including 14.3 g/t gold, 22.6 g/t silver and 2,653 ppm copper over 0.15 metres)
- - 3.97 g/t gold, 23.8 g/t silver and 2.03% copper over 0.5 metres
True widths weren’t provided.
The 380-hectare property sits about four kilometres northwest of the town of Greenwood, roughly 500 kilometres by highway east of Vancouver. The surrounding Boundary district includes the former camps of Republic, Belcher, Rossland and Greenwood, which historically produced over 7.5 million ounces of gold, Saville noted. A resurgence of activity has included the Gold Drop property two kilometres southwest of Bud, where last month Ximen Mining TSXV:XIM and GGX Gold TSXV:GGX reported near-surface intervals of tellurium in addition to gold and silver.
Other Greenwood-area explorers include Kinross Gold TSX:K subsidiary KG Exploration, working towards a 75% earn-in on Grizzly Discoveries’ (TSXV:GZD) Greenwood project, Golden Dawn Minerals TSXV:GOM, and Belmont Resources TSXV:BEA, which last week announced acquisition of the Pathfinder property.
In Quebec’s James Bay region, meanwhile, a crew prepares to drill Saville’s flagship Niobium Claim Group, where the agenda calls for at least four holes and 700 metres in an area with encouraging historic assays. More recent boulder samples on the property have provided niobium grades as high as 2.75%, 4.24%, 4.3% and an outstanding 5.93% Nb2O5.
