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Property Location
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A review of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) database of stream sediment geochemistry indicates that the Haystack area lies between two areas of multi-element anomalies defined by Blakestad in 2006.
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Ironwood Gold Corp. has entered into an Assignment Agreement to acquire the undivided 100% right, title and interest in the Haystack Property by making certain expenditures on or in respect to the exploration and development of the Claims.
The Haystack property is located in Pershing County, Nevada, approximately 70 km west of Winnemucca and encompass sixty federal mining claims of the Solo group covering 1.110 acres (450 ha). Gold-bearing quartz veins hosted in granodiorite were discovered in 1914 in the Haystack district. Evidence from historic underground mining of these veins, grading approximately one ounce per ton, attests to presence of a mineralized system. Past exploration has been sporadic, but demonstrates that two target types merit testing to fully evaluate the property:
(1) Large, low-grade intrusion-related gold. Analogous to Fort-Knox style of the Tintana Gold Belt of Alaska and the Yukon; and
(2) A system of stacked or laterally extending high-grade epithermal vein(s) or lying peripheral to the known mineralization.
In 1914, gold-bearing quartz veins hosted in a granodiorite intrusion were discovered. Three shafts, with workings on the 15, 60 and 80 foot levels, were developed at the Haystack (Lone Star) mine. Approximately 1,380 tons of ore was extracted at a grade of about one ounce gold per ton, though local multi-ounce assays are also recorded.
Additional proximal veins host gold mineralization, but have not been fully evaluated. More recently, during the 1980's, evaluation of the property included underground sampling, poorly located surface sampling, a single 52m core hole drilled 30m NE of the main Haystack shaft, and possibly the drilling of ~ 20 air-track holes. The target of this latter exploration appeared to be limited to shallow (< 100 ft.), open-pit mineable oxide gold mineralization.
The property is underlain by Triassic-Jurassic meta-sedimentary rocks, including slate and phyllite, These rocks are locally overprinted by contact metamorphism related to several small intrusions of Cretaceous granodiorite, which in turn are cut by andesitic dikes. Tertiary rocks are extensive south of the district. and include tuff, basalt, and sedimentary rocks. The east edge of the district lies adjacent to shallow alluvial pediment cover. A bioite-granodiorlte body hosts the known gold-bearing veins, and is 350 - 500 m wide and exposed for approximately 600 m of strike length.
Gold mineralization on the Haystack property occurs within <1 m wide, generally north-south trending quartz veins with shallow to moderate dips to the east. The quartz veins are generally low-sulfide, but locally contain goethite and jarosite after pyrite, rare bismuthinite or Bi-oxides, and common acicular tourmaline. Sericite-muscovite occurs near the margins of the veins and extends as a narrow halo (< a few meters) into the surrounding granodiorite. In the main Haystack mine area, the vein system forms a large zone of stockwork and locally sheeted quartz veins. A minimum estimate of the surface extent of this stockwork alteration is ~ 500m x ~600m. Additional mineralized vein material, often only as float material, occurs up to 1.5 km south of the Haystack mine.
Historic production dominantly came from the northwest and the north-south trending quartz veins located along the northeast contact of the granodiorite. The past producing veins graded up to several ounces gold per ton, however additional lower grade (ie. 1-4 g/t Au) veins exist proximal to the workings and have not been exploited. Additional narrow, <1 m gold-bearing quartz veins have been located away from the historic workings but the structural controls and extent of this mineralization has not been fully documented.
Surface rock chip samples range up to 23 g/t Au. Other assay highlights include underground data include samples up to 130 g/t Au and 3.8 g/t gold over 3.0 m from a 2004 drill hole. Where veins are closely spaced, significant widths of mineralization can occur (e.g. 9m grading 5.8 g/t). The geochemistry of the Au mineralized veins is characterised by low to moderate Ag, low base metals (Cu, Pb, Zn), and anomalous Bi and Te.
Based on past sporadic exploration, the Haystack property clearly demonstrates the potential for a significant gold-mineralized system. The association of gold with quartz veins, their alteration mineralogy, geochemical association, structural controls and wider geologic setting provide evidence for the existence of both Fort Knox-style intrusion-related and epithermal-style mineralization. Furthermore, the presence of cover rocks to the east and the occurrence of mineralized quartz float in excess of 1 km from outcropping veins demonstrate how open the property is for evaluation. Ironwood Gold Corp. aims to develop and conduct a systematic exploration program as soon as practicable.
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Haystack Property
View of the Haystack workings looking southerly. (Image from GoogleEarth, 2009)
Haystack property view to the northwest. (Image from GoogleEarth, 2009)