Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/392638
36 www.resourceworld.com o c t o b e r / n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 FIELD r e P o rt It was about 152 years ago that Billy Barker discovered placer gold in what became the gold rush town of Barkerville in the Cariboo region of east-central British Columbia. On July 24, 2014, Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. [BGM-TSXV; BGMZF-OTC; IWUB- FSE] poured its first gold brick, weighing 11,528 grams, derived from its open pit, hard-rock Bonanza Ledge Mine near Barkerville. Following simple panning and sluicing operations in the 1860s, companies moved in with more sophisticated mining methods and eventual hard-rock mining of gold-bearing quartz veins. The last of the underground mines closed in 1966 due to low gold prices, not a lack of gold resources. It's important to note that the placer gold did not come from a single source. Instead, there are three gold belts, most of which are owned by Barkerville Gold Mines, on its claim group. In total, it is estimated that 2.64 million ounces of placer gold was mined and 1.23 million ounces of hard-rock, (lode) gold was recovered. Former president, Frank Callaghan, assembled a 1,164 km 2 land position that encompasses most of the Cariboo Gold Belt. He also established working relationships with local First Nations, delin- eated an NI 43-101 compliant gold resource on Cow Mountain, and led the discovery, development and permitting of the Bonanza Ledge gold deposit and acquired the QR Mine and mill 58 km southeast of Quesnel. The Bonanza Ledge Mine, located in the heart of the northwest- southeast trending belt, along with seven other company-owned past-producing gold mines, has been some time in the making. In March 2000, the company discovered a style of gold mineraliza- tion not seen before in the Barkerville Camp, but known in the greater Cariboo region. Some high intercepts were encountered in a 33,158-metre drill program, including 25.5 feet grading 0.27 oz gold/ton, 28 feet of 0.30 oz/ton, 84.7 feet of 0.72 oz/ton and 44.5 feet of 1.25 oz/ ton. In September 2009, an independent positive pre-feasibility study was completed. The NI 43-101 compliant report stated that the Bonanza Ledge Mine could produce 73,500 tonnes of ore per year from an open pit for a current four-year mine life averaging 9 grams gold/tonne. The Bonanza Ledge ore, principally dolomitic and pelitic phyl- lite, differs from the historic style of mineralization mined in the district. The discovery of the Bonanza Ledge style mineralization bodes well for prospectiveness of the district. It is known that gold mineralization exists below the planned open pit and mining plans for that zone will be decided in the future. Bonanza Ledge ore is trucked to the past-producing QR Mine and mill complex where it is processed into doré bars. The trucking contractor operates up to 15 trucks with each making about five trips per day. The mill, which has a capacity of 900 tonnes- per-day (tpd), is currently running at about 350 tpd. As Bonanza Ledge operations continue, milling will be ramped up to over 700 tpd. Gold pours are taking place every four to seven days. For 2014, production guidance is estimated at about 2,000 oz gold. Current resources at Bonanza Ledge stand at 460,000 tons grad- ing 7.63 g/t gold (102,000 oz) with inferred resources at 310,000 tons grading 7.78 g/t gold (70,000 oz) at a 1.7 g/t gold cut-off. Mineralization at Bonanza Ledge remains open to the southeast, northwest and to depth. The company has an exploration target at Bonanza Ledge of 3-6 million oz grading in the range Barkerville Gold Mines pours first Bonanza Ledge Mine brick by Ellsworth Dickson Frank Callaghan, former President of Barkerville Gold Mines displays the first gold brick from ore mined at the Bonanza Ledge Mine near the restored historic gold rush town of Barkerville in British Columbia's Cariboo region. Photo by Ellsworth Dickson