Marudi Mountain Project
NI 43-101 Technical Report
The Company's flagship property is the Marudi Mountain Project which covers an area of 54.67 square kilometers (13,502 acres) in the historic Marudi Mining District of southwestern Guyana.
In March 2007 Guyana Frontier signed an agreement with a predecessor company of Infinito Gold Corp. ("Infinito") to earn up to 75% of the shares of Romanex Guyana Exploration Inc. ("Romanex"), one of a group of subsidiary companies owned by Infinito (the "Infinito Subsidiaries"), in order to acquire up to a 75% working interest in the Marudi Mountain Project and the adjoining Paint Mountain Project, both which are held 100% by Romanex.
Guyana Frontier earned an initial 50% interest through qualified exploration and development expenditures in the cumulative amount of US$2,000,000 prior to March 2010. To earn an additional 25% interest (for a 75% total interest), Guyana Frontier was required to complete an additional US$2,000,000 (for a total of US$4,000,000) of qualified expenditures prior to March 6, 2011.
On December 23, 2010, Guyana Frontier and Infinito announced the completion and execution of the Infinito Agreement, whereby Guyana Frontier will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of the Infinito Subsidiaries in consideration for payments of a total of US$500,000 and the issuance of 1,600,000 common shares of the Company to Infinito. Guyana Frontier earlier paid a deposit of US$100,000 to Infinito, and on closing Guyana Frontier will pay Infinito the US$400,000 balance and issue 1,600,000 shares.
Guyana Frontier will grant Infinito the right to receive a 2% Net Smelter Returns royalty for all future mineral production from the Marudi Mountain Project to a maximum of US$3,000,000 in royalty payments.
The Infinito Agreement has received TSX-V acceptance, the approval of the transaction by the Board of Directors of both Guyana Frontier and Infinito, and is expected to close in early 2011.
Exploration by Guyana Frontier
During 2007 and 2008 Guyana Frontier conducted exploration on the Marudi Mountain property consisting of trenching, shallow auger drilling, and geochemical sampling. The work was carried out to evaluate the oxide component of known gold mineralization at the Marudi Mountain and Mazoa Hill areas, and to investigate other prospective gold targets.
Fieldwork planned for 2011 at Marudi Mountain and at the adjoining Paint Mountain project includes completion and commissioning of an airstrip, systematic soil and heavy mineral geochemical surveys, intensive trenching, mapping and a systematic drilling program to develop and expand the Marudi Trend Targets and refine definition of the Mazoa Hill targets.
General Geology of the Guiana Shield
The Guiana Shield is a nearly 2 billion year old geological formation in the northeastern portion of South America and is part of the northern Amazon Craton. It was once contiguous with the West African Craton until it split with the formation of the Atlantic Ocean during the Jurassic period around 150 million years ago. The Amazon Craton is an agglomeration of geological provinces based on the age of rocks, geophysical trends, proportion of lithologies and structural trends. The Proterozoic, greenstone portion of the Guiana Shield includes the Pastora - Sumpamo Terrane and consists of metasediment and metavolcanic rocks intruded by two generations of granitic rocks. It is covered by quasi-horizontal layers of shales, quartzites, sandstones and conglomerates intruded by sills of younger mafic intrusives such as gabbros. During the Trans-Amazonian Orogeny (about 2 billion years ago), shield rocks were deformed by faults trending in a northeast and northwest direction and intruded by mafic dikes creating mineralized zones. The upper 100 meters of the Guiana Shield has since been altered by tropical weathering into a soft, oxidized by-product called saprolite which is amenable to low cost mining and processing methods.
Exploration & Development Objectives at Marudi
The Company's objective is to to develop a significant gold resource at the Marudi Project by a well-defined exploration program on parallel structures and known extensions to existing resources, while developing other new defined targets. The Company plans to commence a 10,000 meter drill program in 2011 with the target of completing a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate. Drill targets have been defined by auger, soil geochemistry, trenching and historical drilling.
Guyana Frontier has identified previously unknown extensions of the Mazoa Hill historical resource (the Mazoa Hill historical resource is not compliant with the standards of N.I. 43-101) to the north and south, and a duplicate parallel horizon running along the east flank of the historical resource which have not been drilled. Subsequent geological mapping, exploration trenching and auger sampling programs have identified potential areas to expand the amount of diamond drilling. The Mazoa Hill historical resource is based on intensive work along 350 meters of strike in a fault bounded block of ironstones. Recent exploration has demonstrated the presence of more than 12 km of mineralized structures and horizons in the core of the Marudi district.
Marudi Historical Resource Estimates (not N.I. 43-101 compliant)
The Company has not yet undertaken a modern N.I. 43-101 resource estimate for the Marudi Property. Systematic evaluation of all exploration targets is fundamental to the Company's recommended work programs and upon completion of these programs a fully compliant resource estimate is projected to be completed with a proper perspective of its size potential.
Various (non-compliant) "resource" estimates were completed in 1990, 1992, and 1995. In 2004, these estimates were reviewed by R. P Ilchick (2004), a consulting geologist to Vanessa Ventures (Guyana) Ltd. who calculated an updated estimate based on his review of available information. The Company has reviewed the "resource" estimate made by Ilchick in 2004, however it cannot verify and validate his conclusions, or methodology, particularly because the estimated totals are at significant variance to the earlier compilations.
The Company notes that the estimates completed prior to 2004 are historical compilations and the specific details and the methodology employed are not fully known. While the compilations were undertaken by competent professionals, a Qualified Person has not conducted sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources as defined by N.I. 43-101. Consequently, data should not be relied on for any economic assessment or evaluations.
2011 HISTORICAL DRILL CORE RE-SAMPLING PROGRAM
On August 24, 2011, Guyana Frontier announced the results of a drill core re-logging, re-sampling and re-assaying program at the Marudi Mountain Project. The purpose of the program was to verify the results of historical drilling programs carried out by previous explorers in the early 1990s. A total of 1,158 metres of diamond drill core was re-logged in six historical holes, and a total of 140 samples were re-assayed from three of the six holes (see results in Table 1 below)..
Highlights of the Re-Sampling Program
- DDH 91-60, originally drilled in 1991 in the southern Mazoa Hill target area, returned a weighted average of 2.61 grams/tonne gold over 151.80 metres, which included 111.05 metres of 2.96 grams/tonne gold from 0.00 - 111.05 metres;
- DDH 93-85, originally drilled in 1993 in the northern Marudi target area, returned a weighted average of 2.12 grams/tonne gold over 21.33 metres from 90.17 to 111.5 metres, which included 8.44 metres of 4.89 grams/tonne gold from 99.52 - 107.96 metres;
- DDH 94-114, originally drilled in 1994 in the northern Marudi target area, returned a weighted average of 2.37 grams/tonne gold over 29.64 metres from 165.36 to 195.0 metres, which included 6.85 metres of 6.26 grams/tonne gold from 183.00 -- 189.85 metres.
Table 1. Marudi Project: Analytical Results for Re-Sampled Historical Holes
Hole
No. |
Location |
Azimuth
(degrees) |
Dip
(degrees) |
Depth
Of Hole
(m) |
From
(m) |
To
(m) |
Interval
(m) |
Gold
Intercept
(grams/
tonne) |
91-60 |
Mazoa Grid |
180 |
-50 |
162.67 |
0.00 |
151.80 |
151.80 |
2.61 |
|
|
|
|
including |
0.00 |
111.05 |
111.05 |
2.96 |
93-85 |
Marudi Grid |
30 |
-50 |
307.54 |
90.17 |
111.50 |
21.33 |
2.12 |
|
|
|
|
including |
99.52 |
107.96 |
8.44 |
4.89 |
|
|
|
|
and |
90.17 |
99.52 |
9.35 |
0.38 |
94-114 |
Marudi Grid |
360 |
-65 |
207.00 |
165.36 |
195.00 |
29.64 |
2.37 |
|
|
|
|
including |
165.36 |
170.20 |
4.84 |
4.46 |
|
|
|
|
and |
183.00 |
189.85 |
6.85 |
6.26 |
The true widths of the mineralized intervals reported herein, and the geometry of the mineralized zones are not currently known.
Sampling Procedures
Sample intervals were selected by a P.Geo. on a basis of mineralogy. Previous operators had split the core and sent one-half to be assayed. In the 2011 program, the remaining one-half of the core was cut with a diamond saw and one-quarter was delivered to Acme Labs in Georgetown, Guyana for analysis. The holes were drilled 17 to 20 years ago and although the drill core was stored in an on-site facility, the integrity of the remaining core cannot be fully determined. Drill core was relogged and replaced in new boxes as "best-fit", under the supervision of a P.Geo. The influence that these factors may have upon comparative re-sampling and re-assaying is not known.
The 2011 re-sampling was carried out with a rigorous QA/QC program, which included the use of standards, blanks and duplicates. Assays of all of the standards returned values within the acceptance window, and re-runs of pulps and duplicates were found to be consistent. Guyana Frontier believes that the 2011 assay results are comparable to the historical assays, which demonstrates that the historical sampling and assay procedures were adequate. Therefore, the historical dataset provides valuable information for planning a diamond drilling program, proposed for 2011-2012.
To provide further geological information for the proposed drilling program, a series of exploration trenches were excavated during July and August 2011 in the Marudi target area. Gold mineralization was discovered and sampled from saprolite and soils adjacent to weathered quartzite uncovered during the trenching program. The quartzite found within the new trenches may be correlated to the mineralized quartzite intersected in historical drilling at the Marudi Project.
Infrastructure improvements at the Marudi Project are ongoing, with site clearing underway on a proposed 5,000 ft. (1,600 metres) airstrip, construction completed on a new drill core storage facility, and the refurbishment of ground access to the property.
General Criteria for Calculation of Mineralized Intercepts
The true widths of the mineralized intervals reported above, and the geometry of the mineralized zones are not currently known.
Sample and assay intervals are based on drilled intervals with controlled start and end depths. The estimate of grade across width is based on the multiple of reported gold values and reported sample intervals. Core recoveries ranged from 100%, to less than 50% in short intervals, and all drilled intervals were treated equally in the weighted average calculations. Poor core recovery may compromise or modify the gold assays by loss of gold in fines or concentration of gold in retained material.
Analytical Methods
All drill samples were shipped directly to the independent preparation facility of Acme Laboratories Ltd. ("Acme") in Georgetown, Guyana ("Acme Guyana") for sample preparation. Both gold fire assay determinations and multi-element analyses were conducted in Acme's facility in Santiago, Chile.
At Acme Guyana, the core samples were crushed to 80% passing 10 mesh (1.7 mm), then split to provide a 250 gram subsample which was pulverized to 85% passing 200 mesh (75 microns). A 30 gram split was subject to Fire Assay preconcentration with an AA finish. Samples with results over 10 ppm Au were subject to a gravimetric analysis and results were reported in grams per tonne. with a lower limit of 0.005 grams per tonne. A separate sub-sample, 0.5 grams of the pulp, was subject to a 1:1:1 Aqua Regia digestion and analyzed by ICP/OES (Optical Emission Spectroscopy) for 34 elements.
The technical work disclosed in this document was planned and reviewed by Locke Goldsmith, M.Sc., P.Eng., P.Geo., an independent consultant to Guyana Frontier, who is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
2011 Trenching Program
Marudi Project - 2011 Trench Locations |
Marudi Project - 2011 Trenching Program Gold Values and Proposed Drill Holes |
| |
Heavy Mineral Fractions of Pan Concentrates from Marudi Trenches |
Free Gold Grains Separated from Pan Concentrate (up to 0.5 mm x 2.0 mm in size) |
| |
Marudi Mountain Gold Project 2012 Drilling Program |
Marudi Mountain Trenches |
