The Ross South property is an alluvial gold property located immediately to the south of the town of Ross. Having an area of 151.3 ha, it consists of gold-magnetite bearing Pleistocene leads known to be peripheral to current or historical mining operations. These black-sand leads, which also form part of raised beach deposits along the shoreline further to the west, buttress up against gravelly moraine outwash terraces further inland, such as at the Ross South property. Alluvial gold is concentrated in gravels in the northern part of the property, from which gravels the gold is being exploited by nearby mining operations.
Previous reverse circulation (RC) drilling carried out by Superior Mining on the adjacent property immediately to the north identified the presence of southerly-trending auriferous leaders that were confined in the north, but having a greater volume potential to the south. This occurrence led the Company to apply for an exploration permit, issued in early April 2010, for the Ross South property. The thickening of auriferous leaders is suggested by the presence of sunken shafts dating to the early 1900s, including one in the northwest area of the property, which was sunk to a depth of 130 m and is historically the deepest recorded shaft in that region.
Detailed geological mapping by Amax Exploration in the early 1980s indicates that the property is underlain by Pliocene Old Man Group gravels, thought to represent erosional products of cyclic outwash deposits and moraine fronts of successive glaciers. The Old Man Group comprises three layered units, with the uppermost (Humphrey's Conglomerate) considered the most prospective for gold placer concentration. Historical mining of 'stacked' gold leaders from this unit and to a much lesser extent from the underlying Jones Formation and Donnelly Conglomerate, to the north of the property, resulted in gold production of 168,000 oz (1890-1920) and 130,000 oz (1985-2002). Gold leaders of the Humphrey's Conglomerate are still visible today in the southwestern pit wall of the neighbouring property. Lateral extensions of Humphrey's Conglomerate are currently being exploited by a local mining company only one kilometre to the east of the Ross South property.
Preliminary exploration activities will comprise semi-detailed geological mapping and sampling to confirm surface geology, followed by some exploratory drilling.
