Salt Spring
Location, Access, Description
Globex’s Salt Spring project is located in northwestern Arizona, Mohave County, 85 km in beeline southeast of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada and about 15 km south of Lake Mead. Globex staked 24 unpatented lode claims. Each claim is 457 m (1500 feet) long and 183 m (600 feet) wide (20.66 acres or 8.36 ha), totaling a surface area of 200.67 ha.
The project area is situated at the northernmost margin of the historic Gold Basin mining district. This district is rather large, about 18 km long (N-S) and 7 to 11 km wide. To the east is attached the smaller Lost Basin gold district. The two districts are separated by the Hualapai Valley.
Globex’s Salt Spring project is situated north of the Golden Rule Peak, having an altitude of 1177 m. Elevations in the project area vary between 890 m in the rather flat slightly undulating terrain in its northern part and up to 1110 m in the hilly to slightly mountainous region further south. Vegetation with bushes and cactus is typical of the eastern Mojave Desert. Climate is dry with a small average amount of rainfall during the year (mostly rain, but rarely snowfall, during the winter time). Temperatures range from hot during the summer to short freezing periods in winter time.
Access from Las Vegas is driving 82 km on motorway I-11S and US-93S heading southeast (toward Kingman, Arizona), then turning left, using well maintained gravel roads of the White Hills Wind Farm, first to the east; then northward until reaching the Temple Bar Back Road (gravel road), turning right and driving in easterly direction for another 11 km. From here it is possible to drive with 4WD vehicle eastward along handcut tracks into the central northern part of the Salt Spring property. Total driving distance from Las Vegas varies between 125 and 140 km; driving time with 4×4 vehicle is about 2.5 hours.
Geology and Mineralization
District Geology
The Gold Basin mining districts occupies the eastern White Hills range and lies in the Basin and Range province, about 20 km west of the Colorado Plateau. The district occupies a north-trending structural high, the Kingman Uplift; that formed probably during the Cretaceous. The district is dominated by steeply folded high-grade metamorphic rocks of Proterozoic age. These comprise paragneiss, orthogneiss, migmatite and amphibolite and locally meta-volcanics. Porphyritic monzogranite intruded gneiss in the southern and central portions of the district, most likely these intrusions emplaced at about 1.66 Ga. Furthermore there appear small stocks of granodiorite of unknown age and two-mica monzogranite of Late Cretaceous age (72.0 + 2.1 Ma) in the southern and central Gold Basin district.
Basaltic volcanic activity took place in Miocene time during the Basin and Range extensional event; with basalt flows and volcanic centers present in the northwestern regions of the White Hills range. A regionally extensive Miocene low-angle fault crops out in the southern part of the Gold Basin district and has been traced to the north along the west flank of the White Hills. In Late Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary epochs deposited conglomerate, fanglomerate, sandstone and alluvial deposits.
Lode and placer gold deposits and occurrences are widespread throughout the Gold Basin-Lost Basin mining districts. The vast majority of the gold-bearing quartz veins presumably are Late Cretaceous and (or) early Tertiary in age and probably genetically linked with the two-mica magmatism. Gold deposition occurred in a mesothermal intrusion-related environment. The greatest concentrations of veins are in the southern part of the Gold Basin district. The predominant association of gold in the quartz veins is with ferroan calcite and ankerite, pyrite, and lesser amounts of galena and chalcopyrite in varying proportions. Another type of gold deposit, exemplified by the Cyclopic mine situated in the southern part of the district, consists of Late Cretaceous brecciated gold-quartz veins that were caught up along a regionally extensive Miocene low-angle fault. The detachment fault in this part of the district produced low-angle gouge zones that locally contain fault blocks of gold-bearing quartz veins. Recent studies by Gold Basin Resources Corporation propose gold deposition from a late-stage low-sulfidation epithermal event during the Miocene epoch. Considerable large sub-horizontal mineralized zones contain both extensive lower-grade gold values and less-extensive higher-grade zones.
Project Geology and Mineralization
Most of the hilly to slightly mountainous area is dominated by Proterozoic metamorphic rocks. The following rocks or rock units can be distinguished:
- felsic migmatite gneiss consisting mainly of feldspar-quartz-biotite-(garnets)-(chlorite); either anatectic or paragneiss strongly granitic/pegmatitic injected with few intercalated mafic layer (amphibolite, hornblendite or ho-bearing gneiss or schist).
- felsic gneiss unit is a fine to medium crystalline, pale cream colored, often laminated-foliated rock consisting of granular quartz-feldspar and pale-greenish muscovite/sericite. The presence of abundant pale-green sericite, but also locally fracture-controlled hematite (fine crystalline specularite) indicate hydrothermal alteration, possibly related to gold mineralization.
- mafic migmatite gneiss consists of a sequence of alternating layers of variable thickness of amphibolite, hornblendite, bi-ho-(chlorite) gneiss/schist and feldspar-quartz-biotite paragneiss or migmatite. Generally it is always present directly above the felsic gneiss unit, here with greatest share of mafic layers, further up it gradually grades over into felsic migmatite gneiss.
- orthogneiss are coarse crystalline, more or less foliated metamorphosed intrusive rocks of granite, granodiorite or diorite.
- flasergneiss is a medium to coarse crystalline gneiss with flaser-texture containing plagioclase, hornblende, biotite and minor quartz.
The above Proterozoic metamorphic rocks are intruded discordantly or concordantly to foliation by a great number of narrow pegmatites, and dikes, sheets, small stocks of undeformed granitoids (either Late/Middle Proterozoic or younger).
The Salt Spring project area and its surroundings is occupied in its southern part by Proterozoic terrain dominated by felsic and mafic migmatite gneiss, a felsic gneiss unit exhibiting pervasive sericite alteration, orthogneiss and dikes or small stocks of granodiorite. In addition crosscut lamprophyre and mafic dikes. Circumferential foliation/bedding of the Proterozoic metamorphic rocks in the southern region of the project indicates a gneiss dome, and/or a flatly northeast plunging anticline, this caused a semicircle-shaped outcrop zone of felsic gneiss with an diameter of about 1.3 km. To the north of the project area, along the northern slope of the White Hills, is present a mostly concealed northeast trending fault/ shear zone that dips at about 45° north. This fault separates the terrain of Proterozoic rocks in the south from an apparently younger rather large undeformed composite granitic-dioritic intrusion. North of this fault the rather flat terrain is mostly covered by Miocene to Quaternary conglomerate or gravel. The fault is believed to represent a northern continuation of the Cyclopic detachment fault (southern segment of the South Virgin-White Hills detachment fault) und has certain discovery potential for disseminated low-grade gold mineralization.
Gold-bearing and barren buck quartz veins, but also quartz-stockwork emplaced along high- and low-angle fractures, faults and concordantly/stratabound along foliation especially along mafic-felsic gneiss contacts. Most favorable are the upper and lower contacts of the felsic gneiss unit. All these quartz veins postdate pegmatite dikes or pegmatitic quartz veins (similar milky-white to translucent anhedral buck quartz texture, but contain feldspar) and also the lamprophyre and mafic dikes. Some of the quartz veins parallel or are attached to lamprophyre or mafic dikes.
So far a large number of quartz veins have been found in the Globex property. Some individual veins approach length of over 200 m, pinch and swell and approach widths of up to 3 m. Veins crosscutting gneiss foliation may be arranged in en-echelon pattern. Post-vein faulting, brecciation and shearing affected most of the thicker veins, especially those that are concordant or sub-concordant to foliation. The envelope of sheared/brecciated rock and fault gouge on each side is usually 0.5 to 1.5 m wide. A few discordant veins and surrounding wall rock have been affected by a steeply dipping late-stage fault-controlled brecciation event leaving a rock breccia with open cavities. A few of these breccias may approach widths of about 10 m. Low-grade gold mineralization might be present in these breccia zones.
Vein gangue consist chiefly of milky white massive (anhedral) buck quartz, sometimes is associated some carbonate (mostly lixiviated on surface). Vein quartz is at least weakly fractured, but mostly transected by a network of fine fractures and cracks. Often sulfide minerals (supergenely oxidized to limonite/hematite or Cu-oxides) deposited along these fine cracks or in tiny cavities. At the vein margins or occasionally as pods within the veins may appear pyrite crystals and/or chalcopyrite (?) (both oxidized near surface). Galena and sphalerite have not been observed, but indicated by assay results. Late fractures/cracks in the quartz gangue are filled often with carbonate, mostly ankerite, rarely appear also barite, small cubes of pyrite, clear small comb quartz and tiny albite crystals in these fractures. The ankerite – (sericite) alteration along fractures and pores extends commonly broadly into the surrounding metamorphic or intrusive wall rocks.
Assay results reveal that highest gold grades occur in massive (anhedral) buck quartz veins, but also in narrow sheeted veins or stockwork quartz veinlet zones, often attached to the thicker quartz veins. High-grade assay results of vein and stockwork mineralization include chip sample B-1 with 17.8 ppm Au & 1276 ppm Cu, mine dump grab sample B-6 with 16.2 ppm Au & 3631 ppm Cu, linear chip sample B-8 over 1.05 m width (quartz stockwork) with 18 ppm Au and 901 ppm Cu, mine dump grab sample B-29 with 25.6 ppm Au and 1711 ppm Cu, linear chip sample B-47 over 0.85 m width (quartz stockwork) with 4.99 ppm Au, linear chip sample B-68 over 0.8 m width (stockwork) with 3.56 ppm Au and channel sample B-34 over 1.0 m width with 4.85 ppm Au.
Samples collected from fault breccias (with less 10% vein quartz fragments) returned 4.41 ppm Au in linear chip sample B-11 over 1.3 m width and 41.4 ppm Au in selected chip sample B-5 over 0.4 m width.
Linear chip sample B-19 collected over 3.6 m width from granodiorite and paragneiss (without quartz veining) returned 1.79 ppm Au.
From field observations and assay results it was found that gold mineralization can be subdivided into three assemblages having different mineral- and metal associations:
- A central core with the metal assemblage Cu-Au hosted in undeformed small stocks/dikes of granodiorite or in their vicinity. All stockwork veinlets and quartz veins are discordant. This core area is situated in the central part of target zone C.
- This central core is surrounded by a wide zone of discordant and concordant veins/stockwork with Au-Cu metal assemblage.
- Laterally further away follows a zone with Au-Cu-Pb-(Ag) metal assemblage, hosted in concordant and discordant quartz veining (eastern part of target D).
- The Au-only metal assemblage appears to have formed during a separate hydrothermal stage, it occurs in the core and central metal zone, but has not been found in the distal Au-Cu-Pb-(Ag) zone.
Based on geology and assay results Globex defined 5 distinct exploration target zones with variable discovery potential (target zones A, B, C, D and E).
Highest discovery potential offer target zones A and C.
Target zone A is located in the central portion of the Globex property and gold mineralization appears to be linked to a northeast plunging anticline axis. Most quartz and stockwork veining is hosted by the felsic gneiss unit near its upper contact. Felsic gneiss exhibits generally pervasive sericite alteration, that could be related to gold mineralization. The felsic gneiss is overlain first by mafic migmatite gneiss (with amphibolite layers) and higher up by more felsic migmatite gneiss. Quartz veins are concordant or semi-concordant to gneiss foliation and stockwork zones are stratiform. Toward the northwest, already hosted by overlying mafic and felsic migmatite gneiss, is cropping out a northerly trending discordant curved quartz vein system. Individual quartz veins approach widths of up to 3 m and can be followed up over a length of 130 m before it is concealed under scree and alluvium further north. Quartz veins pinch and swell and en-echelon arrays are common. Apparently the stratiform/stratabound Au-Cu mineralization plunges to the northeast (right on top of the anticline), meanwhile the northerly trending crosscutting quartz vein system parallels the anticline at its western side; it could represent a feeder vein zone.
Target zone C is located in the southern portion of the Globex property. The easterly trending target zone C is 900 m long and up to 200 m wide. Just east of the target center mafic and felsic migmatite gneiss is intruded by a WNW-ESE orientated small stock of undeformed granodiorite extending over a length of at least 170 m, but additional dikes and smaller stocks of granodiorite do occur. In places granodiorite is bleached and exhibits often chlorite (early) -sericite alteration. In the vicinity of the intrusive stocks appear numerous quartz veins, quartz breccia veins, but also late (Miocene ?) wide wall rock breccia zones with open vugs. Locally occur quartz stockwork zones hosted in the granodiorite stock. At this target zone had been also collected sample B-19 of mineralized granodiorite and paragneiss (1.79 ppm Au over 3.6 m width).
Target zone E is located in the central northern portion of the Globex property following an ENE trending, at about 35-45° N dipping, mostly under alluvium concealed fault/shear zone along the northern slope of the White Hills. This fault/shear zone separates the terrain of Proterozoic rocks in the south from an apparently younger rather large undeformed composite granitic-dioritic intrusion (probably of Late Cretaceous or Paleocene age) in the north. North of this fault the rather flat terrain is mainly covered by Miocene to Quaternary conglomerate or gravel. Affected rocks are strongly altered, partly bleached, but chiefly intensely stained by red powdery hematite over widths of up to 50 m. It is reported that this fault represents a northern continuation of the Cyclopic mine detachment fault, that controlled widespread disseminated sub-horizontal gold mineralization near this mine (Gold Basin Resources Corp. project area further south). If Miocene epithermal activity caused Au deposition target zone E would exhibit a very high discovery potential. On the other side it appears also possible that this fault/shear is unrelated to the Miocene South Virgin-White Hills detachment fault and is simply related to a possibly older E-W structure that follows also the southern contact of the Cretaceous/Paleocene granitoid intrusion. According to the intrusion-related model gold-bearing quartz veins, stockwork zones or disseminated gold could have formed along this important lithological contact.
| Sample ID | Target Zone | Sample Type | Sampled rock type | Sample width (m) | Sample true width (m) | Au g/t | Ag g/t | Ratio Au/Ag | Cu g/t | Pb g/t |
| B-1 | A | Selected chip | Vein quartz | 17.800 | 3.0 | 5.933 | 1276 | 71 | ||
| B-7 | A | Selected chip | Vein quartz | 2.100 | 2.8 | 0.750 | 34 | 18 | ||
| B-38 | A | Channel sample | Stockwork in gneiss | 0.70 | 0.70 | 1.240 | 3.9 | 0.318 | 1301 | 24 |
| B-45 | A | Selected dump grab sample | Vein quartz | 2.540 | 3.3 | 0.770 | 42 | 35 | ||
| B-6 | B | Dump grab sample | Vein quartz | 16.200 | 5.6 | 2.893 | 3631 | 65 | ||
| B-34 | B | Channel sample | Vein quartz | 1.00 | 1.00 | 4.850 | 5.0 | 0.970 | 248 | 55 |
| B-5 | C | Selected chip | Fault breccia, 10% vein quartz | 0.40 | 0.40 | 41.400 | 6.2 | 6.677 | 1162 | 56 |
| B-8 | C | Linear chip sample | 20% vein quartz, sheared rock | 1.05 | 1.05 | 18.000 | 0.9 | 20.000 | 901 | 201 |
| B-9 | C | Channel sample | Fault breccia, 10 cm vein quartz breccia | 1.55 | 1.55 | 1.890 | <0.3 | 136 | 33 | |
| B-11 | C | Linear chip sample | Fault breccia,
10% vein quartz breccia |
1.30 | 1.10 | 4.410 | <0.3 | 167 | 13 | |
| B-19 | C | Linear chip sample | Gneiss and granodiorite | 3.60 | 1.790 | <0.3 | 15 | 12 | ||
| B-25 | C | Channel sample | Stockwork in granodiorite | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.841 | <0.3 | 9 | 6 | |
| B-29 | C | Selected dump grab sample | Vein quartz | 25.600 | 4.9 | 5.224 | 1711 | 415 | ||
| B-30 | C | Linear chip sample | Stockwork in granodiorite | 0.70 | 0.605 | 2.0 | 0.303 | 1656 | 44 | |
| B-32 | C | Channel sample | Fault breccia
with 50% vein quartz |
0.23 | 0.23 | 0.426 | <0.3 | 47 | 11 | |
| B-46 | D | Channel sample | Fault breccia with stockwork | 0.65 | 0.65 | 0.052 | 15.7 | 0.003 | 1986 | 36 |
| B-47 | D | Linear chip sample | Stockwork in gneiss | 0.85 | 4.990 | 3.6 | 1.386 | 775 | 76 | |
| B-65 | D | Chip-panel | Stockwork in gneiss | 1.70 | 0.722 | 1.2 | 0.602 | 161 | 233 | |
| B-68 | D | Linear chip sample | Stockwork | 0.80 | 0.80 | 3.560 | 1.2 | 2.967 | 328 | 21 |
| B-70 | D | Channel sample | Fault breccia with <5% vein quartz | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.581 | 18.9 | 0.031 | 6179 | 2702 |
| B-71 | D | Dump grab sample | Vein quartz + fault breccia | 3.200 | 17.2 | 0.186 | 1671 | 2591 | ||
| B-2 | E | Linear chip sample | Shear zone in gneiss | 1.50 | 1.50 | 0.250 | 0.3 | 10 | 18 | |
| B-55 | E | Dump grab sample | Vein quartz | 3.470 | 3.3 | 1.052 | 26 | 28 |
Selection of assay results from Salt Spring Gold Project
Sample Collection & Sample Preparation
In 2023 Globex collected a total of 70 rock samples from the Salt Spring property and immediate vicinity. From these 7 samples had been collected during the initial prospecting phase in April, especially from quartz-rich material, just for finding out if any precious metal mineralization is present. These returned partly very high gold grades. The 63 rock samples collected later during the mapping and sampling phase in September/October 2023 focused especially on stockwork and faulted/brecciated zones appearing as envelopes around the quartz veins. Due to the very large number of prospects, small mines and vein- and breccia outcrops the total of 70 collected samples give only an initial hint for the locations of potentially economic mineralization.
Samples were placed in labelled plastic bags, sealed with a plastic zip and shipped to American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Sparks, Nevada, USA for preparation and geochemical analysis. AAL is an ISO 17025 certified laboratory. Samples are crushed and a 300 g subsample pulverized to >85% -75 micron. All samples underwent ICP-OES analysis of a 0.5 g subsample after 5-acid digestion (HNO3, HF, HClO4, HCl and H3BO3) for 11 elements including silver. 5-acid treatment results in near total digest (resistant phases e.g. corundum, ilmenite, rutile are not digested). Gold was analyzed via fire assay of a 30 g subsample and analyzed with ICP-OES. Obtained gold values above 10 ppm were re-analyzed via fire assay of a 30 g subsample and gravimetric determination. Typical internal standards and checks were completed by AAL during analysis.
History
Gold was discovered in the district in the early 1870’s with most of the production prior to 1932 coming from the El Dorado, Excelsior, Golden Rule, and Cyclopic mines. Total historic gold production is not known.
In the area covered by Globex’s Salt Spring property Globex has identified 14 small mines and at least 15 prospects. A small historic mine camp was discovered in the central northern part of the property. Surface finds (tins, glass, pottery) suggest a period of activity between 1905 and 1914.
Starting in the 1980’s until 2019 a great number of exploration companies had been active in the vicinity of the Cyclopic mine, investigating the detachment fault gold zone. These include American Heavy Minerals (Apache Oro), U.S. Borax, Toltec Resources Ltd., Amoco, Molycorp, Cambior Incorporated, Western States Minerals, Nevada Pacific Mining Company, Arumbank Incorporated, Centric Minerals Management and Consolidated Rhodes. These companies drilled almost 600 holes with a total length of over 40,000 meters. Kennecott conducted widespread geochemical sampling and some drilling at two prospects near Senator Mountain and American Copper & Nickel Company conducted drilling at the Owens mine in the mid 1980’s. In the 1980’s the Hecla Mining Company explored and drilled the Gold Hill mine (this mine is located only 2 km east of Globex’s Salt Spring project) and returned the leased property to the owners in 1988. The best intercept was 8.2 m assaying 5.3 g/t Au. ECM Inc. explored and sampled their White Elephant property in 1988/89, located SE of Golden Rule Peak, 2.5 km SE of the Salt Spring project.
All historic workings and prospective sites of the central and southern portion of the Gold Basin district are occupied by a great number of active mining claims or leases. Since 2020 most of these claims had been acquired or leased by Gold Basin Resources Corp. protecting a surface of about 42 square km. In the past years this company completed three drilling campaigns totaling about 25,000 m. It defined multiple, partly large low & medium grade near-surface sub-horizontal and laterally-extensive mineralized fault zones in the area around the Cyclopic mine.