The Treasure King / Copper Mountain Project (the "Project") is comprised of seven groups of mining claims along nine miles of a north / south Precambrian geological trend. Significant gold and copper oxide and massive sulfide mineralization is present throughout the claim blocks, together in some places with anomalous silver, zinc and lead. The northernmost claim block (AF claims) is located about 30 km south of the United Verde mine in Jerome. Most of the claims span or are adjacent to the 70 km-long "Shylock Zone," a north-south-trending Precambrian structure marked by unusual stretching and ductility during the deformation events that transformed the Precambrian volcanic country rock into greenstone schist. The Project includes portions of three mining districts (Big Bug, Agua Fria and Turkey Creek), which have had significant past production of gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead.

Exploration to Date

During the 1970’s Amselco staked out over 30 miles of this trend (also called the Black Canyon Schist Belt), all the way from Black Canyon City in the south to the outskirts of Jerome in the north. As Amselco dropped various portions of these claims, other exploration companies jumped in, including Billiton, Long Lac, Newmont, Rayrock, Homestake, Redco, Royal Gold and, most recently, American Copper and Nickel ("ACNC"), an Inco subsidiary. Past drilling by these companies has considerably narrowed the field, and recent exploration efforts have been concentrated in the central portion of the schist belt in the vicinity of Mayer, where Royal Gold acquired the fully permitted Treasure King open pit gold mine and the gold-rich AF claims.

On the copper front, Inco moved ACNC’s headquarters from Denver to Alaska, reportedly for budgetary reasons, dropping its Copper Mountain Project in the process.

The geology in the Project area is similar in many respects to that in and about Jerome. In both cases the deposits were once thought to be replacement in origin. However, by the 1970’s the theory had become generally accepted that they were volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits. Approximately 1.7 billion years ago seafloor volcanic activity built up successive layers of the country rock. Feeder vents (also called "black smokers") deposited massive copper sulfides and, later in the cycle, silica and gold. The strata were later deformed to greenstone schist and tilted sharply so that today the dip is nearly vertical in many instances. Finally, portions of the schist were covered with Tertiary volcanics. In the Project area the youngest rocks are located to the west, with the oldest strata located to the east.

The Jerome Deposits

The mines of the Verde district near Jerome produced the major share of all Precambrian ores from the southwestern United States, including 80 % of the tonnage mined (37 million tons), 93% of the copper (3.6 billion lbs), 71% of the silver (57 million ounces), and 67% of the gold (1.6 million ounces) produced from Early Proterozoic massive sulfide deposits to date in Arizona. The district is unique in the richness of its ores, compared to the typical Arizona porphyry copper deposit. The United Verde Mine averaged 4.79% copper, .043 oz/T gold and 1.61 oz/T silver. At one time the United Verde was the richest individually-owned mine in the world. Its owner at the turn of the century, Senator William Andrews Clark of Montana, once turned down an offer from the Rockefellers of $50 million (over $1 billion in today’s dollars) for the mine.

The adjacent United Verde Extension ("UVX") deposit (then owned by Jimmy "Rawhide" Douglas), while only about 10% of the size of the United Verde, produced nearly as much profit, as it was highly supergene enriched (average of 10.23 % copper, .039 oz/T gold and 1.71 oz/T silver). Unlike the United Verde, which had prominent surface outcrops long worked by native Americans for the blue-green copper oxide pigment, the UVX deposit was buried under approximately 1,000 feet of Quaternary alluvium. Had it not been for Douglas’ persistence in looking for another deposit across the Verde fault from the United Verde, it is unlikely that the UVX would have been found until modern exploration techniques were developed.

The present owners of the United Verde and the UVX (Phelps Dodge and Verde Exploration, respectively), either directly or through lessees, joint ventures or partnerships, have explored thousands of other acres they own or control in the Jerome vicinity looking for another large deposit. In addition, more gold resources were discovered near the UVX, and these were mined during the 1980’s. The most recent activity has involved an unmined zinc deposit at the United Verde. This is believed to be one of the largest zinc deposits in the contiguous United States. In recent years it has been explored by leading zinc producer Cominco, in a joint venture with Phelps Dodge.

Exploration Potential South of Jerome

Several geologists have been of the view that the best place to find another big Precambrian deposit may instead be in the Big Bug and Agua Fria Mining Districts to the south of Jerome (where the Treasure King / Copper Mountain Project is located). The reasons are well stated by Paul Lindberg:

"Despite the relatively small size of the known Agua Fria deposits, they bear a strong resemblence to the ‘Jerome type’ of massive sulfide ores. Both camps show copper-rich and zinc-poor ores, hosted on large flow complexes. The district should have good exploration potential….[T]he greatest future mineral potential may lie in the discovery of concealed volcanogenic massive sulfide and associated gold deposits. Most massive sulfide mining districts throughout the world contained a loosely defined ‘family’ of deposits. Typically the family contains at least one large deposit, several intermediate-sized satellite bodies, and a host of smaller prospects….[Districts] such as the Big Bug [and] Agua Fria… contain ore bodies in the small to intermediate size range, and perhaps the ‘largest member’ deposits still await discovery." Paul A Lindberg, "Precambrian Ore Deposits of Arizona," Arizona Geological Society Digest 17, pp. 187-210.

Project Claim Blocks

From north to south, this is a brief description of the seven claim blocks included in the Treasure King / Copper Mountain Project: