The Jasperoid Gold prospect is located in the south-central
portion of the Sonoma Range in Humboldt County, Nevada, south of the town of Winnemucca.
Quest U.S.A. Resources Inc. has leased 6 lode claims and has staked 5 other claims
contiguous to the core claim block. The claims cover approximately 175 acres. Homestake
Mining Company explored the property in the mid 1960’s, completing mapping, bulldozer
work and sampling prior to drilling 13 shallow rotary holes. Two narrow gold intercepts
were encountered in the area now covered by the claims held by Quest U.S.A.
In May, 1997, Quest drilled two shallow reverse circulation holes at the Jasperoid gold
prospect. It was originally planned to complete about 3,000 feet of drilling in 4 to 6
holes to test a sediment-hosted gold target. Extensive surface sampling over the property
returned two gold values of 0.09 oz/ton over the primary target area. Hole JG-97-1 was
drilled under the area of the significant gold values. High volumes of water were
encountered and the hole had to be abandoned at 215 feet before reaching the targeted
depth. The hole was successfully plugged to stop the flow of water. A second hole
(JG-97-2) was drilled approximately 400 feet northeast of the first hole, but also hit
water and was terminated at 285 feet before reaching the planned depth. Despite the high
volumes of water and the fact that the each of the holes did not reach the primary target,
hole JG-97-2 did intersect 20 feet of 0.029 oz/ton gold from 30 to 50 feet.
The prospect is underlain by Paleozoic siliceous to calcareous clastics, greenstone,
shale, limestone and chert. The rock units are, from oldest to youngest: Ordovician Valmy
Formation (?), Pennsylvanian Antler Peak Limestone, Permian Edna Mountain Formation (?)
and Permian to Pennsylvanian Pumpernickel/Havallah Formation. A district-scale granitic
pluton is located to the south and east of the prospect, but does not outcrop on or in the
area of the property. Although rocks are deformed, the sediments generally strike in a
northerly direction and dip at various angles to the west.
The sediments are cut by three prominent fault directions: northerly,
west-northwesterly and east-northeasterly. An apparent thrust fault cuts across the
southwestern and southern portions of the property area, separating upper plate
Pumpernickel/Havallah chert and quartzite from lower plate Edna Mountain and Valmy (?)
rocks. Many of the rock units exhibit a coarse, cataclastic fabric, primarily along
bedding, suggesting extensive bedding-plane movement. The most prominent alteration
feature seen at the Jasperoid Gold prospect is silicification. Two types of silicification
occur: metasomatic silicification related to intrusive activity and hydrothermal
silicification. The rocks have also been locally calc-silicate altered, particularly in
the southern portion of the claim block. The only significant gold found to date at
surface is localized in Valmy (?) calc-silicate altered ("sanded"), silicified
and weakly quartz-veined sandstone that is poorly exposed on one of the upper road cuts on
the prospect. Gold values of up to 0.095 oz/ton are found along a zone 140 feet in strike
length but of unknown width. The mineralized rocks strike to the east-northeast and dip
moderately to steeply to the west. A major east-northeast, steeply dipping bedding-plane
(?) structure apparently bounds this zone to the south. Hole JG-97-1 was drilled to test
this zone, but hit water possibly related to the structural setting of the! zone, and was
abandoned before the targeted depth was reached.
Additional drilling is warranted to follow-up on the positive results of the first two
shallow holes drilled by Quest. The prospect does have the potential for the discovery of
a significant gold deposit.
