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File Created: 29-Jan-2002 by George Owsiacki (GO)
Last Edit:  04-Apr-2022 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

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NMI
Name KENA (GOLD MOUNTAIN), GOLD MOUNTAIN, KENA Mining Division Nelson
BCGS Map 082F044
Status Developed Prospect NTS Map 082F06W
Latitude 049º 26' 09'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 117º 17' 01'' Northing 5475957
Easting 479437
Commodities Gold, Copper, Molybdenum Deposit Types
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Quesnel
Capsule Geology

The Kena property hosts a number of porphyry style, gold and gold-copper occurrences south of the town of Nelson. The property lies on the eastern limb of the Hall Creek Syncline, a south-plunging fold associated with intense shearing that dominates the structure of the Nelson map area. The syncline incorporates volcanic and lesser sedimentary rocks of the Lower Jurassic Elise Formation (Rossland Group) which are intruded by a synvolcanic monzodiorite complex and by the younger? Middle Jurassic Silver King Intrusions comprising a coarse-grained plagioclase porphyry stock with related dikes and sills.

Mineralization in the Kena property area was first described in a report by G.M Dawson in Geological Survey of Canada Annual Report for 1888-89. Little is known about exploration on the claim area prior to 1973. Post-1973 exploration, however, has identified old prospect pits and trenches, as well as several old adits indicating periods of exploration activity in the early part of the century. Numerous exploration companies carried out geological, geochemical, geophysical surveys, trenching and drilling on the property from 1974-91. These companies explored the Elise Formation volcanics for gold and copper mineralization and discovered the Kena Gold zone (082FSW237), Kena Copper zone (082FSW332) and the Shaft/Cat zones (082FSW331). The Kena Gold zone underwent the most thorough exploration with the Kena Copper and Shaft/Cat zones only being tested minimally. No additional work was done until 1999 when Sultan Minerals Inc. acquired and amalgamated several properties under the name Kena property.

The Kena property is underlain by volcanic rocks of the Elise Formation which are intruded by porphyritic bodies of the Silver King Intrusions. A large number of mineral occurrences, including the Kena Gold (082FSW237) and Shaft (082FSW331) on the east and the former Silver King mine (082FSW176) on the west, are spatially related to the Silver King porphyries. Recent exploration work and data compilation by Sultan Minerals have identified four gold-bearing zones on the Kena property. These are: the Gold Mountain (this description), Kena Gold, Shaft/Cat, and South Gold soil anomaly located about 1000 metres south of the Kena Copper zone (082FSW332).

The upper Elise Formation in the vicinity of the Gold Mountain zone is a sequence of mafic to intermediate flows, tuffs and minor epiclastic deposits. A number of cyclical sequences of pyroclastic rocks that typically grade upward from lapilli tuff to crystal tuff or fine tuff are common. Augite porphyry flows and flow breccias are a minor constituent. The dominant lithology is a plagioclase-augite lapilli tuff of andesitic composition. A number of generally highly deformed feldspar porphyries (Silver King Intrusions) occur within the Elise Formation. They have been dated as Aalenian to Toarcian (Middle Jurassic) and many are associated with copper, gold and silver mineralization. Outcrops of Silver King intrusions are typically cream coloured and form resistant ridges. Contacts with Rossland Group rocks are either sharp and discordant or intensely sheared. The Silver King plutonic rocks are porphyritic, characterized by 30 to 60 per cent euhedral to subhedral plagioclase phenocrysts, 5-10 millimetres in size, set in a fine grained greenish grey groundmass.

In the Gold Mountain zone, the eastern margin of a Silver King porphyry body is in contact with Elise Formation volcanics on a relatively flat plateau where poor outcrop exposure occurs. In this zone, the Silver King unit is a coarse to medium grained plagioclase-hornblende porphyry. It is locally siliceous and in places weakly to strongly flooded with secondary potash feldspar. The plagioclase is weakly to moderately sericitized, and hornblende is weakly to locally highly chloritized. Epidote alteration is evident in many places. The porphyry is locally mineralized with 1 to 5 per cent disseminated pyrite, traces of chalcopyrite and malachite, and stringers and disseminations of magnetite and specular hematite. Mineralization in the Gold Mountain zone appears to be associated with classic porphyry-style alteration. In the area of the 2000 discovery trenches, the Silver King porphyry is intensely fractured and altered. Sulphide mineralization consists of 1 to 5 per cent disseminated and fracture coating pyrite with trace chalcopyrite (and accompanying malachite) and molybdenite. Heavy limonite and/or goethite and occasional pyrolusite occur on many of the fractures. Petrographic studies indicate that native gold occurs as clusters within quartz veinlets and as particles along the margins of pyrite grains.

The Gold Mountain zone was discovered by Sultan Minerals in 2000 and lies in the northwest portion of the Kena property, within the Silver King porphyry unit, adjacent to Elise Formation volcanics. The showing is about 600 metres north of the Shaft occurrence and is in a previously unexplored area and represents a new and unique style of gold porphyry mineralization. A gold soil anomaly from a soil geochemical survey completed in September 2000 over the Silver King porphyry unit was followed up by a program of prospecting and rock chip sampling. The rock samples yielded up to 5.48 grams per tonne gold along the intrusive-volcanic contact and up to 2.71 grams per tonne gold from outcrops within the intrusion. Late in 2000, an excavator trenching program was conducted in the Gold Mountain zone and chip sample results from the six discovery trenches yielded an average assay of 1.43 grams per tonne gold over their combined length of 181.7 metres. The best 3 metre chip sample assayed 11.38 grams per tonne gold; the six trenches tested an area measuring 120 by 100 metres. An induced polarization survey was completed in November and results show a large chargeability anomaly coincident with the gold soil geochemical anomaly (Sultan Minerals Inc. Annual Report 2000).

In 1990 to 1991, Noramco Mining Corporation completed a small diamond drilling program on the Gold Mountain occurrence. Highlighted results included one entire drill hole grading 0.4 grams per tonne over 235.5 metres, including 24 metres grading 1.1 grams per tonne gold and 9 metres grading 2.3 grams per tonne gold (Giroux, G., Grunenberg, P. (2012-04-30): Technical Report on the Kena Property, Nelson, BC).

The 2000 to 2001 drilling program tested a 200 by 300 metre area within the anomalous geophysical and geochemical zone identified during the 2000 field season. Seven diamond drill holes were completed. All seven holes intersected zones of significant mineralization and two holes were mineralized over their entire length. Significant assay results included a 12 metre section averaging 4.02 grams per tonne gold and a 14 metre section averaging 3.98 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 26699, PR REL Sultan Minerals Inc., August 7, 2001). Sultan Minerals Inc. had drilled 45 holes by September 2002 and expanded the zone to include mineralization paralleling the western contact of the Silver Ring intrusion as well as the eastern contact (PR REL Sultan Minerals Inc., September 25, 2002).

From 2000 to 2003, Sultan Minerals Inc. completed a series of trenching, and diamond drill hole programs on the area containing the occurrence. Trenching in 2000 outlined an area of 120 by 90 metres with chip samples averaging 1.43 grams per tonne gold (Giroux, G., Grunenberg, P. (2012-04-30): Technical Report on the Kena Property, Nelson, BC). In 2001, a diamond drilling program returned highlight results of 2 metres grading 0.8 grams per tonne over areas historically graded up to 16.20 grams per tonne gold (Giroux, G., Grunenberg, P. (2012-04-30): Technical Report on the Kena Property, Nelson, BC). Drilling from 2001 to 2003 found two small high-grade sections within wide zones of low gold grades. The first section was in drill hole 01GM-03 grading 240.07 grams per tonne gold over 1.23 metres, and a 2.00 metre section in hole 01GM-08 grading 172.10 grams per tonne gold (Giroux, G., Grunenberg, P. (2012-04-30): Technical Report on the Kena Property, Nelson, BC).

In 2002, work completed by Sultan Minerals Inc. on the Kena Property consisted of drilling 7598 metres in 43 diamond drill holes on the Gold Mountain, Kena Gold, South Gold, Great Western and Starlight Zones. At the same time, expanded soil geochemical surveying was done west and north on the Gold Mountain and Kena Grids to cover newly acquired claims in the Starlight, Silver King Mine and Cariboo areas. The expanded Gold Mountain and Kena grids, plus the South Gold Zone, were covered by induced polarization geophysical surveying. Also, the main area of interest on the property, measuring about 3 by 7 kilometres in size, was flown for airborne magnetics and radiometrics by Fugro Airborne Surveys.

In 2003, Sultan Minerals Inc. announced that Kinross Gold Corporation was withdrawing from the Kena gold project. Sultan carried out a 22-hole 1500-metre drill program to further test the auriferous structural corridor and to expand and further define the gold mineralization at both the Gold Mountain (082FSW379) and the Kena Gold zones (082FSW237) to the south. A total of 8 holes were completed on the Gold Mountain Zone. Highlights include 1.15 grams per tonne gold over 58.98 metres in hole 03GM-71, including 1 metre assaying 40.66 grams per tonne gold, and 109.42 metres grading 0.52 grams per tonne gold in hole 03GM-65 (Exploration and Mining in BC 2003, page 39). Gold mineralization at the Gold Mountain Zone has now been extended by drilling for 1 kilometre to the north and 0.9 kilometres to the south of the initial discovery area.

Detailed geological and structural mapping carried out in 2003 suggests that gold enrichment within the Gold Mountain zone and its northern extension is linked to a pyrite-K-Feldspar-gold porphyry system developed in the upper part of the Silver King intrusion. In later northwest-trending brittle structures, in which magnetite is reduced and pyrite occurs, gold contents are locally upgraded to form the bonanza-grade structures

In 2004, Sultan Minerals Inc carried out structural mapping and a 600 metre diamond-drilling program on its Kena property. Earlier in the year, initial resource calculations for portions of the property were released, based on the extensive drilling results acquired previously. Using a 0.5 gram per tonne gold gold cut-off the measured and indicated resource calculation for the Gold Mountain zone is 5,490,000 tonnes grading 1.04 grams per tonne gold and in the inferred category it is 10,710,000 tonnes at 0.967 gram per tonne gold (Sultan Minerals Inc., Press Release June 7, 2004).

Between 2004 and 2011 Sultan Minerals completed small exploration programs each year, consisting of infill soil sampling, geophysical surveys, trenching and limited diamond drilling.

In 2010, Sultan Mineral Inc. completed an exploration program covering most of the Kena property. It included two holes directly at the Gold Mountain occurrence and five more parallel along the high-grade structure corridor. Significant results included 6.05 metres grading 2.02 grams per tonne gold in hole 10HG-07, and 21.65 metres grading 0.90 grams per tonne gold lower in hole 10HG-07 (Giroux, G., Grunenberg, P. (2012-04-30): Technical Report on the Kena Property, Nelson, BC).

Altair Ventures Inc. optioned the Kena property from Sultan Minerals on December 11, 2011.

In 2012, Eagle Mapping Ltd. conducted an airborne LiDAR survey over a 15.3 square kilometre area of the Kena Property.

In 2012, Altair conducted a two-phase drilling program which included 16 drill holes totalling 3,122.36 metres on the Gold Mountain occurrence. Significant results include but are not limited to 95.35 metres grading 1.37 grams per tonne in hole 12GM-01, and 23.09 metres grading 2.66 grams per tonne further in hole 12GM-01 (Giroux, G., Park, V. (2013-02-07): Technical Report for the Kena Property, Nelson, BC).

In June 2012 Altair Ventures announced updated resource estimates for the Kena gold zone and the Gold Mountain zone calculated at 0.3 gram per tonne Au cut-off. See MINFILE 082FSW237 for the Kena Gold zone resource estimates.

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Gold Mountain zone

Tonnes Grade

Measured 1,800,000 0.87 gram per tonne Au

Indicated 9,010,000 0.68 gram per tonne Au

Inferred 22,110,000 0.60 gram per tonne Au

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(Altair Ventures Inc. News Release June 25, 2012)

In 2012 to 2013, Altair Gold Inc. conducted a rock sampling program over the property occurrences of Gold Mountain, Kena Gold, Euphrates, South Gold, and Three Friends. Of the 179 rock samples collected, eight returned gold grades greater than 0.3 grams per tonne.

In April 2021, an updated mineral resource for the Kena project, which included the Kena and Daylight properties, of 32 146 000 tonnes indicated grading 0.544 gram per tonne gold with an additional 177 508 000 tonnes inferred grading 0.486 gram per tonne gold using a 0.25 gram per tonne gold cut-off grade (Moose Mountain Technical Services [2021-07-19]: NI 43-101 Resource Estimate for the Kena and Daylight Properties).

Bibliography
EMPR BULL 41, 109
EMPR EXPL 1988-B21-28; 2003-34,39; 2004-71
EMPR FIELDWORK 1980, pp. 149-158; 1981, pp. 28-32, pp. 176-186; 1987, pp. 19-30; 1988, pp. 33-43; 1989, pp. 247-249; 1990, pp. 291-300
EMPR OF 1988-1; 1989-11; 1991-16
EMPR PF (*Sultan Minerals Inc. Annual Report 2000; Vancouver MEG Abstract (Feb.6, 2002): Kena Property's Gold Mountain Zone - A New Gold Discovery in British Columbia by Linda Dandy, Sultan Minerals Inc.)
GSC ANN RPT 1888-89, pp. 62B,63B
GSC MAP 52-13A; 1571A
GSC MEM 308
GSC OF 1195
GSC P 49-22; 52-13
PR REL Sultan Minerals Inc. Jun.26, Jul.4,12,18,24, Aug.*7,28, Oct.2,10,15,30, Nov.8,15,23, Dec.3, 2001; Jan.9,18, Feb.25, Apr.8,30, Jun.3, Jul.11, Sept.9,25, 2002; Jan.2,13,18 21,23, Jul.14, Aug.11, Sept.8,22, Oct.3, Nov.11, Dec.4, 2003; Jun.7, Jul.14, Sept.28, Dec.13, 2004; Feb.24, Sept.14, Nov.24, 2005
N MINER Jul.2,9, Sept.10, Oct.9,15,16,22, Nov.12,19,26, Dec.31, 2001; Apr.9,15, Mar.4, Sept. 11,16, Dec.2, 2002
PR REL Altair Ventures Inc. June 25, 2012
Andrew, K.P.E. and Hoy, T. (1990): Structural Models for Precious Metal Deposits in Jurassic Arc Volcanic rocks of the Rossland Group, southeastern B.C.; abstract with program, G.A.C. - M.A.C. Annual Meeting, Vancouver, B.C., p. A3
Hoy, T. and Andrew, K.P.E. (1988): Geology, geochemistry and mineral deposits of the Lower Jurassic Rossland Group, southeastern British Columbia; abstract in Twelfth District 6 Meeting, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Fernie, B.C., pp. 11-12
Giroux, G., Grunenberg, P. (2012-04-30): Technical Report on the Kena Property, Nelson, BC.
Giroux, G., Park, V. (2013-02-07): Technical Report for the Kena Property, Nelson, BC.
Giroux, G., Park, V. (2017-06-02): Technical Report for the Kena Project, Nelson, BC.
*Moose Mountain Technical Services (2021-07-19): NI 43-101 Resource Estimate for the Kena and Daylight Properties

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