The Newmont (Golden Lime) occurrence is located approximately 2 kilometres southeast of Pat Lake and 9 kilometres southeast of the community of Savona.
The area is underlain by Upper Triassic Nicola Group metasediments composed of volcaniclastic conglomerates with minor sandstone and siltstone interbeds. The metasediments appear to occur as a monoclinal sequence that trends at an average 145 degrees. The metasediments dip vertically to steeply east, east of an inferred fault in a broad, drift-filled valley that crosses the property in a north westerly direction. The metasediments dip moderately southwest, west of this fault.
Late Cretaceous? or early Tertiary? discordant felsic dikes, with or without quartz-eye phenocrysts, intrude the metasediments at many locations. Moderate to strong carbonate and/or silica replacement of the conglomerates and sandstones occurs adjacent the felsic dikes. Both the country rocks and the felsic dikes are often faulted and cut by banded ankerite, dolomite, chalcedony and quartz veins. These intensely faulted replacement zones are anomalous in arsenic, antimony, gold and silver.
Locally, a 1 to 3 metre wide shear, infilled with chalcedony and quartz veins, hosts pyrite, galena, stibnite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite and tetrahedrite. Malachite, azurite and hematite are also reported. The shear trends 065 degrees and dips sub-vertically over a strike length of 30 to 50 metres. The mineralization is associated with a 10 to 20 metre carbonate replacement zone in metasediments and pyritized andesite.
In 1982, sampling yielded up to 3 grams per tonne gold and 180 grams per tonne silver but no reports were ever submitted as assessment work. Other reports suggest sampling, in 1982, yielded up to 2.9 grams per tonne gold and 27 grams per tonne silver over 3 metres; including 7.1 grams per tonne gold and 50 grams per tonne silver over 1 metre from altered and silicified andesites, while a trench (No.9) located 45 metres to the southwest yielded 0.55 gram per tonne gold over 6 metres (Property File - Dennis Bohme [1985-05-07]: Data Summary - Sprout Claims - Data from Newmont Exploration Files). Base metal values were not reported on these samples. Grab samples (no. 13812) from the main pit assayed up to 0.46 per cent copper, 5.00 per cent lead, 0.85 per cent zinc, greater than 1 per cent mercury, 286 grams per tonne silver and 1.8 grams per tonne gold (Property File - Dennis Bohme [1985-05-07]: Data Summary - Sprout Claims - Data from Newmont Exploration Files).
In 1991, sampling of a trench yielded up to 4.52 grams per tonne gold, 243.8 grams per tonne silver, 0.75 per cent copper, 1.92 per cent lead and 1.57 per cent zinc (Property File - C.R.C. Explorations Ltd. [1991-05-24]: Geological, Soil Geochemical and Geophysical Report on the Savona Property).
A second zone of mineralization, located approximately 400 metres to the west- southwest, consists of chalcedonic quartz-calcite veins with disseminated pyrite. In 1991, samples of angular rock float and outcrop yielded up to 0.88 gram per tonne gold, 14.9 grams per tonne silver, 1.18 per cent copper, 0.15 per cent lead and 0.26 per cent zinc (Property File - Minnova Inc. [1991-03-27]: Correspondence RE: Sprout Property Submittal near Savona, B.C.).
Other mineralization in the area consists of strongly carbonate- altered and propylitized Nicola Group volcanics with chalcedonic veining and brecciation hosting disseminated galena and chalcopyrite. The exact location of this mineralization is not reported. Chip samples are reported to have yielded up to 2 grams per tonne gold (Property File - Minnova Inc. [1991-03-27]: Correspondence RE: Sprout Property Submittal near Savona, B.C.).
The Golden Lime and Brussels claims were staked by M. Morrison in 1981 to cover several large rusty carbonate/silica replacement zones found within Nicola Group rocks during routine prospecting. The ground was transferred to Placer Development Ltd. soon after staking and during 1981, Placer crews conducted a widely- spaced soil geochemical survey and discovered several areas across the property with elevated mercury, arsenic, antimony and gold values. The Newmont showing, discovered by Newmont Exploration geologists in 1982, is located immediately west of the Gold Key 5 claim. Placer Development Ltd. carried out limited follow-up work on the Brussels claims and allowed their option to lapse in 1984. The property was optioned to Goldstone Exploration Ltd. in 1984, who collected lithogeochemical samples that yielded elevated values for the same elements that were discovered by Placer Development. In 1985, a reverse circulation percussion drilling program carried out by Goldstone Exploration tested five widely separated targets across the property with one drill hole each, totalling 292 metres of drilling. Two strong zones of carbonate/silica replacement were drilled over lengths of 80 metres but precious metal values were negligible and Goldstone abandoned the property in 1988. A series of soil geochemical (690 samples), magnetometer (13.2 kilometres) and geological surveys were conducted over the property by M. Morrison from 1989 until 1992, and five key areas considered worthy of detailed exploration were identified. A detailed geological mapping and sampling program was conducted over the Golden Lime 1 replacement zone in 1993 and in 1995, four more zones were mapped and sampled in detail. During 1990 through 1994, C.R.C. Explorations Ltd. and Ridel Resources Ltd. conducted a soil survey (1011 samples), ground magnetometer and VLF-EM survey (27 kilometres) over the Sprout claims. During 1996 through 1999, programs of soil sampling (441 samples), induced polarization (15 kilometres), ground magnetometer (20.2 kilometres) and VLF-EM (11 kilometres) surveys were conducted over portions of the Golden Lime, Gold Key and Sprout claims by M. Morrison and Ridel Resources Ltd. See also Pat Lake (MINFILE 092INE087).
