Gold mineralization at the Holt and Holloway Mines is associated with replacement carbonate-pyrite-albite-quartz alteration that overprints mafic volcanic rocks in, and adjacent to, D3-D4 high strain zones.

The Holloway deposit is hosted by the 30 m to 150 m wide Holloway unit, a south dipping band of Fe-tholeiitic mafic volcanic rocks which is bounded to the north and south by south facing turbiditic sedimentary rocks and komatiitic ultramafic volcanic rocks, respectively. Mineralization occurs where a 200 m to 300 m wide corridor of east-northeast trending D2-D3 high strain zones obliquely crosses the Holloway unit, resulting in a deflection in its strike to east-northeast trends from east to west- northwest trends that are more typical at the property scale (Rhys, 2005a). Mineralization in the Holloway Mine comprises the Lightning, Middle, and Blacktop zones.

The Lightning Zone is host to by far the largest zone at the Holloway Mine. It comprises a series of generally interconnected lenses of pyritic replacement mineralization localized at and near the northern portions of the Holloway Unit, frequently within variolitic units. Two stages of alteration are evident: pre mineralization albite-hematite-quartz and syn-mineralization pyrite-quartz-albite-carbonate-sericite. Gold mineralization occurs as native grains associated with fine-grained clustered pyrite occurring as stringers and veinlets, irregular clumps, and dense vein haloes. Quartz veins are generally not mineralized. “Typical” ore contains on average 10 % to 55% clustered pyrite. Gold most often occurs along the pyrite grain boundaries or, less often, along fractures in pyrite grains. Accessory arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and scheelite are very minor constituents overall. Gold grain sizes average 5 µm to 9 µm and visible gold is rare.

The deposit has a strike length of approximately 800 m, a minimum indicated vertical extent of 750 m (150 m to 900 m below surface) and an average true width of 8 m. It is open to depth along most of its strike length.

In addition to the quartz vein related mineralization associated with the flat faults, a series of north-trending, moderate to steep east-dipping quartz-tourmaline shear veins occurs in the Middle Zone, west of the main Lightning Zone mineralized body. The veins are developed in narrow reverse shear zones and are probably intermediate in age between the Lighting Zone and flat fault related quartz veining episodes. These veins are quartz dominated and contain variable quantities of black tourmaline as ribbons and stylolites. They have auriferous pyritic envelopes and outer sericite-carbonate alteration. The veins are cut by the shallow quartz extension veins associated with the flat faults, and their local development in areas of the Lightning Zone style disseminated mineralization suggests that they overprint it, forming an intermediate mineralizing phase. The veins are affected by open and ptygmatic F3/F4 folds, and by F5 folds, consistent with the earlier timing than the less strained quartz extension veins that cut them. At their northern end at least, the quartz-tourmaline veins penetrate into Lightning Zone style replacement mineralization and split up or dissipate as they enter it.

The Middle Zone has an east-west strike length of 90 m, an overall thickness of 20 m and a depth extent of 100 m. There are three north-trending quartz-tourmaline veins within the zone and they have an average thickness of two metres.

Blacktop Zone located 2.4 km due east of the Holloway shaft, the Blacktop Zone is developed in an east-northeast trending high strain zone, or network of high strain zones, associated with intense S3-S4 development and sericite-carbonate-chlorite alteration of mafic volcanic rocks. As is the case at the Lightning Zone, the area of high strain at Blacktop is associated with an east-northeast trending deflection in the otherwise dominantly east-west to west-northwest trend of lithologies. The Blacktop Zone is a tabular (typically two metres to seven metres thick) and shallow southerly dipping zone which is hosted by and cuts obliquely across the Holloway Unit. The zone may be at least 100 m in strike length. The mineralization coincides with an apparent 20 m to 80 m top to the north (reverse) displacement of the northern contact of the Holloway Unit with ultramafic volcanic rocks, and of subunits internal to the Holloway Unit. Mineralization may extend along this structure into the Holloway Unit for more than 100 m southward from the northern mafic-ultramafic contact, and on some sections could potentially penetrate southward to the southern contact of the Holloway Unit with turbiditic sediments. At the northern margin of the Holloway Unit, mineralization may also extend upward from the shallow dipping structure in altered hyaloclastite, forming steeply dipping to irregularly shaped extensions to the mineralization. Widest and highest grade portions of the mineralized shallow southerly dipping zone also occur at the northern ultramafic-mafic contact, often in the immediate fault hanging wall, in the overthrust above ultramafic rocks (Rhys, 2005a). Intersections of more than 12 g/t over possible true thicknesses of 20 m have been encountered in this area.

The primary mining method at the Holloway Mine is open stoping. This has been the historical mining method used at the mine by previous owners. A steeply dipping ore body (60? to 70?) is amenable to using this method. Drilling will be performed by top hammer drills with hole diameters ranging between 64 mm and 76 mm. Stoping is performed in a longitudinal retreat in order to minimize development costs. Rock is planned for use as backfill during stoping activities. Pillars have been designed to be left within low grade areas. A dilution factor of 15% has been applied to mining shapes at the Holloway Mine and a grade of 0.3 g/t was applied to dilution material. Mining recovery has been set at 90%.

Ore mined at the Holloway Mine will be processed at the Company's Holt Mill which is located 1km away, on the south side of Highway 101 East. Holloway ore has been processed at the Holt Mill since the commencement of Holloway Mine production in 1996.

The Holt Mill was constructed in 1988 and was originally designed for a throughput of 1,360 tpd. Expansions in 1988 and 2001 increased the throughput to 2,500 tpd and 3,000 tpd, respectively.

Surface ore storage is a total of 4,900 t in three silos, the Holt headframe bin (900 t) and two other separate storage bins (1,000 t and 3,000 t). Ore can be delivered to the mill from the Holt Mine by conveyor or from a separate surface dump that enters a 100 tonne hopper, and then can be fed to either of the two storage bins.

The grinding circuit consists of a 5 m diameter by 6.1 m long Allis Chalmers ball mill, converted to a SAG mill, a 4 m diameter by 5.5 m long Allis Chalmers ball mill and a 3.6 m diameter by 4.9 m long tertiary ball mill, all operating in series and in closed circuit. The grinding circuit is controlled by a Wonderware system and Modicom programmable logic.

The primary cyclone cluster consists of six 381 mm (15”) Krebs D15B cyclones. A secondary cyclone cluster consists of twelve 254 mm (10”) Krebs gMAX cyclones with an Outokumpu PSI-200 online analyzer. The secondary cyclone cluster feeds a 27 m (90 ft) Eimco thickener. The thickener underflow feeds a pre-aeration tank, which gravity feeds five carbon-in-leach (CIL) tanks in series. The tank system is conventional gravity flow for slurry with counter-current carbon advancement

Precious metal stripping is performed in batch operations, advancing 2.7 t of loaded carbon through a 1.2 m by 2.4 m (4 ft x 8ft) Simplicity screen. Carbon is transferred to an adsorption column where a Zadra process is utilized as the gold elution method. Barren solution is circulated through two shell and tube heat exchangers and a 360 kW electric inline heater.

The resulting pregnant solution is pumped from the solution tank to an electro-winning cell. The gold precipitate is further refined using a 125 kW Inductotherm furnace and the doré bars are poured in a seven mould cascade arrangement. After stripping, the carbon is regenerated in a rotary kiln, quenched, screened and returned the process. Carbon fines are collected in a tank, filtered in a Perrin press, and packaged for sale.

Reagents and operating supplies for the mill, such as process chemicals and grinding steel, are stored in the reagent storage building attached to the concentrator at the south end of the building.