Summary:
The Howards Pass Property includes claims and leases wholly-owned by Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd (SCML).
The Yukon portion of the Selwyn Project consists of 1,055 Quartz Mineral claims (19,294 ha) wholly-owned by Selwyn Chihong Mining Ltd.
The Howard?s Pass zinc-lead deposit is known as a SEDEX (sedimentary exhalative) base metal deposit. This type of deposit has been referred to by a variety of terms, including sedimentary-hosted stratiform Zn-Pb, shale-hosted, or sedimentary exhalative deposits. A working definition of the deposit class is: a sulphide deposit formed in a sedimentary basin by the submarine venting of hydrothermal fluids, whose principal ore minerals are sphalerite and galena. Goodfellow and Jonasson (1986) give a good synopsis for the environment and formation of SEDEX deposits.
Base metal (zinc and lead) mineralization at the property is hosted in the Active Member of the Howard?s Pass Formation. The Active Member stratigraphic horizon was identified throughout 37.5 km of strike length, along which the fifteen known deposits are separated by interpreted faults or gaps in drilling. The Active Member consists of alternating layers of carbonaceous mudstone, limestone and chert, and interlayered with stratabound, laminated sulphide rich bands. The sulphide minerals are fine-grained and predominantly sphalerite and galena, with minor pyrite.
The mineralized horizon is generally 20 m to 30 m thick and both texturally and mineralogically consistent throughout the property. Sulphide minerals from five distinct mineral resource deposits (Brodel, Anniv, Don, XY, and OP) were analyzed for lead isotope ratios and the isotopic data indicated that all five mineral resource deposits originated from very similar hydrothermal fluids (Cousens, 2006).
Higher grade mineralized zones have been identified throughout the property, especially within the XY Central, XY West, Don, and Anniv deposits. These newly-defined zones have significantly higher concentrations of zinc and lead minerals, are coarser grained and commonly exhibit sulphide remobilization and concentration features and typically these zones are at, or near, the base of the Active Member stratigraphic horizon.
Evidence for remobilization of sulphide minerals has been locally observed, and is believed to have occurred during slumping and compaction when low-temperature fluids could have carried the remobilized metals. There is no reported evidence for high temperature metamorphism. Some of the mineralization exhibits distinct structural features such as irregular broken bands and brecciation with distinct fluidal texture.