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Ximen Mining's Brett gold property is a tantalising prospect

Published: 08:48 02 Oct 2014 EDT

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The early indications are that Ximen Mining (CVE:XIM) has a tiger by the tail in the form of the Brett gold property in British Columbia.

Historic work on the project points to bonanza grades of the precious metal – giving us the tantalising prospect of an internationally significant deposit.

The first two holes from the current drilling campaign lend some support to the earlier findings having intercepted mineralisation in a high-grade target area called the 490 Gold Zone.

Put this together with a highly competent technical team, and a methodical approach to exploration that wouldn’t look out of place at a mining major, and you have some of the key ingredients for success.

The group has sewn up what it believes could become a major new gold district, increasing its footprint from an initial 2,700 hectares to 21,000.

It has done this via two acquisitions and it has also been physically staking the areas it was interested in.

It has done most of this work under the radar and at minimal overall cost.

The Brett asset, which had been bound in litigation, became available towards the end of last year - a point when the market couldn’t be less interested in gold exploration plays.

The Ximen team is led by chief executive and industry veteran Christopher Anderson.

He is supported by Linda Caron and Al Beaton, who have decades of experience exploring for and producing gold in British Columbia, while Michael Rasmussen brings with them big company discipline.

Their imprint has been left on the work done to date with the group approaching the early exploration phase in much the same way a much larger miner might.

In other words little has been left to chance.

The major pieces of science brought to bear on Brett have been the magnetometer and very low frequency electromagnetic surveys.

And they appear to support the team’s theory Brett is host to an epithermal gold system.

Meanwhile, some 12,000 metres of diamond drilling, carried out during the 1980s, suggests the property is peppered with high grade mineralisation from seven grams up to an eye-catching 168 grams of the yellow metal.

The team was originally looking at what it thought would be 15 to 20 of the shear systems. However, it appears they may be onto something a lot larger.

The technical work carried out by Ximen suggests Brett may be the source of the disseminated gold in the area.

Interestingly, it is similar in scale and mineralisation to the Republic Gold District in Washington.

The group has embarked on the first four holes of a 3,000-metre drilling programme that will be used to help re-confirm the historic results.

The work is currently focused on a new high priority target east of the Main Zone, where only one hole was previously drilled and returned a grade of 4.9 ounces per tonne over 1.3 metres. This area is now known as the 490 Gold Zone.

It will also carry out work on a target identified earlier this year using ground magnetic and very low frequency electromagnetics.

Ximen’s geologists reckon it could be similar to NewGold’s Blackwater discovery in central British Columbia.

That deposit is epithermal-hosted within similar volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks to those on the Brett property. And it is a monster at more than 10mln ounces of gold and 65mln ounces of silver.

It is clear this modest initial programme will barely scratch the surface, which begs the question why Ximen didn’t tap investors for a substantially larger sum.

It is probably that Anderson and the team are looking to bring the project quickly along the value chain before returning to the market for more cash.

If the funding strategy works, then it is a far less dilutive method of using Ximen’s equity than a quick and early ‘splash and dash’.

The group also owns the Gold Drop property, also in British Columbia. However, the focus remains on the Brett project.

This focused approach will provide shareholders the best return.

With only 16mln shares in the market and the stock tightly held (management and major shareholders own 40%), the price will undoubtedly move if Ximen can replicate previous results, analysts said.

In an established mining district with good infrastructure and a stable political backdrop, Brett would, if all the early work on the property stacks up, be likely to attract acquisition interest.

Our verdict: Definitely one to watch.

www.ximenminingcorp.com

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