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Whisker Valley Project
Project Summary
Maritime’s Whisker Valley gold exploration project is located within 10 kilometers and to the northwest of the Company’s Hammerdown Gold Project. The property is easily accessible from a series of forest access roads connected to the Baie Verte highway (HWY 410) located at the property’s western boundary. The Whisker Valley project includes three primary exploration areas – the Gary Vein System, the El Strato Gold Zone and the Fluorite Zone.
Geology, Structure and Mineralization
The property occurs within a major tectono-stratigraphic zone in the northeastern portion of the Appalachian orogeny of eastern North America. It is bounded by two major fault systems, the Baie Verte Fault Line to the west and the Green Bay Fault to the east. The Baie Verte Fault Line is a crustal-scale north-northeast striking fault system that separates obducted ophiolitic crust and underlying mantle from the Laurentian continental margin (Humber Zone) to the west with the diverse oceanic rocks of the Dunnage Zone of central Newfoundland to the east. Hydrothermal systems active during the Silurian Taconic orogeny are thought to be responsible for the deposition of epigenetic lode gold deposits in this region. Maritime recognizes the importance of these large-scale regional structures as conduits for the localization and transport of mineralizing fluids and secondary splay structures as the depositional environments for gold.
Two mineralized corridors define the abundance of gold mineralization discovered to date on the Whisker Valley property, 1.) the Whisker Valley Trend and 2.) the Middle Arm Fault Trend. The Whisker Valley mineralized corridor occurs within a north-south trending erosional window exposing Burlington Granodiorite between rhyolitic and felsic tuffaceous units of the younger King’s Point Volcanic Complex to the east and west. A significant number of gold bearing quartz veins and abundant mineralized float have been discovered along this north south corridor covering an area 3 km north-south by 1.5 kilometers east-west. It is believed that the mineralized corridor continues further to the north and south along the exposed Burlington Granodiorite window.
Gary Vein System (Au)
The Gary vein mineralized corridor occurs within a north-south trending erosional window exposing Burlington Granodiorite between rhyolitic and felsic tuffaceous units of the younger King’s Point Volcanic Complex to the east and west. A significant number of gold bearing quartz veins and abundant mineralized float have been discovered along this north south corridor covering an area 3 km north-south by 1.5 km east-west. It is believed that the mineralized corridor continues further to the north and south along the exposed Burlington Granodiorite window. The Gary gold-bearing quartz vein system is the most significant discovery to date on the property. Trenching has exposed the east-west trending vein system for a distance of 320 m, and it remains open in both directions. Systematic channel sampling along the Gary Vein trench have demonstrated continuity of significant gold mineralization along its 320-m exposed length and over potentially mineable widths. Expansion of the soil grid to the south, additional ground IP and diamond drilling is planned for 2023, pending further financing.
El Strato Gold Zone
The El Strato property is located on the Baie Verte Peninsula in north-central Newfoundland, approximately 20 km north of the Trans Canada Highway and 40 km south southwest of the town of Baie Verte. Route 410, a paved two-lane highway is located only 1 km west of the property and is paralleled by a 138 kV electrical transmission line.
In January 2023, Maritime optioned additional claims on the El Strato gold trend further consolidating an emerging gold mineralized system stretching over 7 kms. The El Strato gold prospect hosts numerous gold and base metal occurrences and trends centered around the Whisker Valley and Middle Arm secondary fault structures. Previous exploration identified widespread gold mineralization associated with secondary structures hosting quartz, carbonate and base-metal-rich veins considered to be indicative of a structurally controlled orogenic gold system. Historic grab samples of outcrop reported gold grades up to 239.6 gpt gold and angular float samples ranging from anomalous to 72.0 gpt gold. Limited historical drilling at the El Strato area has intersected up to 3.15 gpt gold over 3.2m, and 14.23 gpt gold over 1.2 m (ES-11-23, news release Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc, August 3, 2011). Soil sampling throughout the El Strato property has outlined several high-grade multi-station/multi-line gold anomalies near the Middle Arm Fault. None of these results have been verified by Maritime and are considered historical, however representative sampling by Maritime in 2022 returned outcrop samples grading 21.83 gpt gold and 2.95 gpt gold at the Voodoo Brook showing which confirmed the high-grade nature of the mineralization.
Fluorite Zone (Au)
A new mineralized zone containing widespread disseminated pyrite with extensive silica and potassic alteration has been identified at Whisker Valley 1 km east of the Gary vein system. This zone is characterized as an extensive hydrothermal breccia system containing gold, zinc, fluorite, and rare earth elements that is geologically similar to other alkalic epithermal systems such as the world class Cripple Creek gold deposits in Colorado, USA. The surface extents of this system are not yet known however similar alteration and mineralization has been exposed in trenching and prospecting over several hundred metres. Four grab samples from the trenched area returned appreciable amounts of gold ranging from 0.45 gpt gold to 1.32 gpt gold. The new alkalic epithermal gold prospect is located stratigraphically above an exposed and highly altered monzonite intrusion that is believed to be the alkaline porphyry root of the epithermal prospect. Ground based IP surveys and diamond drilling was completed in 2021 along with hyperspectral scanning of the core. Assay results from the drilling are being interpreted, however, ICP-34 analysis of core is still pending. To advance the understanding and prospectivity of the Fluorite Zone, an advanced study of lithogeochemical sampling and detailed geological mapping along with an expanded soil sampling grid is required, pending further financing.
Exploration