Big Blue
Big Blue is a porphyry Cu-Au prospect located in Elko County, Nevada, approximately 75 kilometers (“km”) southeast of the city of Elko, NV. The project area includes the past producing Delker Mine, which produced 94,434 pounds of copper at an average grade of 6.2% Cu between 1916-1917 1 and shares its southern boundary with Reyna Silver’s Medicine Springs Ag-Pb-Zn Carbonate Replacement (“CRD”) project.
Outcropping garnet skarn with high-grade Cu-Au ± Ag rock chip samples collected by Ridgeline occurs on the Project on two outcropping buttes surrounded by post-mineral gravels covering a roughly five (5) km target area with the system zoning into a CRD system towards Medicine Springs. The primary target at Big Blue is porphyry-skarn Cu-Au ± Ag mineralization, which is interpreted as the potential source to the distal CRD mineralization at the Golden Butte Mine (Ag-Pb-Zn) at Medicine Springs – analogous to the Butte Valley porphyry Cu-Au system inferred to be a source of CRD mineralization at the Company’s Selena project. The 100% owned Project is comprised of a total of 50 square kilometers of highly prospective exploration ground that has seen limited exploration since the early 1900’s and will benefit from the Ridgeline teams systematic approach to discovery.
Delker Mine Trench Highlights
- Trench # 1: 0.6m @ 15.5% Cu, 0.2 g/t Ag, 0.1% Co within 2.4m @ 4.6% Cu, 0.5 g/t Ag, 0.06% Co
Rock Chip Highlights:
- Ohio Target: 3.9% Cu, 16.3 g/t Au, 0.03 g/t Ag (see VG in Picture 1), 0.44% Cu, 9.56 g/t Au, 0.30 g/t Ag and 0.25% Cu, 0.10 g/t Au, 0.20 g/t Ag
- Skarn Hill: 6.44% Cu, 0.16 g/t Au, 53.75 g/t Ag
- Delker Mine: 4.88% Cu, 0.10 g/t Au, below detection limit (“BDL”) Ag (Picture 1)
- Delker test pit: 6.31% Cu, 0.09 g/t Au, 4.21 g/t Ag
- A total of 116 surface rock chips have been collected between Ridgeline and historical operators. Sample values range from Below Detection Limit (“BDL”) to 15.49% Cu, BDL to 16.3 g/t Au and BDL to 53.75 g/t Ag (avg. 0.96% Cu, 0.28 g/t Au, 1.47 g/t Ag)
For a full table of rock chip values click HERE
Quick Facts
Deposit Type
Porphyry Copper-Gold ± Silver-Cobalt
Carbonate Replacement Silver-Lead-Zinc
exploration target
Open-Pit (Oxide
Underground (sulfide)
previous explorers
Pegasus Minerals, Kinross Gold, Newmont
Historic Production/Resource
94,434 pounds of copper at an average grade of 6.2% Cu between 1916-1917 1
Geochemistry
Historical rock chips and soils data acquired from a third party at no cost to Ridgeline in Q2 – 2023
Geophysics
Historical IP lines, ground and airborne magnetics, ground gravity acquired from third party at no cost to Ridgeline in Q2 – 2023
2D IP survey completed by Ridgeline over the Delker and Ohio Targets
Geology
Thick package of Pennsylvanian to Permian age silty limestones and calcareous siliciclastics that are overlying Mississippian to Devonian age siliciclastics and carbonates
Mapping
Detailed historical mapping in the Delker Mine and Skarn Hill adit area by previous operators
Drilling
Historical drilling ~5 holes in the Delker Mine area did not drill deep enough to adequately test targets