GRIN continued the geologic mapping and sampling program during the claim staking process.  Results continued to be encouraging with samples collected from outcrops of highly altered Paleozoic sedimentary units including chert, limestone, quartzite, sandstone, shale and siltstone.  A total of 179 samples were collected during the follow up program including 39% anomalous in gold and 48% anomalous in silver.

The screen shot "Geosample 1" (left) depicts the distribution of anomalous gold in surface samples in the northern portion of the claim block in relation to lithology and mapped structural zones.

The screen shot "Geosample 2" (left) depicts anomalous gold distribution in the southern portion of the Texas Canyon claim block in relation to lithology and structural zones.

Geologic Summary:
The Texas Canyon Project lies within the Knoll Mountains, east of the Granite Mountains, and west of the Delano Mountains in the northeastern part of Elko County. The project area is included within the southeastern portion of the Contact Mining District (Lapointe, 1991).  The rocks of the Knoll, Granite, and Delano Mountains include thick sequences of Permian and Mississippian limestone, sandstone, chert, siltstone, shale, and phosphorite and generally belong to the heterogeneous Pequop, Grandeur, and Phosphoria Formations. During the Jurassic Period these rocks were folded and cut by numerous bedding plane thrust faults (Coats, 1987; Slack, 1972). Locally, imbricate overthrust slices of lower Paleozoic Western Assemblage units, including Ordovician Vinini Formation and Devonian Slaven Chert, outcrop as klippe within the surrounding Permian rocks.

In the nearby Granite Mountains, the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks are intruded by a Jurassic granodiorite (Maldonado, 1988), which is about 25 km long (east-west) and 12 km wide (north-south). Finer grained, quartz monzonite and syenite dikes cut the granodiorite. Garnet skarns and hornfels rocks are common along the contact of intrusive and sedimentary rocks. Mineralized and un-mineralized quartz veins up to six meters wide and 3000 meters long occupy some faults and quartz-vein stockworks occur locally along the intrusive contacts.

Locally, the Paleozoic and Cretaceous rocks are overlain unconformably by Tertiary rhyolite flows and tuffs including the Jarbidge Rhyolite, a regionally extensive ridge former and a generally strongly welded, vitric-crystal ash-flow tuff. Generally less abundant, poorly indurated Pliocene Humboldt Formation sediments and possibly other Pliocene pyroclastic rocks locally overlie the rhyolite (Coats, 1987).

The stratigraphy of the Texas Canyon Project consists of greater than 700 meters of exposed Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that include Pequop Formation limestone, and undifferentiated chert, siltstone, and quartzite/sandstone. Repetition of the section within fault-bound thrust slices makes overall stratigraphic thickness uncertain. The chert, siltstone, and quartzite outcrops are fault bound throughout the Texas Canyon Project area. These fault bound sedimentary rocks are mapped as undifferentiated Devonian, Ordovician and Silurian on the Elko County geologic map (Coats, 1987). Outside of the claim block, to the west, more than 300 meters of Tertiary volcaniclastic rocks and strongly welded crystal-vitric rhyolite tuff unconformably overlie these Paleozoic rocks.

Volumetrically the bedded Pequop limestone represents over half of the Paleozoic outcrops in the project area and over 300 meters thickness are exposed. The limestone beds are light- to medium-grey except along faults and bedding planes where they are hydrothermally altered and replaced by silica and other secondary minerals. Most limestone beds have a large terrigenous clastic component.  The original volume percent of silt and sand sized clasts is uncertain due to the variable decalcification of the limestone by hydrothermal fluids.  Fossil-rich beds are common especially in the lower part of the limestone section.  Lenses of discontinuous coarse-grained bioclastic beds rich in crinoid fragments and fusilinids are especially abundant low in the section near Texas Spring Canyon.

The chert and intercalated siltstone beds are thinly bedded. These beds are dark gray and brown, but are medium to dark reddish brown and medium greenish gray in areas of strong hydrothermal alteration.  All chert/siltstone outcrops are strongly fractured and jointed.  The quartzite/sandstone beds are generally medium to coarse grained and moderately well sorted. They are generally moderately to strongly hydrothermally altered, probably due to their original higher porosity than adjoining rocks. The quartzite is generally dark to medium gray, but is locally medium to dark reddish brown near fault contacts.  A coarse-grained, medium yellowish to reddish brown granitic intrusive cuts Pequop Limestones in the southern claim area.  Limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite are common within the granite outcrop.

Poorly defined, overturned northwest-plunging folds have moderate to steep generally northwest-dipping bedding planes within bedded Pequop Formation limestone. In the northern Texas Canyon area, low-angle thrusts cut the limestone and undifferentiated Paleozoic chert, siltstone and quartzite into discrete thrust-slices. These beds are cut by younger northeast-striking normal faults with southeasterly dips that are variable but generally greater than 45 degrees.  In the southern claim area, surface exposures of Mesozoic (?) age granite appear to intrude along the axis of a northwest plunging fold.

The most strongly altered and mineralized host rocks are in the southeastern hanging wall of northeast-striking quartz veins and especially in adjacent fault breccias.  Rocks are strongly silicified adjacent to the vein and jasperoid is common. In the hanging wall, distal to the veins, silica is less abundant, but the limestone is decalcified and locally enriched in dolomite and other secondary minerals. Decalcification is strongest adjacent to the jasperoids.

Northeastern Texas Canyon Project host rocks are generally more strongly silicified than the southern, especially along thrust planes; however, in the southern project area all Pequop limestone is decalcified to some degree. Hydrothermal alteration extends outward from the faults and quartz veins along bedding planes and joints in the limestone host rocks forming stratabound zones of replacement.

The most continuous of the northeast-striking veins, the Prince Mine Vein, is up to two meters wide and has a strike length of over 1,500 meters.  An alteration zone with anomalous gold, molybdenum, uranium and pathfinder elements averaging about 20 meters wide parallels the Prince Mine Vein.

The Prince Mine Vein, and parallel veins/normal faults, extend from the Prince Mine northeasterly to the central Texas Canyon claim area where they are covered by post-mineralization deposits. These veins/normal faults probably extend more than three kilometers northeast because mineralized veins with the same strike continue north of the post-mineralization rocks.  Shallow mine workings previously developed at the Prince Mine for uranium exploration show that veining was syntectonic because silicified fault breccia commonly occurs along vein margins and within the vein.  Cavities are common and some host drusy quartz with calcite and iron oxide coatings.  Thin quartz-calcite stringers and stockworks are common adjacent to and especially in the hanging-wall of the vein.   Northeast-striking vein gangue mineralogy includes several generations of quartz, sericite, calcite, dolomite and iron oxides. Pseudomorphic casts of probably oxidized gangue minerals are commonly preserved within quartz in the veins.  Elongate and acicular casts may have held stibiconite, stibnite or other acicular minerals.  Limonite pseudomorphs with preserved striations were probably pyrite and chalcopyrite.  Siliceous sinter and silicified Tertiary rhyolite outcrop in the west-central map area, west of the Texas Canyon Property claims. From surface rock chip sample results these outcrops are anomalous in arsenic but not gold mineralization.

Gold mineralization encountered at the Texas Canyon Prospect is hosted in veins, fault breccia, which parallels veins, and zones of replacement and decalcification in sedimentary wall rock adjacent to the veins. The veins are fault controlled and mineralization occurred during faulting. The Paleozoic sediments are displaced across the veins. Locally, older veins are brecciated and cemented by younger veins.  The zones of replacement are locally broad and follow favorable horizons in the bedded limestone host rocks, fault breccia, and thrust planes.  Gold is associated with decalcification, silicification, and highly anomalous concentrations of antimony, arsenic, lead, silver and zinc and locally anomalous mercury, molybdenum, and copper. This association of alteration and geochemistry is typical of polymetallic vein and replacement deposits and distal with respect to distal-disseminated, skarn, and porphyry deposits in this region.

A gravity survey and ground magnetic survey on the Texas Canyon Project area were conducted by Magee Geophysical Services LLC, Reno, Nevada.  Big Sky Geophysics has conducted a detailed magnetic survey and supervised a spectrometric survey in the southern portion of the claim block near the Prince Mine to assess potential for uranium/molybdenum mineralization. Big Sky provided a summary report, digital maps for U, K, Th and a map depicting 16 areas of interest.  The results of these surveys show geophysical anomalies which closely correspond with known veining, alteration zones, mineralization and structures, which were determined by detailed geologic mapping and a rock chip sampling program.

GRIN initiated the grid-based spectrometric survey in October 2007 to assess the high-grade uranium target identified in July 2007 as part of a limited surface outcrop sampling program on the southern portion of the claim block.  GRIN previously reported five surface rock chip samples ranging from 790 ppm U (0.086% U3O8) to >10,000 ppm U (1.09% U3O8) in its July 20, 2007 press release.  A subsequent full assay by Chemex confirmed the higher grade sample to be 1.05% U (1.1445% U3O8).

GRIN geologists conducted a follow-up surface rock chip sampling program in coordination with the spectrometric survey to determine the significance of the strong uranium signature along northeast-trending structural zones near the Prince Mine area. Although the only adit entry present on the claim block is partially caved, GRIN sampled the accessible areas of the shallow workings.  The uranium occurrence is documented as the “Prince Claims” in the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 81, 1973.  A description of the uranium occurrence taken from the Bulletin is as follows: “Radioactivity = 40cps; High = 5000 cps. Chip samples reportedly contained 1.20 (1.45 eU3O8), 0.02 and 0.06 (0.073 eU3O8) percent eU3O8.

Geology: Uranophane(?) has been reported from an area of Paleozoic limestones and Tertiary granites.  No other information is available on the prospect.

References: U. S. Atomic Energy Comm. Prelim Reconn. Rept. 3417.

The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Open File Reports OF79-2 (an update of Bulletin 81) and OF06-19 reported additional information on the occurrence as follows:

“Development: Bulldozer cuts and trenches and a small amount of underground workings.

Radioactivity: Background (Paleozoic rocks) = 125 cps; High = 9500 cps.  Assays of 0.3 percent eU3O8 or greater are reported across a width of several feet, up to 7% U3O8 reported locally.

Geology: Anomalous radioactivity and uranium mineral occurrences are present along fault zones in Permian (?) limestone and sandstone. Uranophane, renardite, phosphuranylite, and coffinite (?) were recognized at one locality; however, elsewhere uraniferous limonite-maghemite is the main radioactive species.  Four radioactive localities are reported in a 0.5 square mile area, associated with northeast- or northwest-trending fault zones which are hydrothermally altered and leached.  The mineralization has not been investigated at depth…..”

References: U. S. Atomic Energy Comm. Prelim. Reconn.  Report 3417; Redfern, 1977.”

The screen shots at left depict spectrometric and magnetic maps of the southern portion of the claim block, which show significant geophysical anomalies in the Prince area as well as sub-parallel structures to the east.  Uranium assays conducted by Chemex on 91 samples collected during the spectrometric survey include 31, which are anomalous in uranium.  Also, as shown below, the main northeast-trending structure that hosts the Prince Mine is significantly anomalous in gold, molybdenum, phosphorus and tungsten in addition to uranium.

This screen shot depicts surface rock chip samples with anomalous gold (red star), overlying Total Count eU map layer and surface structure map layers.

This screen shot depicts surface rock chip samples with anomalous gold (red stars) overlying the total magnetics map layer and surface structure layers.  Gold, molybdenum, uranium and tungsten are also prevalent along the northeast-trending structures as shown in screen shots below. The magnetic high in the center of the screen shot appears to be associated with a hydrothermally altered granitic intrusive, which is exposed in limited surface outcrops.

This screen shot depicts surface rock chip samples with anomalous molybdenum (red stars) overlying the total magnetics map layer and surface structure map layers.   Molybdenum distribution follows the northeast-trending structural zone and also occurs peripherally to the hydrothermally altered granitic intrusive.

This screen shot depicts surface rock chip samples with anomalous Tungsten (red stars) overlying the Total Count eU layer and surface structure layers.  Tungsten distribution is coincident with the northeast-trending structures.

This screen shot depicts a detailed view of the Prince Uranium Mine Area with surface rock chip samples anomalous in Uranium (red stars) overlying the Total Count eU map layer and surface structure map layers.

GRIN geologists have developed an eight-hole initial phase exploration drilling program and a trenching program to test the Prince vein and altered structural zones adjacent to the vein.  The initial program is planned for mid-2008. A second drilling program will test the nearby hydrothermally altered granitic intrusive, which contained low levels of anomalous gold and adjacent structures.  Two rock chip samples of highly altered arkose or altered intrusive located between the Prince Mine and the granitic intrusive outcrop contained 0.200 and 0.246 gpt gold.

The screen shot at left depicts the GPS location, laboratory analysis and picture of the rock chip sample that assayed 1.1445% U3O8.