The following story was published in the Times Star, a community weekly based in Geraldton, Ontario,
on August 20, 2008:

THERE'S GOLD BEYOND BLUEBERRY HILL
Kodiak Active in Geraldton Area
by Edgar J. Lavoie

In its search for gold, Kodiak Exploration Limited is leaving no stone unturned. Literally. It is examining ground that prospectors abandoned more than half a century ago. In the 1930's and '40's, prospectors looked seriously at the Portage Shear Zone Fault, which has an east-west trend that passes through Geraldton's urban area, north of Barton Bay on Kenogamisis Lake. But all the action seemed to be happening on the Bankfield-Tombill Fault, which trends east-west, south of Barton Bay. That fault system yielded nine producing mines.

This past winter Stephen Roach, senior consulting geologist for Kodiak, researched properties west of Geraldton. His findings led him to recommend exploration in this area, and the results of an airborne survey run on the whole Greenstone region this spring supported his findings.

In the spring the Municipality of Greenstone agreed to option a block of claims to Kodiak, a block Kodiak calls its Geraldton Kenogamisis Property. On the morning of July 29, the writer accompanied Stephen Roach and Gerry White to one of the two active exploration targets on this property.

Taking the unpaved road that runs past the Geraldton Medical Clinic and behind the water tower, the group traveled in pickup trucks to the area known locally as Blueberry Hill. According to Herb Byerley, the name refers specifically to a rocky outcrop behind the municipal trailer court and the cemetery, also known locally as the Junior Rockies. The long-time resident also recalled that a company called Lafayette had a shaft north of Barton Bay, and he recalled seeing cabins on the north shore past the big island. Records indicate that the shaft was sunk on the "east zone" of the Geraldton Kenogamisis Property.

The party drove past Blueberry Hill on a single-lane road that Kodiak had recently upgraded. Past the hydro line corridor, the party took a trail recently gouged out of the bush by a backhoe. In a swampy section the party encountered incredibly rough corduroy, so they resorted to walking the last 800 metres. The weather was cool and cloudy, with few flies, and the forecast for the afternoon was a thunderstorm.

Just under 4 kilometres from the water tower, the "west zone", on Claim No. TB 10943, has been recently stripped of bush and soil. An area of bedrock, about a football field in extent, has been exposed in a northeasterly direction, with a branch stretching westward to expose the No. 1 vein.

Roach pointed to the vein, trending east-west, and smiled: "I call it the No. 1 to Geraldton." He was alluding to the recent Western movie starring Russell Crowe, "3:10 to Yuma". For lack of an official name, Roach called the area the No. 1 Vein.

About 600 metres further east through the bush lies the "east zone", officially dubbed the Goldstrike Zone. Nearby is also the Drexel Zone. One accesses these zones by traveling a rough trail south along the hydro corridor. The terms "east zone" and "west zone" were applied by miners back in the '30's and '40's.

Back at the No. 1 Vein, two geotechs were washing down the exposed northeast-trending No. 6 vein with a hose. Eric Deroy and Richard Metansinine also operated water pumps and cut channel samples. Deroy had been working on the Hercules Project until Roach requested his assistance on the Geraldton Kenogamisis Property, closer to Deroy's home in Geraldton. Metansinine, from Jellicoe, was temporarily filling in for Andy Brown, another geotech.

Further south in the clearing, where the northeast-trending No. 3 vein intersected the east-trending No. 1 vein, prospector Phil Houghton (from Beardmore) was examining channel samples. Terry Halverson, a prospector from White River, and Greg McKay, a geology student from Ottawa, assisted Houghton. Said Houghton, "We're just doing the samples and waiting for the results to come back [from assays]. This is the best-looking arseno so far."

Gerry White, district geologist for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, was visiting the property for the first time. The work of stripping had begun about mid June. Steve Leduchowski Trucking Inc. had stripped about 2700 square metres. This particular zone exhibited no visible gold, but White was visibly impressed by the "stockwork", the network of gold-bearing veins and country (host) rock. Several times he exclaimed over the "indicator" minerals, especially the arsenopyrite.

Roach pointed out to White a rare mineral called scorodite, not easy to spot. Scorodite is a greenish yellow mineral formed by the oxidation of arsenopyrite. Arsenopyrite (FeAsS) is a mineral frequently associated with gold. Its distinctive crystals, metallic luster, and colour ranging from brassy white to grey make it a favourite among collectors. When crushed, it emits a garlicky odour.

All three vein systems in the clearing had been trenched in the '30's. Further to the south, in the bush, Roach pointed out some flagging tape on trees that indicated the locations of two more known veins, No. 10 and No. 11, still to be exposed.

The old trenches in the bedrock ranged from a few centimetres to a metre in width. Roach stated that the trenches on the No. 1 vein ranged from 5 cm to 1.2 m wide, and averaged .25 m in width. Occasionally a pit, up to 2 metres deep and up to as many metres wide, had been sunk by the oldtime miners.

White explained, "They were constantly panning this stuff, taking it out and grinding it with mortar and pestle." If they found good colour, they would dig deeper.

Roach had been surprised by the scarcity of "fly rock", the rocky debris blasted from the trenches. The oldtimers would have drilled holes by handsteel, packed in explosives, and excavated the narrow trenches and the pits. He concluded that they had been "mining" the fly rock. In the early stages of exploration, there would not have been any decent road to the find. "They mined the stuff," said Roach, "and packed the stuff out by horse or something in the '30's."

From his research of old records, Roach had determined that the property did have some interesting gold values, enough to prompt the oldtimers to initiate drilling programs. However, the results from shallow holes did not justify more intensive exploration in those days. Especially when their colleagues were making spectacular finds and establishing producing mines on the Bankfield-Tombill Fault.

Kodiak has sent samples of fly rock to an assay lab, but Roach said he would not be permitted to divulge the results until Kodiak makes an official announcement. On August 1, Kodiak released a comprehensive report on results of its Hercules Project and some information on other properties in the Greenstone District. The only mention of the "west zone", still without an official name, is as follows:

"A second zone of strong mineralization located 500 metres west of the Goldstrike zone has also been discovered. These structures are characterized by quartz veining with arsenopyrite over broad widths where historic grab samples have graded up to 129.5 gpt [grams per tonne] gold (3.777 opt). Additional stripping and channel sampling is ongoing; drilling has commenced."

On July 29, Roach said he was expecting a drill to arrive shortly from the Hercules Project.

The No. 1 vein had been stripped for a distance of 120 metres. In some places in the narrow trench, arsenopyrite dominated the wall (host) rock.

White was also fascinated by other promising indicators. The host rock was mafic volcanics (with pillow lava structure) and altered sediments. The pillow lavas exhibited evidence of stretching. The host rock was folded, sheared, fractured, cross-faulted – a jumble of interesting structures. "If you see a mix of all kinds of rock in one zone," said White, "that's an area you want to look at."

Roach had mentioned earlier that Kodiak has been exploring an area further west of Geraldton, called the West Geraldton Property. It is a block of claims south of the railway track, east of the Kenwall Siding Road, and north of Magnet Lake. Kodiak prospectors found old trenches on the Portage Shear Zone Fault. Kodiak cut a grid of north-south lines through the bush, and carried out a ground geophysical survey over five weeks in May and June. The area is quite swampy, and would lend itself to a winter drilling program. With rain clouds moving in, the party abandoned the plan to proceed to the Goldstrike Zone. Times Star will report on this zone at a later date. The next article in this series will survey the history of the Geraldton Kenogamisis Property.