The Sullivan SEDEX Deposit and Exploration of the Sullivan Deeps Target Area

2006

Paul Ransom,

The 150 million tonnes Sullivan orebody at Kimberley, British Columbia, is one of a small number of giant lead-zinc-silver deposits. Sullivan is a sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) deposit that accumulated in the bottom of an elongate sub-basin in an ancient ocean. Feeder zones with characteristics similar to the one beneath Sullivan occur 2.5 and 4 km south at Stemwinder and North Star, however, the portions of the sub-basin that might have contained large sulphide deposits at those locations has been eroded. Exploration to locate the northern extension of the sub-basin was initiated by Cominco and two deep drill holes were completed in the late 80’s and late 90’s. After the closure of the Sullivan Mine in late 2001, and under an option agreement with Teck Cominco, Stikine completed drill hole "SD1" to a depth of 2,766 metres in late 2004, and drill hole "SD2" to 2,460 metres in mid-2005 approximately 4 km north of Sullivan. Stikine’s holes intersected the target horizon sulphides and sulphide thickness resembling the east ore limits of Sullivan. These historic drill results are the best Sullivan-like massive and bedded sulphides discovered away from the immediate vicinity of Kimberley in a century of drilling in the host Aldridge Formation. A 2006 drill program will test the continuity of the deep and therefore preserved corridor that hosts one of the world’s best mineralized sub-basins.

Keywords: SEDEX, Sullivan Deeps, Cominco, Silver, Stikine Gold, Sullivan, Zinc, Lead