This survey was initiated in 2011 when the Ruby was first acquired, and was put on hold until the rehab of the Ruby Tunnel progressed to the point where the tunnel was reopened to the extent that many of the known underground mining targets became accessible. With the recent success in reopening the tunnel to provide access to the Big Bend and Black Channel approximately one mile within the mine, the Company has resumed the mapping project it originally envisioned.
As explained in a Company press release dated June 6, 2011, it is believed that the underground placer gold at the Ruby Mine was deposited in pools or local depressions on the beds of ancient rivers that crossed the Ruby Mine property millions of years ago, and that the location of the pools can be predicted based on well-established principles of river morphology. Prediction requires recording the relative elevation of the riverbed at high resolution. This is done by using laser instruments to survey the bottom of the riverbed exposed during previous mining operations. These instruments are accurate to within fractions of a centimeter, and every survey point is recorded digitally in three-dimensional space. The data is then compiled into a database using state-of-the-art software specifically designed for the mining industry, resulting in the rendering of a three-dimensional map of the buried river channels.
To establish the procedures for recording this information and creating digital 3-D maps of the bedrock surface, the Company is presently surveying the underground workings at high resolution. These procedures will also form the basis for day-to-day mine mapping when full production begins. The detailed survey information coupled with careful geologic mapping should provide a detailed picture of the drainage system in the channels and how and where gold was deposited within it. The study of the workings will also provide the basis for understanding the river sediments in the remainder of the mine as it is opened up, with the additional goal of discovering new auriferous channels that may be present but have thus far gone undetected by previous mining and geological studies.
The digital mapping survey is being led by Mr. C. Gary Clifton, P.Geo. The Company notes that it was during the course of the mapping survey last week that Mr. Clifton, with the assistance of the Ruby’s lead miner, Mr. Charles Johnson, recovered the first ounces of specimen gold in an area toward the south end of the Black Channel workings, as reported in the Company press release dated October 10, 2013. A small amount of additional gold was also recovered late last week as the underground mapping continues.
