The Millie property is situated approximately 40km southwest of the town of Winnemucca in Pershing County, Nevada. It is located on the Kings River Rift trend, a region with high magnetic signature and epithermal gold deposits, including Sleeper, Sandman, and Goldbanks, parallel to the prolific Northern Nevada Rift gold trend. The property lies in an area of hot-spring alteration hosting anomalous gold mineralization in Tertiary volcanic and lacustrine rocks. The Project represents the opportunity for the discovery of bonanza-style, low-sulfidation, volcanic-hosted gold mineralization in an area with excellent access and logistical support.
The Company has leased 42 unpatented claims (known as the Millie claims). The unpatented mining claims are located on U.S. federal land managed by the Winnemucca office of the BLM. The claims are located in T.32N., R.35E., sections 2 and 12. The Company paid US $9,517 to the BLM and Pershing County to record the claims and hold them for the 2010-2011 year ending September 1. Rio Fortuna will pay underlying owner Dave Mough US$5,000 for the first year payment and payments will escalate by US $5,000 per year to a maximum annual payment of $25,000. Mough would receive a 2% NSR from any production from the property, of which 1% could be bought for US$500,000 at any time prior to production. Mough also retains a 0.5% NSR royalty within an area-of-interest (AOI) surrounding the claims.
No permits have been acquired for drilling the property at this time. A Notice level permit to conduct disturbance activities such as trenching and drilling should be easy to obtain from the BLM.
No extraordinary conditions that would affect exploration or development are known on the property.
No mine workings or mine waste exist on the property. No mineral resources or reserves have been identified. Anomalies of gold and pathfinder elements that are closely associated with gold deposits have been identified in surface samples taken adjacent to the property. The claims that the Company has leased are almost entirely under gravel cover, but a several small patches of altered rock are exposed. Geochemically anomalous mineralized zones on and adjacent to the claims are more fully described below.
Accessibility, Climate, Local Resources, Infrastructure and Physiography
General access to the Millie Property is excellent and is gained by traveling on I-80 from either an east or west direction to Exit 151 near Mill City. From this Exit, travel approximately 4km southeast on the Barber Canyon road to the property.
Topography is gentle at and adjacent to the property, with topographic relief of less than 70m. Only a few hills exist in the area and the elevation is generally between about 1,300 and 1,400m. The general area is covered by cheat grass, but small areas of sagebrush and other forbs and grasses typical of the semi-arid areas of Nevada also occur. Muddy conditions may make travel at some times of the year difficult, particularly in the spring, although drilling should be possible year round.
Motels and restaurants of various types are available in Winnemucca or the nearby Burns Truck Stop near Mill City. Should an economic discovery be made, necessary infrastructure, such as housing, etc., would be available in Winnemucca, which presently serves as a logistical center for other major mines. Supplies can be trucked from nearby I-80 or from a rail station on the rail line adjacent to I-80. Reno is approximately 240km to the southwest of Millie and would be another source of logistical support.
Most of the area on, and in the vicinity of, the Millie claims is flat and suitable for mining facilities. Power and water are available within a few miles of the project; although, both of these would require acquisition should an economic discovery be made. Waste disposal sites could be permitted on the property or are available near Winnemucca. Nevada is a state known for gold mining and Winnemucca is a logistical center for several large gold mines. This fact would aid development of any mine on the Millie property, particularly with regard to hiring experienced miners.
No mineral resources have been identified and no mining has been done on the Millie property.
History
Very little is known about past exploration efforts in the area of the Millie claims. No major prospect pits or mine workings exist on the claims. The property has had previous unpatented mining claims located on it that have been abandoned. The results of previous exploration, if any, are unknown.
Geologic Setting
The prospect lies in the Basin and Range physiographic province, a region marked by high mountain ranges separated by desert valleys. Triassic and Pennsylvanian-Permian rocks are exposed within a few miles to the east and west of the property. The region has been covered and intruded by Mesozoic and Tertiary volcanic and intrusive rocks, and large portions have been covered by Tertiary and Quaternary sediments.
The Company's claims cover an area of mostly gravel cover. Silicified lacustrine and tuffaceous rocks underlie a hill that is east of and adjacent to the property. Rocks belonging to the Triassic Star Peak Group are exposed approximately 1.5km to the west of the property, stratigraphically beneath undifferentiated Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Several small hills composed of silicified conglomerate or gravel are also exposed within 3km to the north of the property. The basal Tertiary unconformity should be a highly favorable location for gold deposition and is a major exploration target at the property.
Little is known about the structural features of the property because of the lack of exposure; however, various geophysical surveys should assist in indentifying those features. The property is along the Kings River Rift, a prominent north-northwest trending linear magnetic anomaly that extends for more than 150km through west-central Nevada. This regional feature is believed to have formed at the same time as the gold-rich Northern Nevada Rift, beginning about 15 million years ago. Two chalcedony-quartz veins, measured adjacent to the property, both trend northerly and the USGS has mapped a fault on the eastern edge of section 2 that trends northeasterly.
Triassic rocks of the Star Point Group are exposed within 1.5km to the west of the Millie Property, along with Quaternary volcanic rocks. The older rocks are mostly limestone with subordinate amounts of calcareous siltstone and shale. The Tertiary (and Quaternary?) volcanic rocks exposed in the vicinity of the property are lacustrine volcanic sedimentary rocks and tuffs that may correlate with the Truckee Formation. Several outcrops of these rocks in the vicinity of the property are altered.
Exploration
USGS published maps of the Dun Glen and Imlay quadrangles cover the eastern and western portions of the Millie property, respectively.
The Company has collected no rock samples from the property; however, company consultant and underlying claim-holder, Dave Mough, collected a small number of samples from an area adjacent to the property, confirming the presence of anomalous gold (up to 0.163g/t Au), Sb (up to 259ppm), and mercury that ranges from 1 to 7.5ppm. Selenium is also anomalous in values as high as 29ppm.
The publically available USGS regional and state-wide aeromagnetic data indicates that the Millie property is along the western margin of the Kings River Rift, a prominent north-northwest trending linear zone of highly magnetic rocks.
Mineralization
No resources or reserves have been indentified at the Millie property.
Silicified lacustrine sedimentary rocks and tuffaceous rocks are exposed in the eastern half of section 1, immediately adjacent to the Company's claims in section 2. North-striking chalcedony and quartz veins, which contain the strongest Au anomaly taken by Mough, cut these silicified rocks.
Drilling
The Company has conducted no drilling, and no other drilling is known to have been done on the property. The underlying owner has noted a few old drill holes in the vicinity of the property. The results of this limited drilling are unknown to the Company at this time.
Sampling and Analysis
The Company has conducted no sampling on the property. The owner has conducted a limited amount of sampling, and he has identified anomalous values of Au, Sb and Hg in the vicinity of the Millie property. Sampling was concentrated on areas with altered rock. The samples are believed to be representative of the outcrops and float that were sampled, but were not taken to represent any specific sample width.
Data quality of the geochemical data generated by the Mough sampling program is backed by the blanks and internal standards used by ALS Chemex, an ISO approved laboratory, which conducted the analysis of the samples.
Security of the Samples
The surface samples discussed in this report were collected by Mough, the owner of the property, and delivered to the laboratory by him.
Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimates
There are no mineral resources or reserves established on the Millie property at this time.
Mining Operations
There are no mining operations on the Millie property.
Exploration and Development
The Company intends to map and sample surface outcrops and float, and possibly conduct soil sampling. The Company will also attempt to acquire historic drill and other data. Geophysics and drilling will depend on the results of this work.
