South Orogrande - Orogenic Au
Opportunity – District-scale property with the potential to expand historic resources.
South Orogrande is situated within the Elk City mining district, specifically along the southern extension of the Orogrande Shear Zone, a highly prospective structural corridor known for hosting intrusion-related and orogenic gold systems, including the Stibnite gold deposit.
Scout holds 100% ownership of two projects within this 35 km mineralized shear zone: Erickson Ridge to the north and South Orogrande to the south. The Company's strategy is to consolidate these two projects into one contiguous land position, streamlining exploration efforts. This will enable Scout to generate a more comprehensive understanding of the mineralization throughout the district, and enhance the potential for discovery and development.
Highlights
Orogenic/intrusion-related gold system within the Elk City mining district; 1 Moz historic placer > lode gold production
District-scale property, along strike of 1.2 Moz Au resource (Friday), 5 km from 111,000 oz historic resource at Buffalo Gulch
Drilling by Scout in 2024 yielded intercepts of:
26.21 m @ 0.19 g/t Au, including 1.25m @ 0.83 g/t Au (SO-24-03)
5.00m @ 0.42 g/t Au, including 0.97m @ 1.188 g/t Au (SO-24-02)
0.44m @ 9.24 g/t Au (SO-24-04)
Scout’s monthly operating costs for its 2024 drilling program of 2,410m were as low as $239/m, 30-70% lower than most US drilling contractors
Bulk tonnage Au mineralization was intercepted in all ten holes across 750m of strike length with local areas of >1 g/t Au
Reconnaissance soil sampling outlined 2 x 2.5 km Au in soil anomaly (up to 2.6 g/t) open along shear zone to the N
Project Geology
The host rocks at South Orogrande are Cretaceous granodiorite, Mesoproterozoic biotite gneiss, and minor schist; all of these units are excellent sources of Fe for sulfidation, and are the primary hosts of disseminated Au mineralization.
Locally, Au mineralization is associated with sericite-pyrite alteration.
2024 Drilling
During the 2024 exploration season, Scout completed 10 core holes at South Orogrande to test previously identified structural and geochemical anomalies. The primary target was the southern extension of the N-S striking Orogrande Shear Zone, host to the adjacent Friday-Petsite deposit, as identified in regional airborne electromagnetics and ground-based IP.
All ten completed drill holes intercepted the Orogrande Shear Zone at the targeted depths, with mineralization observed in both the hanging wall and the footwall. Gold mineralization occurs as disseminated and stockwork quartz-sericite-pyrite zones within Cretaceous granodiorite and less Mesoproterozoic gneiss across wide +100-meter thick intervals, consistent with the Friday-Petsite deposite approximately eight kilometers north.
Click here to view the full April 2025 News Release.
Au mineralization is likely hosted in second order, potentially NE-striking structural zones rather than the primary Orogrande Shear Zone; similar to the granodiorite-hosted Golden Meadows deposit at the multi-million-ounce Stibnite project, approximately 75 kilometers south within the same regional shear zone. This concept will be tested with higher powered induced polarization (IP) and magnetic surveys in 2025, followed by a larger Phase II core program.
