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As regular BMR readers know, the under-exploited Sheslay Valley in northwest B.C. is our pick to emerge as one of the hottest exploration camps in Canada in 2014 and a potential new world-class Copper-Gold porphyry district (see map below).    We don’t state that lightly – it’s a well thought-out conclusion and “forward thinking” based on literally hundreds of hours of research over the last eight months that our team has put into this geologically very prospective part of the province.  We’ve carried out this work for one simple reason: We’re looking ahead and we see the potential for extraordinary investment returns associated with this play over the next year, especially with the Venture beginning its recovery out of a nasty three-year bear market.  The best time to jump into opportunities such as this is at the bottom of the cycle when many investors are so battered, bruised and negative, they can’t see the forest for the trees.

Sheslay Valley Still Undiscovered By Most Investors

We reckon that most junior resource investors around the world have never even heard of the Sheslay Valley yet, even though it’s a key part of the prolific Stikine Arch and on trend with massive deposits to the southeast.  This should change in the coming months – certainly by the summer – as Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) “turns up the dial” with extensive drilling at its Sheslay Project to follow up on VERY promising results obtained last summer and early fall, while Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) – the largest landholder among juniors in the Sheslay whose stock price has more than doubled since we first brought the company to our readers’ attention last June – launches an assault on its 175 sq. km Grizzly Property.  The Grizzly has never been drill-tested but has multiple targets over a 15-km northeast-trending corridor.  As investors await news from GGI on the Grizzly (we suspect they are working on a major geological interpretation based on extensive historical and current data from their own recent exploration plus results obtained from adjoining properties), the company does hold a distinctive advantage over its Sheslay peers at the moment due to its present active drilling and exploration programs in Mexico where opportunities for success are significant and growing as evidenced by news the other day.

In our reporting on the Sheslay district, our focus has mainly been on Prosper Gold and Garibaldi due to their strong balance sheets and highly-skilled management and geological teams.  These two companies have the strength to immediately take their respective opportunities in the Sheslay district to the next level, though they’re not expected to have boots back on the ground until the spring.  The third major player (among juniors) in the Sheslay area is Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) which is weak financially, and short of the scope of personnel experience and talent that PGX and GGI bring to the table, but DBV wins points for working hard trying to demonstrate that its Hat Property (contiguous to both the Sheslay and the Grizzly) has the potential for a deposit as well.  The Hat has been explored intermittently for decades but had never been drilled until last year by Doubleview.

Sheslay Valley Area Map – Potential Large-Scale Cu-Au Porphyry District

Sheslay Valley Area Map - this is taken from the Garibaldi web site, and we've added in the approximate location of Anomaly "B" at the Hat, and a few other features including dotted lines to indicate mineralization trends.

Prosper’s Advanced-Stage Sheslay Project

The “Star” is just one of several Cu-Au porphyry targets at Prosper’s Sheslay Project, and the consistency of mineralization in 29 holes drilled to date at the Star – 23 historically and six by Prosper – is nothing short of remarkable in terms of intersection lengths and grades.  The numbers are comparable to economic Cu-Au porphyry deposits elsewhere in B.C. and around the globe – investors have to understand that as long as there’s tonnage, grades of 0.30% Cu with a Gold “kick” can produce a robust mine. There was a reason Pete Bernier and award-winning geologist Dirk Tempelman-Kluit selected the Sheslay over about 150 other properties they performed due diligence on following their huge success with Richfield Ventures (Blackwater discovery) which went from pennies to more than $10 a share on a take-out by New Gold Inc. (NGD, TSX).

All the work carried out by Prosper last summer and fall strongly suggests that the Star target has an excellent chance of connecting with the North Star, and perhaps other targets (known and yet to be discovered?) on the 65 sq. km property.  Four targets (Star, North Star, East Star and Copper Creek) are clustered within a 12 sq. km area.  Meanwhile, the Pyrrhotite Creek porphyry – nearly five km southwest of the Star – is located in a second distinct multiple target area that also appears to encompass a significant portion of Garibaldi’s Grizzly Property which also hosts much of the Mount Kaketsa pluton believed to be an important “heat engine” for the area.

In fact, Garibaldi stated in a news release Sept. 30, “A preliminary review of the combined data confirms that the rock units underlying the Grizzly extend north on to the Sheslay property, and shows two parallel faults (extending 15 km from Grizzly West to Grizzly Central) that appear to be related to porphyry Copper-Gold occurrences on Sheslay and Grizzly West. Additional processing of the data is continuing…”

Doubleview’s Work At The Hat

Late last spring, Doubleview drilled six holes at its Hat Property – five of them into Anomaly “A” and the last one (hole #6)  into Anomaly “B” (they have several anomaly targets) located about 800 metres south.  Results from Anomaly “A” were disappointing but that area warrants further study.  The sixth hole was drilled into the western edge of Anomaly “B” and returned an interesting 110 m interval grading 0.21% Cu and 0.15 g/t Au.  The company raised more funds and drilled another five holes into various parts of Anomaly “B” beginning at the end of October.  Drill results are pending, and the stock was halted just before the open Friday morning. Undoubtedly, numbers are on the way as early as tomorrow.

Hat Holes – 9 km SE of Star Target

Keep in mind, for scale purposes, that these latest five holes at the Hat were drilled approximately a whopping nine km (9,000 m) southeast of Prosper’s Star target. They weren’t “confirmation” holes like Prosper drilled at the Star.  This is basically virgin ground requiring much more interpretation and work, though the one hole drilled last spring was a clue that something could be there.  But we caution that the odds of a “glory hole” at this early stage are very slim.  Our hope is that Doubleview has found enough reasons for more hope, that they’ve been able to at least confirm or modestly improve upon the results from that one previous and only hole ever drilled at Anomaly “B”.  That’s our measuring stick – a little bit of progression, allowing DBV to get a lift on its share price and raise more money.   Overall investor expectations are low, which is probably good – DBV last traded at a mere 8 cents.

The Hat is certainly a very prospective property.  We don’t say this out of any disrespect to Doubleview or its President, Farshad Shirvani, who has acted boldly with this project, but in the hands of another company with greater resources – technically and financially – the probability of defining a large tonnage deposit at the Hat would increase substantially in our view.

However, if our theory about the geological potential of the entire Sheslay district holds any merit, if we’re on the right track with how we’re interpreting all of this, then DBV should have something to offer investors – not anything spectacular, necessarily, but at least enough to warrant further drilling and create the possibility of a “Hat Trick” in the Sheslay district this summer – three simultaneous drill programs (Prosper, Garibaldi, Doubleview) which would really heat things up.