Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd. (TSXV: OMM) (OTCQB: OMMSF) has announced the discovery of a hard rock (lode) gold zone from its 2025 winter drill program at the Wingdam gold exploration project in the Cariboo Mining District of south-central British Columbia. The initial gold intercepts, drilled 500 meters west of and at depths lower than the Wingdam underground paleoplacer gold project, validate the company's assertion of a proximal lode source for the rich paleoplacer gold found beneath Lightning Creek.
The discovery comes 165 years after placer gold was first found in the Lightning Creek valley. The company's exploration thesis is based on evidence that the watershed flow direction changed due to isostatic depression of the crust under the weight of the Cordilleran glacial ice sheet. This weight pushed down the area to the west, causing the Fraser River to switch from northerly flow to its present southern course some 760,000 years ago, and later, approximately 200,000 years ago, Lightning Creek to change from flowing east to flowing west. These forces, combined with potential re-activation and subsidence of the Eureka Thrust Fault, explain why the lode source is located downstream (west) at depths equivalent to and below the level of the underground placer workings.
The reversed water flow thesis has been confirmed in Omineca's underground workings, where the imbrication (overlapping arrangement of pebbles) in the gravel layers indicates water flowed west to east, opposite to the present flow direction. This empirical evidence supports the idea that the gold eroded from the lode source was transported to the paleoplacer deposits.
The 2025 drill program completed 3,091.9 meters in six NQ diamond drill holes, following up on mineralization found in 2024. Highlights include WD25-41, which intersected 4.84 g/t gold from 158.98 to 160.05 meters (1.07 meters), the most anomalous gold result in diamond drilling on the property to date. This sample displayed localized fracturing and contained 2.0-6.0 cm calcite-quartz veins with disseminated pyrite traces. WD25-42 intersected 1.25 g/t gold from 345.00 to 347.00 meters in a lithic wacke containing minor quartz veinlets and disseminated pyrrhotite and pyrite.
The highest grade intercept was found in a section of amygdaloidal basalt associated with the Slide Mountain Terrane, which is dominant in ophiolites (ancient seafloor thrust upward). These ultramafic oceanic crustal rocks are affiliated with many of British Columbia's orogenic gold camps, including the Barkerville Gold camp 30 kilometers east, the Cassiar gold camp, the historic Bralorne mining camp, and the Greenwood Mining District, all structurally associated with ophiolitic seafloor rocks.
The discovery of lode gold in close proximity to the underground paleoplacer at Wingdam is significant because it provides a source for the rich placer gold deposits, which have been mined for over a century. Understanding the lode source can help in exploring for more gold in the region and potentially lead to the development of hard rock mining operations. The company plans to ramp up investigation of hydrothermal gold mineralization associated with the Eureka Thrust Fault, focusing on expanding the footprint of this discovery.
Stephen Kocsis, P.Geo., an independent qualified person for National Instrument 43-101, prepared or approved the scientific and technical information in this release. The company will continue its exploration program with details to be announced once finalized.
