The Stibnite Gold Project area sits atop the Idaho Batholith, one of the signature features of Idaho’s unique geology. The Idaho Batholith is nearly 14,000 square miles of granite, tracing its roots back to the collision of the oceanic plate and the North American plate around 100 million years ago in the the age of dinosaurs. Continental drift pushed the denser oceanic plate under the North American plate, where immense heat, pressure and superheated water caused the oceanic plate rocks to melt, rise and then slowly cool, creating the vast expanse of crystalline granite underneath most of central Idaho.
Some 50 million years later, an enormous volcanic complex (as big as the Yellowstone Park volcanic complex) erupted through the granite and left behind volcanic ash, lavas and crystalline rocks. The volcanic activity pumped hot fluids into the cracks and pores of the Idaho Batholith – very much like what we see happening in the famous geothermal pools and geysers of Yellowstone Park today. These hot fluids contained gold, silver, antimony and sulfur which, as the waters cooled, left behind minerals like pyrite (containing gold), stibnite (containing antimony) and scheelite (containing tungsten). The partnership of the Idaho Batholith cooling and interacting with volcanic forces, and mineral-rich fluids, created a geologic region that has that has captured the attention and imagination of geologists and prospectors for more than a 100 years.
From our exploration of the Stibnite Gold Project area, it is clear that geologic processes over tens of millions of years created an incredibly mineral-rich resource in Idaho. We are furthering our knowledge of Idaho’s geologic history and this vast mineral resource through collaborative efforts among our geologists, the Idaho Geological Survey, the United States Geologic Survey and academic institutions such as Boise State University, the University of Idaho and the University of Nevada.