Geoscience BC Announces QUEST-South Phase 1 Projects
April 7, 2009- Geoscience BC is pleased to announce the launch of Phase 1 of the QUEST-South Geoscience Project in the southern interior of British Columbia. The QUEST-South Project builds on Geoscience BC's successful QUEST and QUEST-West exploration geoscience projects, which combined regional geochemical surveys with regional airborne geophysics techniques to stimulate more exploration industry interest in central British Columbia.
Phase 1 of the QUEST-South Project will start early this summer, with the reanalysis of over 9000 archived stream sediment samples previously collected by the Geological Survey of Canada and the British Columbia Geological Survey, from an area extending south from Williams Lake to the BC-USA border and west from Revelstoke to Pemberton. Phase 1 of QUEST-South will also include the collection and analysis of over 1000 new stream and soil geochemical samples in an area centered on Princeton, Merritt and Ashcroft.
Geoscience BC will support the entire integrated drainage sediment geochemical program, at a cost of approximately $450,000. Geoscience BC expects to release details on Phase 2 of the QUEST-South Project later this year.
"New geoscience data in the south central region will further stimulate exploration activity and investment in the area," said Minister of State for Mining, Gordon Hogg. "Geoscience BC's QUEST, QUEST-West and now QUEST-South will unlock the province's mineral potential, stimulating local economies and providing direct and indirect employment opportunities in communities across the province."
The QUEST-South area has a long history of mineral exploration and mining, including the Highland Valley Copper mine, the Gold Bridge gold-quartz vein camp, Taseko Mines Ltd's Prosperity deposit and Copper Mountain (Copper Mountain Mining Corp).
"Geoscience BC's QUEST-South Project will build on other public geoscience surveys recently completed in the area including the joint Geoscience BC -- Natural Resources Canada -- Industry Bonaparte Lake multiparameter airborne geophysical surveys released in 2007, and the NRCan Kamloops multiparameter survey released in 2009," said Dr. 'Lyn Anglin, President and CEO of Geoscience BC. "The new QUEST-South information will also complement the recent geological mapping work done in the region by the BC Geological Survey and Geological Survey of Canada."
Geoscience BC will also continue to add value to regional geochemical and geophysical datasets collected as part of the QUEST and QUEST-West programs, which focus on prospective rocks between Williams Lake and Prince George, and Vanderhoof and Terrace respectively.
Geoscience BC is also currently looking for projects to follow-up on the QUEST-West and QUEST datasets and will issue a request for proposals (RFP) on Wednesday, April 8th. For more information on this RFP, or to access any of the existing QUEST and QUEST-West datasets, go to Geoscience BC's website at www.geosciencebc.com.
Geoscience BC
Geoscience BC (GBC) is an industry-led, industry-focused not-for-profit society. Its mandate includes the collection, interpretation and marketing of geoscience data and expertise to promote investment in resource exploration and development in British Columbia. Geoscience BC is funded by the Provincial Government and works in partnership with industry, academia, government, First Nations and communities to attract mineral and oil & gas investment to BC.
For more information, please contact: Geoscience BC
'Lyn Anglin, Ph.D., P.Geo.
President and CEO
(604) 290-1194