Work History
Staked as 14 Morning, Evening, etc cl by Eisenhauer et al about 1906, who carried out hand trenching over the next few years. The Evening claim was surveyed in 1910 and taken to lease but the claim and work records have since been lost.
Restaked as Chief cl 1-4 (60182) in Mar/51 by W. McAlister and as Rain cl 1-2 (90559) in Sep/64 by A.H. Moisey. The Rain claims were optioned to Yukon Antimony Corporation Ltd, which built a tote trail to the showing in 1964 and carried out bulldozer trenching in 1965.
Restaked as Chief cl 1-71 (YA74384) in Nov/81 by AGIP Canada Ltd following reconnaissance geochemical soil sampling earlier in the year. In 1982, AGIP carried out geological mapping, geochemical rock and soil sampling, magnetometer surveying and staked Chief cl 72-106 (YA74870) to the north in Jul/82. The company entered a joint venture with Erickson Gold Mines Ltd in 1984. Erickson staked Butte cl 1-34 (YA82680) 4 km to the north in Aug/84. In 1985, Erikson drilled 9 rotary holes (132.6 m) and carried out trenching on the Butte claims, before changing its name to Total Erickson Resources Ltd later in the year. Some of the claims were restaked and fractions were covered with Glee cl 1-22, 38-46 and 59-80 (YA93875) in October and Nov/85 by AGIP and Total Erickson. The companies carried out geological mapping, geochemical sampling, trenching, magnetometer, VLF-EM, HLEM and IP surveys and road construction in 1986; diamond drilling of seven holes (894 m) in 1987; eight holes (902 m) in 1988; and seven holes (1 804 m) in 1989.
Wheaton River Minerals Inc purchased the claims in 1991 and explored the Ocean vein with three deep drill holes (1 033.5 m) and additional HLEM surveying.
Omni Resources Inc purchased the claims in 1993. BYG Natural Resources Inc staked TM cl 1-117 (YB66866) to the east in May/96 and added TM cl 118-133 (YC07981) in Jul/97. These claims were later (Oct/2000) transferred to Omni Resources after a claim of lien was filed against BYG in Mar/99. Omni Resources drilled five holes (608 m) on the Ocean vein in 1997.
In Nov/2000 Omni amalgamated with Trumpter Yukon Gold Inc to form Tagish Lake Gold Corporation.
Capsule Geology
Gold and silver occurs in quartz-stibnite veins containing minor sphalerite in the Chieftain Hill area. The veins are hosted by a series of parallel east-west shears in the Mid-Cretaceous aged Mt. Ward granite of the Mt. McIntyre plutonic suite and are up to 3 m wide and 10-100 m apart. Rhyolite and andesite dykes and several small plugs of quartz-feldspar porphyry are often spatially associated with the veins.
Three types of veins are present and occur principally on the south and north sides of Morning Gulch, on the eastern, lower slopes of Chieftain Hill approximately 2.5 km northeast of the Skukum Creek deposit (Minfile Occurrence #105D 022).
The Ocean vein system or shear zone ranges up to 2.6 m wide and has been drill-tested over a strike length of 800 m and a vertical extent of 400 m. It consists of brecciated quartz with a dark grey matrix of fine-grained sulphides and chlorite, and occurs in a 4.5 m wide shear zone cutting granite. The sulphides include up to 15% pyrite, 4% galena and up to 1% chalcopyrite. The Chieftain Hill fault truncates the vein at its west end. The granite wall rock is brecciated, clay-altered and cut by numerous sericitized rhyolite dykes. Drilling in 1997 returned generally low values (<0.5g/t Au) over narrow widths outside of the vein, with one section from the vein grading 13 g/t Au and 7.6 g/t Ag over 1.53 m. The host granite is strongly bleached within tens of meters of the vein system and shows pervasive quartz-sericite-(carbonate) alteration.
The Evening vein, locate upslope to the north of the Ocean vein, is a quartz vein with a core of radiating stibnite crystals. It occurs in a 10 m wide shear zone cutting altered andesite. It is up to 1.4 m wide and has been traced on surface for about 35 m. A drill hole intersected 1.4 g/t Au and 116.9 g/t Ag over a true width of 0.15 m.
The Pristine, Ebony, Better B and Johnny B veins, which occur south of the Ocean vein, cut granite or rhyolite and consist mostly of 80-90% coarse grained and comb-textured quartz, and 10-20% sulphides including pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and sphalerite. Stibnite is notably absent. Assays range up to 32.2 g/t Au and 3 428.5 g/t Ag.
References
AGIP CANADA LTD, Nov/82. Assessment Report #091391 by R.A. Doherty and R. Tykajlo.
BOSTOCK, H.S., 1941. Mining industry of Yukon, 1939 and 1940. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 234, p. 36-37.
DICKSON, H.G., Jul/07. Claim compilation map of part of Conrad Mining District by H.G. Dickson, D.L.S., Yukon Archives.
ERICKSON GOLD MINES LTD, Aug/85. Assessment Report #091652 by R. Somerville.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, Summary Report 1909, p. 54-55; Summary Report 1915, p.48.
GEORGE CROSS NEWSLETTER, 27 Apr/93.
GORDEY, S.P. and MAKEPEACE, A.J., 2003. Yukon Digital Geology, version 2.0, S.P Gordey and A.J. Makepeace (comp.); Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 1749 and Yukon Geological Survey, Open File 2003-9(D).
HART, C.J.R. and RADLOFF, J.K., 1990. Geology of the Carcross, Fenwick Creek, Alligator Lake, Whitehorse and part of Robinson map areas (105D/2,3,6,11 & 7), Yukon. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; Open File 1990-4, 113p.
HART, C.J.R., 1992. Chieftain Hill (Morning, Evening, Ocean). Yukon Exploration 1991, p. 35-39.
OMNI RESOURCES INC and TRUMPETER YUKON GOLD INC, Oct/87. Assessment Report #093720 by T.M. Elliott.
OMNI RESOURCES INC and TRUMPETER YUKON GOLD INC, Nov/2000. Joint News Release.
TAGISH LAKE GOLD CORPORATION, Feb/2002. Web Site: www.tagishgold.com.
TAGISH LAKE GOLD CORPORATION, Mar/2003. Assessment Report #094337 by C.O. Naas.
WHEATON RIVER MINERALS LTD, Jan/92. Assessment Report #092993 by R.A. Doherty.
