Work History

L. Carlyle and D. MacDonald staked BM cl 1-4 (YA95347) on the northwest ridge of Mt Byng in Jul/86. Two additional claims were staked in Apr/87. In May/88 Carlyle staked BM cl 7-43 (YB20538) around the original six claims and performed mapping and VLF-EM surveys in 1989. T. Bremner (DIAND) carried out reconnaissance mapping on the property in 1989. 
Aurora Gold Ltd optioned the property in 1990, staked BM cl 43-47 (YB27729) and carried out further geochemical sampling, blast trenching and VLF-EM surveys. In June and Jul/94 Carlyle blasted and hand dug additional trenches in the Main and R-17 zones. 
In Aug/95 Carlyle staked BC cl 1-20 (YB58112) to the southeast. A portion of the BC claim block covered lapsed BM cl 14-18 (YB20545). The claims were staked to protect arsenopyrite showings located at the R zone and cover Minfile Occurrence # 105D 189. Carlyle carried out soil sampling, trenching and prospecting around the Main and R-17 zones in 1995 and 1996 and fill-in soil sampling around the R-17 zone in 1998 .

Capsule Geology

The occurrence is located near the contact between Middle Triassic Joe Mountain volcanics and mid-Cretaceous Mount Byng felsite. Gold occurs with minor copper in vuggy, brecciated quartz-carbonate veins associated with mid-Cretaceous rhyolite dykes belonging to the Byng Creek volcanics. The rhyolitic rocks crosscut the Mount Byng felsite dated at 121 +/- 5 Ma and gabbro and anorthosite belonging to the Middle Triassic Joe Mountain volcanic complex . The veins occur along the margins of the rhyolite dykes which are up to 15 m wide and 1 km long and appear to be emplaced along parallel north-trending lineaments. VLF geophysics was found to provide a useful tool in outlining the location of the veins. 
Carlyle's work identified four main areas of interest. From the southeast to northwest, these are designated the R, Main, R-7 and R-17 zones. The Main zone showing is a vuggy, brecciated quartz-carbonate vein, which strikes 160° following the margin of a 9 m wide rhyolite dyke. Soil sampling completed in 1987 and 1988 returned up to 1 660 ppb Au, plus anomalous levels of Cu, As, Ni, Co and Cr. Rusty quartz float with malachite and azurite along fractures assayed up to 33.2 g/t Au, 139.5 g/t Ag and 6.53% Cu. Trench samples assayed as high as 126.8 g/t Au, and returned anomalous values for Hg, As, Sb and W. 
At the R-17 zone, located in the northwest corner of the BM claims, a rusty weathering chalcedony breccia is associated with a north trending rhyolite dyke. Bremner (1990) inferred this to be a hot spring deposit. Soil and trench samples returned elevated gold values. 
The R zone, located 1.2 km southeast of the Main zone consists of a distinctive ridge of brecciated Middle Triassic Joe Mountain Volcanics which have been cut by rhyolite dyke and Mt Byng felsite. Strong arsenopyrite mineralization occurs in the carbonate-epidote matrix of the breccia located in the northeast corner of the ridge. This mineralization is also associated with elevated levels of Au, Cu, and Mo. Previous work on the R zone has demonstrated the existence of north trending geochemical and VLF anomalies along the ridge. In Aug/95 the R zone was restaked within Carlyle's BC claims. 
Carlyle's 1995 and 1996 work programs extended the size of both the R-17 and Main zones, while work in 1998 suggests that the R-17 zone is a brecciated intrusive plug with a diameter of approximately 100 m.

 

Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence