Work History

Staked as Champ, etc cl (66700) in Aug/53 by Prospectors Airways Ltd, on behalf of a syndicate including Noranda Mines Ltd and Kerr Addison Gold Mines Ltd, which explored with gravity and magnetic surveys and 6 holes (277.7 m) in 1954-55, and legal surveys in 1956. The property was later transferred to Vangorda Mines Ltd. In 1973, Kerr Addison joint ventured with AEX 73 Syndicate, which conducted a Turam survey and drilled 4 holes (892.8 m) in 1973, reorganized as AEX Metals Corporation in 1974 and merged with 79902 Resources Ltd in 1975 to form Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. A major sampling and feasibility study completed by Oct/76 consisted of a 1 036 m access decline, 1 878.8 m of drifting, a 130.1 m raise and 365 drill holes (about 60 960 m, including 19 007 m underground). Work in 1977 consisted mainly of a 227 tonne mill test as part of a production feasibility study.
In 1978, Kerr Addison, Vangorda Mines Ltd and Canada Natural Resources Ltd sold all their interest to Cyprus Anvil Mining Corporation, which initiated new metallurgical and feasibility studies in 1979 and drilled 24 holes (5335 m) in 1982. Control of Cyprus Anvil Mining Corporation was sold to Hudson's Bay Oil & Gas Ltd and subsequently to Dome Petroleum Ltd in 1981, and to Curragh Resources Inc in 1985, which carried out 2 194 m of diamond drilling in 1987, 650 m (5 holes) in 1988, and 5 024 m (35 holes) and pre-stripping of overburden in preparation for open pit production in 1990.
Full-scale stripping of the Grum deposit commenced in Apr/92, exposing the tip of the orebody late in the year, but all of Curragh's operations in the Faro area ceased in Apr/93 due to low metal prices. In May/93, Korea Zinc and Samsung agreed to purchase a 50% interest in Curragh Resources Inc for $50 million, with the intention of resuming production in September. The deal was never completed and Curragh was forced into receivership by its creditors.
In Nov/94 Anvil Range Mining Corporation acquired all claims owned by Curragh following the bankruptcy of the latter. Anvil immediately began stripping the Grum deposit and rehabilitating the mill complex. In Feb/95 Anvil signed an economic development agreement with the Ross River Dena Council. In Aug/95 Anvil began mining the Grum deposit and in Sept/95 resumed production from the neighboring Vangorda deposit (Minfile Occurrence #105K 055). Anvil achieved commercial production on November 1, 1995
Anvil continued mining the Grum and Vangorda deposits throughout 1996, with the concentrator processing between 12 and 14 000 tones of ore per day, the bulk of which was mined from the Grum deposit. During Aug & Sep/96 Anvil drilled a groundwater monitoring hole at the Grum rock dump to monitor groundwater quality down gradient of the waste rock dumps and tailings.
In Dec/96 Anvil exhausted reserves in the Vangorda deposit and suspended mining because of low metal prices and other factors, including lower head grades, mechanical problems in the mill and a strong Canadian dollar. The mill continued to process low-grade stockpiles at 50% capacity until the end of Mar/97. In Feb/97 Anvil announced the closing of a private placement of 4.1 million common shares for a total of 9.4 million dollars with Cominco Ltd. In Jul/97 Cominco lent the company a further 15 million dollars which Anvil used to re-start stripping operations on the Grum deposit. Mining resumed in November/97 and continued until Jan/98 when Anvil filed for court protection from creditors. In Apr/98 a receiver was appointed to handle the company¿s assets and maintain the mine site. Anvil Range was delisted in Jan/99.

Capsule Geology

This is one of five major synsedimentary, stratabound lead-zinc-silver deposits located in an arcuate belt along the south flank of the Anvil Batholith. They are distributed through a 150 m thick stratigraphic interval straddling the boundary between non-calcareous phyllite of the Lower Cambrian Mount Mye formation and calcareous phyllite of the Cambrian to Ordovician Vangorda formation. Some of the sulphide lenses appear to be laterally equivalent to a discontinuous carbonaceous unit which marks the base of the Vangorda formation. The deposits are considered to be submarine exhalites formed from hot metalliferous brines discharging through sea floor fumaroles along a synsedimentary fault related to lower Cambrian extensional tectonism (Pigage, 1990).
The original discovery, named the Champ Zone, is a small lens of mineralization in a similar geological setting to the nearby Vangorda deposit which lies 1.6 km to the southeast. Sulphides were intersected in two holes about 36 m apart, from which the best assay was 3.3% combined Pb-Zn and 27.4 g/t Ag over a 16.1 m interval.
The Grum deposit was discovered in 1973 while testing a gravity anomaly. It consists of three to five massive sulphide layers hosted by graphitic phyllite and quartz-sericite phyllite. The most important mineralized horizon occurs immediately beneath the carbonaceous unit at the base of the Vangorda formation. Total geological reserves are estimated at 30.8 million tonnes grading 3.1% Pb, 4.9% Zn and 49 g/t Ag using a 4% Pb + Zn cutoff (Pigage, 1990). Open pit reserves are estimated at 16.9 million tonnes grading 3.0% Pb, 4.9% Zn and 47 g/t Ag. The deposit also contains about 1 g/t Au which is estimated to be 80% recoverable.
Individual sulphide lenses are up to 2 000 m long, 1 000 m wide and 30 m thick. They outline a complex, shallowly northwest-plunging polyphase fold structure, with prominent S-shaped second phase folds superimposed on a larger Z-shaped first phase fold. Foliation in the host phyllite is axial planar to the second phase folds and dips southwest at a shallow angle. The deposit and host rocks are metamorphosed to upper greenschist facies. Metamorphism is of the high temperature low-pressure type and is related to the intrusion of the mid-Cretaceous Anvil Batholith (85-100 Ma).
Mineralization consists of sphalerite, galena, pyrite and minor chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite and sulphosalts in a gangue of quartz, barite and small quantities of pyrrhotite and magnetite. Each sulphide layer has gradational basal and lateral contacts with the enclosing phyllite. Grade and barite content increases upward and the stratigraphic top is sharp. As a result of its lower grade of metamorphism, the ore at Grum is finer grained than the ore at Faro, the zinc content of the sphalerite is higher, and it contains a significant gold content (about 1 g/t). The deposit is surrounded by a bleached envelope of muscovite on the southwest side grading to chlorite in the northeast.
Detailed mapping in the Vangorda Plateau area has showed that the Grum deposit is truncated by moderately dipping extensional faults. The Tie fault, which truncates the Grum orebody at its northwest end, has a throw of 1-1.5 km. The Firth showing is a interpreted as a piece of the Grum orebody within the Tie fault, brought to surface from a depth of over 400 m. The southeast end of the Grum deposit is also truncated by an extensional fault.
As of 31 Dec/1996, Anvil Range estimated that the Grum Deposit held proven open pit reserves of 1 589 000 tonnes grading 5.34% Zn, 3.56% Pb, 58 g/t Ag and 0.83 g/t Au and probable open pit reserves of 17 055 000 tonnes grading 4.34% Zn, 2.60% Pb, 44 g/t Ag and 0.74 g/t Au (Anvil Range, 1996 Annual Information Form).

References

AEX MINERALS CORPORATION, Feb/74. Prospectus Report by A.R. Archer.

AEX MINERALS CORPORATION, 1974. Assessment Report *#061243 by S.B. Reamsbottom.

AEX MINERALS CORPORATION, 1975. Assessment Report *#091247 by F. Chow.

ANVIL RANGE MINING CORPORATION, Apr/97. Assessment Report #093636 by C. Wels.

ANVIL RANGE MINING CORPORATION, 1996. Annual Information form (availabile on SEDAR website).

CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES LTD, Dec/76. Assessment Report *#091222 by S. B. Reamsbottom.

CURRAGH RESOURCES INC, Jul/89. Assessment Report *#092737 by J.C. Nyberg.

GEORGE CROSS NEWSLETTER, 28 Nov/97.

GOVERNMENT OF YUKON, 10 Mar/93. News Release No. 027.

JENNINGS, D.S. & JILSON, G.A. (1986). Geology and sulphide deposits of Anvil Range, Yukon; in Mineral Deposits of Northern Cordillera, J.A. Morin (ed.), Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Special Volume 37, p. 319-381.

JENNINGS, D.S., JILSON, G.A., AND PIGAGE L.C., 1979. Anvil Range stratigraphy. Paper presented to the Seventh Geoscience Conference, Whitehorse, 2 Dec/79.

KERR ADDISON MINES LTD and AEX MINERALS CORPORATION LTD, Feb/75. Assessment Report *#092029 by J. Barter.

MINERAL INDUSTRY REPORT 1974, p. 130-131; 1975, p. 122-123; 1976, p. 159-160.

MODENE, J., 1982. Origin and sulphur isotope chemistry of the Grum Deposit, Anvil Range Yukon Territory, Canada. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of Wisconsin.

NORTHERN MINER, 31 May/93; 28 Nov/94; 22 Mar/95, Nov/96, May/97.

PIGAGE, L.C., 1990. Anvil Pb-Zn-Ag District, Yukon Territory, Canada. In: Mineral Deposits of Northern Canadian Cordillera, Yukon & Northeast British Columbia, J.G. Abbott & R.J.W. Turner (eds), 8th Annual IAGOD Symposium, Field Trip N0. 14 Guidebook, p. 203-308.

PIGAGE, L.C., 2001a. Geological map of Faro (NTS 105K/3 NE) and Mount Mye (105K/6 SE), central Yukon (1:25 000 scale). Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon Region, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Open File 2001-27.

PIGAGE, L.C., 2001b. Geological Map of Anvil District (NTS 105 K/2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11), Central Yukon (1:100 000 scale). Open File 2001-31.

PROSPECTORS AIRWAYS COMPANY LTD, 1954. Assessment Report *#091764 by R.W. Baker and V.S. Papezik.

PROSPECTORS AIRWAYS COMPANY LTD, Dec/55. Assessment Report *#091755 by R.W. Baker and V.S. Papezik.

SIROLA, W.M., Dec/75. The Grum Deposit. Western Miner, p. 9-13.

SIROLA, W.M., Apr/77. Kerr Addison's Grum Deposit: exploration in the Yukon's Anvil Range. Canadian Mining Journal, p. 40-45.

WHITEHORSE STAR, 7 Apr/92; 5 May/93; 5 Jun/95; 21 Jun/95; 14 Jun/95; 16 Jun/95.

YUKON EXPLORATION AND GEOLOGY 1982, p. 143.

YUKON EXPLORATION & GEOLOGY 1994, p. 2; 1996, p. 9-10; 1997, p. 7.

YUKON MINERAL PROPERTY UPDATE January 2002, p. 22-27.

YUKON MINING AND EXPLORATION OVERVIEW 1989, p. 5, 6, 10.

YUKON NEWS, 24 Feb/93, p. 18; 5 Mar/93; 14 Dec/94; 1 Feb/95; 15 Mar/95; 16 Aug/95.

 

Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence