Work History

Staked as Mammoth cl (Y6719) in Jun/67 by Nordex Exploration Ltd, which carried out soil sampling and a magnetic survey late in the year and transferred the property to a new company, Bonnet Plume River Mines Ltd, in 1968.

Restaked as Air cl (Y69043) in Apr/73 by Cypress Exploration Ltd, which carried out mapping and hand trenching in 1973 and additional hand trenching in 1975 and 1976 and changed its name to Pacific Cypress Resources Ltd in 1977.

Restaked in 1994 as part of a group of Dolores cl 49-78 (YB22529) by Pamicon Developments Ltd and Equity Engineering Ltd. The claims were added to an earlier group of Dolores claims (1-48) which had been optioned by International Prism Exploration Ltd. In Jul/95 the claims were transferred to Newmont Mines Ltd which funded a work program consisting of soil and rock sampling and detailed geological mapping.

Capsule Geology

The region is underlain by a metamorphosed and altered sequence of Early Proterozoic Wernecke Supergroup clastic and carbonate rocks (Fairchild Lake Group, Quartet Group and Gillespie Lake Group, from oldest to youngest) that are intruded by Early to Middle Proterozoic mafic sills and dykes, and cut by Middle Proterozoic Wernecke Breccia. To the east, Wernecke Supergroup rocks are unconformably overlain by Middle Proterozoic Pinguicula Group rocks. According to Thorkelson (2000), Wernecke Breccia development is best modeled as a set of hydrothermal and/or phreatic breccias; brecciation being caused by explosive expanson of volatile-rich fluids. Hunt (2005) attributed Wernecke Breccia formation to periodic over-pressuring of dominantly basinal fluids, which lead to repeated brecciation of host strata and mineral precipitation.

The original Dolores claims are underlain by extensively folded and faulted strata of Gillespie Lake and Fairchild Lake group rocks intruded by Wernecke Breccia and diorite and syenite stocks. Faults including strike-slip faults with multiple generations of low angle slickensides juxtapose lithological units against one other. 
Bonnet Plume River Mines Ltd reported a body of Wernecke Breccia on the south bank of the North Fork of Dolores Creek. It contained minor disseminated chalcopyrite and magnetite. A ground magnetic survey indicated that the showing could extend south under a thin cover of glacial till. A representative specimen assayed 0.2% Cu.

References

BONNET PLUME RIVER MINES LTD, Aug/68. Assessment Report by F.M. Smith, included as appendix in #019048. 

HUNT, J., 2005. The geology and genesis of iron oxide-copper-gold mineralisation associated with Wernecke Breccia, Yukon Canada, PhD thesis, James Cook University, Australia, 2 volumes, 120 p. 

INTERNATIONAL PRISM EXPLORATION LTD, Feb/94. Assessment Report #093182 by D. Caulfield et al. 

NEWMONT EXPLORATION LTD, Dec/95. Assessment Report #093370 by K.A. Owerko. 

THORKELSON, D.J. AND WALLACE, C.A., 2000. Geology and mineral occurrences of the Slats Creek, Fairchild Lake and Dolores Creek areas, Wernecke Mountains, Yukon (106D/16, 106C/13, 106C/14). Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon Region, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Bulletin 10, 73 p.

 

Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence