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Occurrence Details


Occurrence Number
115H 055
Occurrence Name
Lib
Occurrence Type
Hard-rock
Status
Prospect


General Information

Secondary Commodities: gold, arsenic
Aliases: Kluane, Killer Gold, Ruby Range Project, DalBianco
Deposit Type(s): Vein Au-Quartz
Location(s): 61.1750 N, -137.698610 W
NTS Mapsheet(s): 115H04
Location Comments: .5 Kilometres
Hand Samples Available at YGS: No

Capsule

Work History

Staked as Lib cl 1-12 (YB6311) in Aug/87 by R. Dalbianco, who performed prospecting, sampling and hand trenching in 1987 and optioned the claims to Silverquest Resources Ltd. Silverquest optioned the property to Pezgold Resource Corp, which performed prospecting and geochemical surveys in 1988. 
Restaked as Delor cl 1-10 (YB37735) by J.P. Ross in Jan/93. Ross optioned the claims in Sep/93 to Cash Resources Ltd which staked 14 fractional Delor claims (11-24, YB38302) and conducted a program of hand trenching, geochemical sampling and prospecting. Cash added Delor cl 25-48 (YB47116) to the claim block in July/94 and Delor cl 49-129 (YB54418) in Aug/94. During the summer of 1994 the company carried out grid soil sampling, prospecting, some geological mapping and experimental geophysical surveys. 
In Mar/95 E.C. Long staked Dun cl 1-8 (YB57453) on the southern end of the Delor claim block. 
In the spring of 1995 NDU Resources Ltd optioned the Ruby Range project ((Malou, Shut, Agnus claims = Minfile Occurrence #115H 047), and Delor claims)) from Cash Resources. A total of 14 diamond drill holes (1874 m) and 25 excavator trenches were dug on various mineralized zones located on the property. In the vicinity of this occurrence NDU drilled 8 diamond drill holes (1283.7 m) on the Rikus zone and 3 diamond drill holes (309.7 m) on the Malou zone. The company also dug 8 trenches (302 m) on the Rikus zone and 9 trenches (330 m)on the Malou zone. NDU also carried out geological mapping and geophysical surveys in the vicinity of the occurrence. At the end of 1995 NDU dropped their option on the claims. 
In Apr/97 Cash Resources transferred ownership in the Delor claims to Ross. 
In Spring/2002 Cash Minerals Ltd (formerly Cash Resources) reoptioned the Malou and Delor claims from Ross and again combined them with their Shut and Angus claims to forming the Ruby Range project.

Capsule Geology

The Kluane property is underlain by Late Mesozoic metasedimentary rocks of the Kluane schist and Latest Cretaceous to Eocene rocks of the Ruby Range suite. The Kluane schist consists of a fairly monotonous package of biotite-quartz schist, muscovite-quartz schist and rare lenses of altered and strongly deformed ultramafic rock and marble. Metamorphic grade reaches upper greenschist with local zones of amphibolite. The Kluane schist is intruded by intrusions of the Ruby Range Suite. The Ruby Range suite ranges in age from ca 65 Ma to 52 Ma and consists of biotite granodiorite and hornblende quartz-diorite (Israel et al., 2010).

Three main rock types underlie the Kluane property; 1) biotite-quartz schist of the Kluane schist; 2) migmatitic paragneiss of the Kluane schist; and 3) granodiorite to quartz-diorite of the Ruby Range suite. In the southernmost portion of the claim block, dark grey to black biotite-quartz schist dominates. The schist often forms blocky outcrops that locally weather a brown-orange colour along fractures and joints. Biotite and quartz are the main minerals with the biotite forming the main foliation surfaces. Minor amounts of garnet and staurolite are found as accessory minerals. White to slightly rusty quartz veins of varying widths are ubiquitous and many veins are laterally discontinuous and often have sigmoidal or lozenge shapes. Structurally overlying the schist is a relatively thick package of dark-grey to black and orange weathered migmatitic paragneiss. The paragneiss is characterized by biotite and quartz layers separated by more leucocratic layers comprised of feldspar and quartz. The leucocratic layers appear to be injected melts that may be derived by local partial melting or by melts sourced by intrusions that have migrated along foliation planes.

Marble lenses and rare skarn zones are found within the gneiss on the east-facing slope above Killermun Lake. Exposures of marble are typically white to pale green on both weathered and fresh surfaces, display weak silicification, and range up to 7 m thick and 100 m long. Skarns consist of medium to coarse-grained garnet and diopside. The marbles are often rusty weathering and difficult to distinguish from the surrounding gneiss, unless the rock is broken.

The northern half of the property is comprised of coarse to medium-grained, biotite, granodiorite and hornblende +/- biotite, quartz-diorite of the Ruby Range suite. These rocks generally weather a light grey to white and are locally feldspar porphyritic. Smokey grey quartz grains are common in the granodiorite and less so in the quartz-diorite. The granitic rocks are unfoliated and cross-cut all ductile fabrics found in the Kluane schist except for a strongly foliated border phase that is sporadically observed in outcrop near the boundary with the paragneiss. Foliation in the border phase parallels those found in the Kluane schist and has been attributed to syndeformation intrusion of the earliest phases of the Ruby Range suite (Israel et al., 2010).

Two sets of narrow unfoliated dykes have been noted on the property in several areas underlain by Kluane schist. The dykes are up to one metre wide and are best distinguished by grain size. One of these dykes, from the central part of the property, has been dated at 55.3 Ma. This overlaps a 55.8 Ma age obtained from the main phase of the Ruby Range found just outside the northern portion of the property.
Prospecting up to 2002 has identified numerous vein and float occurrences within a 5 500 by 3 500 m area in the central part of the claim group that are usually associated with north trending recessive topographic linears. These occurrences have been grouped into eight zones, only two of which (Rikus and DalBianco(this occurrence location)) contain mineralized outcrops.

The original occurrence consists of north-northwest striking quartz-carbonate veins cutting biotite schist ("Kluane Schist"). The Dalbianco #1 vein contains mainly arsenopyrite, specimens of which grade up to 123 g/t Au. The vein is exposed for a length of 50 m and channel samples assay up to 29.8 g/t Au over 0.37 m. 

The adjacent Dalbianco #2 vein returned assays up to 6.51 g/t Au over 0.61 m, while the parallel Wanger vein, 120 m to the east, assayed up to 9.95 g/t Au over 0.27 m.

A gold soil geochemical anomaly with values ranging up to 1500 ppb Au coincides with the mineralization and extends 1000 m to the edge of the sampled area. Other gold geochemical anomalies are also present on the grid. 

The 1994 soil sampling program on the Delor claims outlined a 3.5 km long by 300 m to 1 000 m wide Au and As anomaly. Additional smaller but more intense anomalies were also found. Hand trenching also enlarged the exposed vein structure in the Dalbianco zone. Chip samples of arsenopyrite-rich material assayed as high as 41.07 g/t Au across 0.15 m but most returned less than 9 g/t Au. Seven trenches across the discovery vein and alteration zones, over a 63 m strike length returned a weighted average assay of 2.03 g/t Au across 3.37 m. 

The Rikus zone was discovered 1.5 km northeast of the Dalbianco zone by prospecting and hand trenching. The zone is composed of two relatively continuous veins plus smaller veins and fractures. The vein system is 50 to 100 m wide and has been traced 350 m horizontally and 245 m vertically. The two main veins range from 0.2 to 0.75 m in width and are composed of massive milky white quartz that is often strongly fractured parallel to strike. Sulphides consist of up to 20 % arsenopyrite which is generally fine grained ( <1 mm diameter) and displays preferential alignment parallel to the fracture direction within the quartz. Most arsenopyrite in this zone has a blue-green hue unlike the more brassy appearance at the Dalbianco zone. Weak clay-altered haloes up to 1.0 m wide are developed around the veins. The two main veins and wallrock were sampled in five hand trenches over a strike length of 60 m and yielded weighted average grades of 4.30 g/t Au across 3.2 m and 3.94 g/t across 3.65 m. Individual veins assayed up to 45.43 g/t Au over 0.6 m. 

An orientation HLEM geophysical survey was conducted over the Rikus and Dalbianco zones with mixed results. Eight diamond drill holes (1 283.7 m) were completed on the Rikus zone in 1995, over a strike length of 400 m. All the holes encountered narrow mineralized intersections. The best result in hole 95-3 returned 2.83 g/t Au over 6.80 m including a 0.10 m wide vein plus 1.0 m of altered wallrock in the footwall and 5.7 m in the hanging wall. The excavator trenches explored targets in the vicinity of the Rikus zone. Five trenches tested soil geochemical anomalies west of the main Rikus veins but exposed only weak structures with near background levels in Au and As and three other trenches failed to reach bedrock. A Maxmin EM geophysical survey north of the Rikus zone suggested that the mineralized veins continue across a recessive topographic linear. 

Three diamond drill holes and 9 excavator trenches tested three topographic linears and two soil anomalies at the Malou zone. (Although called the Malou zone, the zone is actually located on the Delor claims approximately 750 m northwest of the Rikus zone). The linears are north-trending and consist of strongly altered wallrock containing a stockwork of narrow quartz-arsenopyrite veinlets. The drill holes tested the downdip continuity of the narrow stockwork veins uncovered in trenches at surface. The drill holes generally confirmed the veins at depth but the veins were generally too narrow to be economic. The best intersection returned 2.74 g/t Au over 0.33 m. 

Work in 2002 on the Sack zone (1.4 km northeast of the Rickus zone) where mineralized float was discovered in 1995 led to the discovery of additional vein float material along a series of poorly exposed linears. Mineralized float from this area assays in the 3 to 9 g/t Au range and is typically more arsenopyrite rich than other zones.

Location Map

Last Updated: May 31, 2022

Work History

Year Work Type Comment
2020 Geochemistry: Rock
2020 Geochemistry: Soil
2020 Geology: Detailed Bedrock Mapping
2020 Trenching: Hand
2019 Remote Sensing: LIDAR
2012 Airborne Geophysics: Electromagnetic
2012 Airborne Geophysics: Magnetic
2009 Geochemistry: Rock
2009 Geochemistry: Soil
2009 Other: Prospecting
2009 Trenching: Hand
2002 Geochemistry: Rock
2002 Geochemistry: Soil
2002 Other: Prospecting
2002 Trenching: Hand
1995 Drilling: Diamond Eleven holes, 1,593.4 m.
1995 Geology: Bedrock Mapping
1995 Ground Geophysics: EM MaxMin
1995 Trenching: Mechanical Seventeen trenches, 632 cubic m removed.
1995 Geochemistry: Drill Core
1995 Geochemistry: Rock
1995 Geochemistry: Soil
1994 Geochemistry: Soil
1994 Geology: Bedrock Mapping
1994 Ground Geophysics: EM HLEM survey.
1994 Other: Prospecting
1994 Trenching: Backhoe
1993 Geochemistry: Rock
1993 Geochemistry: Silt
1993 Geochemistry: Soil
1993 Other: Prospecting
1993 Trenching: Hand
1988 Geochemistry: Soil Also rock sampling.
1988 Trenching: Hand
1987 Geochemistry: Soil
1987 Other: Prospecting
1987 Trenching: Hand

Regional Geology - Terrane

Group: Insular
Affinity: E Pacific
Name: Kluane schist
Realm: Pacific


Regional Geology - Bedrock

Supergroup:
Group/Suite: Kluane schist
Formation:
Member:
Terrane: Kluane
Period Max: Cretaceous
Age Max: 140 MA
Period Min: Cretaceous
Age Min: 82 MA
Rock Major: paragneiss
Rock Minor: migmatite
Reference: Israel et al. (2011) - YGS OF 2011-2
Geological Unit (1M): KK
Geological Unit (250K): KK4

Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence

Report Number Year Title Worktypes Holes Drilled Meters Drilled
096090 2012 Assessment Report Describing Airborne VTEM and Magnetic Survey at the Kluane Property Electromagnetic - Airborne Geophysics, Magnetic - Airborne Geophysics
095184 2009 Assessment Report Describing Prospecting, Hand Trenching and Soil Geochemistry at the Kluane Property Soil - Geochemistry, Prospecting - Other, Hand - Trenching
094415 2002 Assessment Report Describing Hand Trenching, Prospecting and Soil Geochemistry at the Ruby Range Project Soil - Geochemistry, Prospecting - Other, Hand - Trenching
093458 1995 Assessment Report Describing Diamond Drilling, Trenching and Geophysical Surveys at the Ruby Range Property Diamond - Drilling, Drill Core - Geochemistry, Rock - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Bedrock Mapping - Geology, EM - Ground Geophysics, Backhoe - Trenching 14 1874
093250 1994 Assessment Report Describing Prospecting, Soil Geochemistry, Trenching and Geophysical Surveys at the Ruby Range Project Soil - Geochemistry, EM - Ground Geophysics, Prospecting - Other, Backhoe - Trenching
093205 1993 Prospecting and Hand Trenching Report Rock - Geochemistry, Prospecting - Other, Hand - Trenching
092681 1988 Report on Soil Geochemical Survey Soil - Geochemistry

Related References

Number Title Page(s) Document Type
93-002 Prospecting and Trenching on Malou and Faith Claims YMEP Report
YEG2010_07 New insights into the geology and mineral potential of the Coast Belt in southwestern Yukon. Annual Report Paper
Citations

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