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Occurrence Details


Occurrence Number
115N 040
Occurrence Name
Connaught
Occurrence Type
Hard-rock
Status
Deposit


General Information

Secondary Commodities: gold, silver, lead
Aliases: Cn, Mosquite Creek, No. 1
Deposit Type(s): Vein Polymetallic Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Location(s): 63.91 N, -140.8120 W
NTS Mapsheet(s): 115N15
Location Comments: .5 Kilometres
Hand Samples Available at YGS: Yes

Capsule

Work History

Although silver-lead-gold veins were likely found in the Sixtymile area in the late 1890s, the first reported discovery was made by J. Lerner and M. Chefkoi in 1965. Lerner and Chefkoi optioned the claims to A. Moisey, who later transferred them to the Sixtymile Mining Company Ltd.

In 1966 and 1967, Sixtymile Mining carried out bulldozer trenching and electromagnetic surveys. The trenching uncovered substantial lenses of massive galena on the No. 1 and No. 3 veins. In summer 1966, a total of 22.7 tonnes of hand sorted material was collected from open cuts on the No. 1 and No. 3 veins, and shipped to the Cominco smelter in Trail, British Columbia. This shipment averaged 2.1 g/t gold, 2297 g/t silver and 67.3% lead.

During 1968 and 1969, the property was held under option by Connaught Mines Ltd, which completed geological mapping, geochemical sampling, 35200 m3 of bulldozer trenching and 431.8 m of diamond drilling in eight holes. The 1969 soil sampling covered much of the property and generated new silver-lead targets. It also identified strong copper response in irregular clusters away from the veins. Bulldozer trenching on the geochemical anomalies led to the discovery or delineation of more vein zones, the best of which were the No. 4, No. 7 and No. 8. Six of the diamond drill holes tested the No. 1 Vein and the other two holes explored the No. 3 Vein. Most of the holes intersected variably mineralized vein structures.

In 1976, Connaught Mines transferred its interest to A. Tottrup, who optioned the property to J. Lerner. That summer J. Lerner extracted an additional 218 tonnes of ore from shallow pits on the No. 1 and No. 3 veins and shipped it to the Asarco smelter in East Helena, Montana. Combined, the 1966 and 1976 shipments totalled 240.7 tonnes at an average grade of 1.0 g/t gold, 2228.5 g/t silver and 60% lead.

In 1979, A. Tottrup re-optioned the claims to Westley Mines Ltd. but there is no record of work by that company and the option was dropped after one year.

In 1981, J. Lerner staked sixteen additional claims. The entire claim block was then sold to Lougheed Resources Ltd., which cut trenches on the No. 1 Vein totalling 4134 m3 . These trenches were not mapped or sampled until 1982 due to an early snowstorm. The claims were held in good standing by Lougheed Resources for four years but were allowed to lapse in 1986.

In spring 1987, Walhalla Exploration Ltd. re-staked the core of the property and optioned the claims to Croesus Resources Inc., which sub-optioned part of the claim block to Red Fox Minerals Ltd. and Kelan Resources Ltd. Aurum Geological Consultants Inc. was contracted to conduct an exploration program that consisted of geological mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys and bulldozer trenching. The following year, Kelan Resources and Croesus Resources completed 315.8 m of diamond drilling in ten holes. Three of the holes tested the No. 9 Vein, which lies within claims that adjoined the Connaught project. Another of the holes tested the No. 8 Vein and the other six holes explored beneath a magnetite skarn. Also in 1988, Red Fox Minerals drilled a total of 296.4 m in eight holes on the No. 4 Vein. Results from the drilling were not considered to be encouraging and all of the claims were allowed to lapse.

In 1998, 17363 Yukon Inc. re-staked the main showings, while P. Ledwidge staked the OM claims in the area of the No. 9 Vein, and the MUG claims over the headwaters of Mosquito Creek. 17363 conducted minor prospecting and geochemical sampling before contracting Equity Engineering Ltd. to perform geological mapping and geochemical sampling across the known veins and showings.

In 1999, Ledwidge optioned the OM and MUG claims to Carta Resources Ltd., which enlarged the project by staking the TOM claims to the northeast. Later that year, Carta performed geological mapping and soil sampling on both claim blocks.

In January 2000, Carta sold all of its claims to H. Leo King and Associates Inc. Following this, King staked the MI 1-10 claims at the eastern end of the project. The OM, TOM and MI claims, collectively referred to as the Ami property, were subsequently optioned to Grid Capital Corporation. In 2001, Grid Capital performed soil sampling, prospecting and limited geological mapping.

In 2003, Grid Capital conducted induced polarization (IP) surveying and drilled five holes (813.8 m).

In 2005, R. Nordling staked the MAG claims to cover the No. 8 Vein and the magnetite skarn.

In spring 2006, the CN and NC claims were staked by ATAC Resources Ltd, which immediately entered a joint venture with Klondike Silver Corp. A property-wide helicopter borne VTEM survey was flown that

summer.

In 2007, Klondike Silver preformed prospecting, geochemical sampling, excavator trenching and

556 m of diamond drilling in seven holes. The program lead to the discovery of the Stirling and Rain Veins and  re-located the Core Shack Vein. Diamond drilling confirmed down dip continuity of mineralization at the No. 1, No. 3, and No. 4 veins.

In fall 2007, ATAC and Klondike Silver optioned Mag claims from R. Nordling.

In 2008, ATAC and Klondike Silver continued with geochemical sampling, excavator trenching and excavator stripping of veins. Prospecting and excavator trenching resulted in the discovery of the AC/DC, Ice, Rain and PP veins.

In 2009, a program of prospecting, geochemical sampling and excavator stripping was undertaken by Klondike Silver on behalf of the ATAC-Klondike Silver joint venture. The No. 1, No. 3, No. 8 and Stirling veins were stripped within existing excavations with the intention of improving access for future bulk sampling. Prospecting in areas of anomalous soils discovered or re-discovered several mineralized veins not previously documented, notably the 69-3 Vein from the 1969 exploration program and a north-easterly extension of the No.7 Vein. The Nordling option was terminated at the end of 2009.

In 2011, Seafield Explorations Ltd. staked the KAM claims, which surrounded the Connaught

property to the north, northeast and southwest. That year, Seafield optioned the claims,

collectively referred to as the Fifty Mile Project, to 0908937 B.C. Ltd., which collected

reconnaissance soil samples across the entirety of the project. The claims subsequently allowed to lapse.

In 2012, ATAC purchased Klondike Silver’s 50% interest in the Connaught claims.

In January 2015, ATAC staked the non-contiguous OM 1-48 claims, which covered a large portion

of the historical Ami property. Later that year, ATAC conducted a program of soil sampling, prospecting and geological mapping. Samples of altered and/or mineralized porphyry material returned encouraging results, including up to 36.8 g/t silver, 0.14% copper, 2.43% lead and 2.14% zinc, while prospecting up to 1000 m along strike of the No. 9 Vein returned 7.5 g/t gold, 1040 g/t silver and 15% lead.

In April 2017, ATAC staked the CN 265 to 289 claims, to connect the Connaught claims to the OM

claims, and the CN 290 to 301 claims, expanding the property to the south. That summer, ATAC

performed grid and contour-controlled soil sampling in three areas of the property, which

highlighted a previously unrecognized, broad, silver- and lead-in-soil anomaly.

In 2017, Independence Gold Corp. staked the Stinger property, immediately southwest of

Connaught and performed ridge-and-spur soil sampling, which identified an area of weakly elevated lead, silver and zinc in the southwest part of the property.

In August 2018, ATAC purchased the Stinger property from Independence Gold Corp.

In 2019, ATAC conducted a program consisting of grid soil sampling and prospecting. Grid soil sampling extended coverage to the southwest of two existing soil grids anomalies and reconnaissance soil sampling covered areas with limited previous sampling.

Capsule Geology

The region is underlain by Yukon Tanana terrane rocks. The occurrence lies south of the Tintina Fault in the Sixtymile placer gold camp. The original three mineral occurrences are mineralized veins variably hosted in foliated granitoid rocks of the Devono-Mississippian Pelly Gneiss, metasedimentary rocks of the Carboniferous and Permian Klondike Schist and amphibolitic rocks of uncertain origin. 
The Connaught prospect hosts twelve silver-gold veins within a 13 X 5 km geochemical anomaly response with a proximal magnetic high anomaly. The veins are typically 0.3-2 m wide and grade 100 to 1000 g/t silver with 0.3 to 2 g/t gold. Lenses of nearly massive silver-rich galena occur in the veins and most veins contain comb-textured multiepisodic quartz mineralization with galena, anglesite, arsenopyrite, scorodite, covellite and stibnite. The veins are commonly associated with northeast-trending recessive-weathering lineaments. It is speculated that the veins may lie within the cupola of an intrusion. 
Most of the historical work was performed at the western occurrence (040A), called No. 1 Vein, which was the original discovery. The showing consists of lenses of galena and arsenopyrite with minor sphalerite, tetrahedrite and boulangerite in northeast- striking quartz veins cutting Late Devonian to mid-Mississippian Nasina Assemblage schists. The schists are cut by sills of Early Mississippian granitic augen gneiss and by Late Cretaceous monzonitic to granodioritic intrusives. The No. 1 Vein was exposed with trenching for a length of 1036 m, of which the best portion averaged 781.7 g/t Ag, 19.9% Pb and 1.1 g/t Au over an average width of 1.2 m for a length of 45.7 m. 
Shipments of ore in 1966 and 1976 (218 tonnes) from the No. 1 and No. 3 veins, which were mixed with ore from the Lerner occurrence (Minfile Occurrence #115N 039), averaged about 2 228.5 g/t Ag, 60% Pb and 1.0 g/t Au. Drilling returned erratic results, with a best intersection of 997.7 g/t Ag, 26.5% Pb and 2.74 g/t Au over 0.7 m. Selected specimens of wall rock assayed up to 5.5 g/t Au but most assays were below 1.4 g/t. 
The more southerly of the two veins to the east (040B), the No. 4 Vein, averaged 610.3 g/t Ag and 9.1% Pb across a 1.2 m width for a length of 160.6 m in trench samples. Drilling of this vein in 1988 returned assays up to 534.8 g/t Ag, 2.15% Pb and 0.41 g/t Au over 2.3 m and 209.1 g/t Ag, 1.16% Pb and 0.69 g/t Au over 5.3 m. The other showings, called the No. 5 and No. 6 Veins, have received less work and are only weakly mineralized. 
In 2007, the Stirling vein was discovered 400 m northeast of the No. 7 vein through deepening of an old bulldozer trench. This vein is up to 47 cm wide and is a strong arsenic-antimony, sulphosalt-bearing quartz vein with massive galena lenses. 
In 2009, three new areas of mineralization were discovered: (1) 500 m northeast of the No.7 vein, (2) 700 m south of the No.8 vein, and (3) 1.8 km south of No. 4 vein, the latter occurrence assayed 4.13 g/t Au, 406 g/t Ag and 10.4 % Pb.

Location Map

Last Updated: Sep 3, 2021

Work History

Year Work Type Comment
2019 Geochemistry: Rock
2019 Geochemistry: Soil
2019 Trenching: Mechanical
2009 Geochemistry: Soil Also rock samples.
2009 Trenching: Mechanical
2009 Geochemistry: Rock
2009 Other: Prospecting
2008 Geochemistry: Soil Also 280 rock, chip and channel samples
2008 Geochemistry: Rock
2007 Drilling: Diamond Seven holes, 566 m.
2007 Geochemistry: Soil
2007 Trenching: Mechanical
2006 Airborne Geophysics: VTEM
1999 Geochemistry: Soil Also rock sampling.
1999 Geology: Bedrock Mapping
1999 Trenching: Mechanical
1998 Geochemistry: Soil
1998 Other: Prospecting
1989 Drilling: Diamond One hole, 411 m.
1988 Drilling: Diamond Eight holes, 296.3 m.
1987 Geochemistry: Soil
1987 Geology: Bedrock Mapping
1987 Ground Geophysics: Magnetics
1987 Trenching: Mechanical
1987 Development, Surface: Access Road
1976 Development, Underground: Drifting/Raising Mined and shipped about 27 tons from the No. 1 vein.
1970 Trenching: Mechanical
1969 Drilling: Diamond
1969 Geochemistry: Rock
1969 Geochemistry: Silt
1969 Geochemistry: Soil
1969 Geology: Detailed Bedrock Mapping
1969 Other: Cursory Property Visit
1969 Trenching: Mechanical
1968 Drilling: Diamond Six holes, 318.8 m.
1968 Geochemistry: Soil
1968 Geology: Bedrock Mapping
1968 Trenching: Mechanical
1966 Development, Underground: Drifting/Raising Mined 9 tonnes of hand-cobbed ore.
1966 Trenching: Mechanical
1966 Ground Geophysics: EM
1965 Geochemistry: Soil
1965 Trenching: Mechanical

Regional Geology - Terrane

Group: Intermontane
Affinity: W Laurentia
Name: Yukon-Tanana
Realm: peri-Laurentian


Regional Geology - Bedrock

Supergroup:
Group/Suite: Grass Lakes
Formation:
Member:
Terrane: Yukon-Tanana
Period Max: Devonian
Age Max: 365 MA
Period Min: Carboniferous
Age Min: 357 MA
Rock Major: orthogneiss
Rock Minor:
Reference: Mortensen (1996) - YGS OF 1996-1(G)
Geological Unit (1M): DMG
Geological Unit (250K): DMgG

Assessment Reports that overlap occurrence

Report Number Year Title Worktypes Holes Drilled Meters Drilled
095301 2009 Assessment Report Describing 2009 Soil Sampling, Prospecting and Excavator Stripping at the Connaught Project Rock - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Prospecting - Other, Mechanical - Trenching
095101 2008 Assessment Report Describing Soil Sampling, Excavator Trenching and Excavator Tripping at the Connaught Project Rock - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Detailed Bedrock Mapping - Geology, Mechanical - Trenching
094925 2007 Assessment Report Describing Soil Sampling, Excavator Trenching and Diamond Drilling Diamond - Drilling, Rock - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Mechanical - Trenching 7 556.97
094917 2006 Assessment Report Describing Geophysical Survey at the Connaught Property VTEM - Airborne Geophysics
094025 1998 Geological and Geochemical Report on the MOS and MAG Claims Rock - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Prospecting - Other
092117 1987 Geological Report-Crag Mountain Property All Weather Road - Development, Surface, Rock - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Line Cutting - Other, Data Compilation - Pre-existing Data
092511 1987 Report on the 1987 Geological Fieldwork on the Goden Crab Property All Weather Road - Development, Surface, Rock - Geochemistry, Silt - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Bedrock Mapping - Geology, Magnetics - Ground Geophysics, Mechanical - Trenching
062295 1987 Geological Report-Crag Mountain Property All Weather Road - Development, Surface, Rock - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Line Cutting - Other, Data Compilation - Pre-existing Data
061130 1969 Report on the 1969 Exploration Program in the Sixtymile River Area, Yukon Territory Diamond - Drilling, Drill Core - Geochemistry, Rock - Geochemistry, Silt - Geochemistry, Soil - Geochemistry, Detailed Bedrock Mapping - Geology, Mechanical - Trenching 8 431.59
060840 1969 Summary Report for the Connaught Mines Ltd.-Sixty Mile Area, Yukon Cursory Property Visit - Other, Data Compilation - Pre-existing Data
018931 1968 Preliminary Report for Connaught Mines Ltd.-Sixty Mile Area, Yukon Territory Research/Summarize - Pre-existing Data
092561 1967 Goldray Mines Limited-Property Examination-Sixty Mile Mining Company Limited Petrographic - Lab Work/Physical Studies, Cursory Property Visit - Other, Data Compilation - Pre-existing Data, Mechanical - Trenching

Related References

Number Title Page(s) Document Type
ARMC012812 Property examination - Connaught Mines: Boucher Creek property 115N/15 Report
ARMC012811 Property examination map - Connaught property - Boucher Creek area Geoscience Map (General)
ARMC012813 Map sheet 115-N-15 showing claims of area - Boucher Creek Geoscience Map (General)
ARMC012816 Map sheet 115-N-15 showing claims of area with notations - 60 Mile River area Geoscience Map (General)
ARMC012819 Air photo overlays - 50 Mile Creek, Matson Creek, Ladue River areas - Air photos no. 12043-356, 12267-102, 12267-63, 12043-360, 12043-307, A12945-145, 12267-61, 12267-103, A12945-146. Geoscience Map (General)
ARMC012818 Map of Crag Mountain area showing geochemical locations - Aeromagnetic series map 4268G Geoscience Map (General)
ARMC012817 Map of Crag Mountain area with geochemical results plotted - Field copy - Aeromagnetic series map 4268G Geophysical Map
ARMC016712 Geology map - 105N/15 Geoscience Map (Geological - Bedrock)
ARMC012815 Correspondence, maps, notes, inter-office letter, analysis of funds, and assay results - Sixty Mile area - Chefkoi, Ela, Jo, Kit and Tom mineral claims Miscellaneous Company Documents
Citations

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