Work History

The first quartz claims staked in the area were the Big Elephant claims (12627) which were staked 2 km to the northwest in Jun/17.
 
J. Brady staked Rest cl 1-104 (YA89204) to the north and northeast in May/87. Although soil sampling and magnetic surveys were planned for the Rest claims, financial restraints resulted in their cancellation.

In Jul/87 R. McPhee staked Fish cl 37-40 (YA84498), cl 69-80 (YA89525) and cl 41-48 (YA89547) to the north and Wine cl 1-24 (YA89694) to the northwest. One month later McPhee added Fish cl 49-62 (YA89893) and cl 81-94 (YA89907) and Wine cl 25-48 (YA89869) and cl 49-57 (YA89937).  In 1988 McPhee hand trenched  and collected 179 rock samples on two chained lines located on the Fish claims.
 
J. Butterworth staked Tog cl 1-12 (YA89825) two km to the northwest in Aug/87. Resore Industries Corporation staked Resore 1-38 (YA89787) on the southwest boundary of the Tog claims at the same time.
 
In 1988 McPhee hand trenched  and collected 179 rock samples on two chained lines located on the Fish claims.
 
A private syndicate staked Wolf cl 1-22 (YC07842)  to the west in Aug/98.
 
Staked as MB cl 1-6 (YC17410) in Aug/99 by the same private syndicate which staked the Wolf claims a year earlier. The syndicated staked Pyrex cl 1-4 (YC17406) to the northwest at the same time. In Aug/2000 the syndicate carried out a preliminary exploration program on the claims and staked Wolf cl 23-42 (YC20245) to the east. The syndicate carried out further sampling in Jul/2001.
 
Restaked as Toluamide cl 23-58 (YC76009) in Aug 2008 by G.G. Richards. In 2009 Richards conducted rock and soil sampling programs on the claims. In Aug/2009 Richards staked Toluamide cl 65-138 (YD12601) to the north, east and south.
 
In Sep/2009 Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd optioned a package of 203 mineral claims commonly referred to as the Mariposa Gold property from G. Richards for cash, claims and certain work commitments. The Mariposa property includes the Toluamide claims and the area surrounding this occurrence.
 
In 2010 Pacific Ridge prospected, rock sampled and grid soil sampled the area surrounding the newly discovered Hackly Gold in-soil anomaly (this occurrence). In Jul/2010 the company staked AC cl 1-126 (YD64152) to the east.
 
In the spring of 2011 Pacific Ridge flew an airborne magnetometer survey over the occurrence area. Later in the year the company  collared two diamond drill holes (299 m) to test the Hackly Gold soil anomaly.
 
GEOLOGY 

 The area is located near the northern headwaters of Mariposa Creek approximately 6 km southwest of Pyroxene Mountain in west-central Yukon. S. Gordey and J. Ryan (2004 and 2005) of the Geological Survey of Canada have recently remapped the Stewart River map sheet (NTS 115N & O) located just north of the occurrence location. Ryan and Gordey and others have recently finished remapping NTS map sheet 115J & K (the map sheet covering this occurrence) and are in the final stages of releasing their results (tentatively 2012).
 
The occurrence area is believed to be underlain by a Devonian to Mississippian age sequence of quartz mica schist, amphibolite and other metavolcanic rocks. A large body of Late Triassic age pyroxenite (Pyroxene Mountain) intrudes to the north. The pyroxenite is likely a slightly older phase of  the larger Early Jurassic granodiorite batholith which covers the area to the north. Numerous small mid-Cretaceous and Eocene granitic stocks are known to outcrop in the area.
 
The 1917 Elephant claims are thought to have been staked on quartz veins.
 
McPhee orientated his 1988 sample lines to cover two lineaments observed on two separate remote sensing studies conducted in 1987. The lines were located northwest of the occurrence and ran northeast and southwest from a starting point located at Fish cl #94. Several samples on the northwest line returned anomalous gold results. 
 
The syndicate staked their various claim groups to explore for “Pogo” style mineralization. It appears the syndicate assumed the large intrusion located to the north might have a mid-Cretaceous age similar to other economically significant intrusions located throughout the Tintina Gold belt. The best result from the 2000 program was a soil sample collected over a small granitic plug located approximately 1 km southwest of the occurrence which returned 111 ppb gold. This sample appears to lie on the southwest side of the Hackly Gold soil anomaly (detected by Pacific Ridge in 2010).
 
The syndicate’s 2001 exploration program attempted to re-locate McPhee’s anomalous 1988  results but was unsuccessful. The best result from the program was a rock sample collected from a pyritized dike in Mariposa Creek (located approximately 3 km west of the occurrence) that returned 2 530 ppb gold.
 
Soil sampling conducted in 2009 returned a spot high of 256 ppm gold from a site located approximately 0.5 km south of the occurrence. The 2010 soil sampling program returned a spot anomaly of 129 ppm gold approximately 0.5 km north of the occurrence. Combined the two soil sampling programs outlined a 700 m by 400 m gold-in-soil anomaly, (named Hackly Gold) centred over this occurrence. The anomaly also hosts anomalous values in bismuth and molybdenum. Pacific Ridge Exploration has not publicly released any geological mapping results for this anomaly, however extrapolation of Gordey and Ryan’s geological mapping to the north indicates that the area is underlain by Devonian to Mississippian age metavolcanics.
 
In 2011 Pacific Ridge Exploration tested the Hackly Gold soil anomaly with two diamond drill holes (299 m). No significant drill results were returned. The company plans to carry out further exploration work on the anomaly as soil sampling completed in 2011 continues to yield anomalous results that have not yet been explained.

REFERENCES 

BRADY, M.J. Jan/88.  Assessment Report #092088 by D.H. Waugh.
 
GORDEY, S.P. AND RYAN, J.J. 2005.  Geology, Stewart River Area (115N, 115 O and part of 115J), Yukon Territory; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 4970, scale 1:250 000.
 
MCPHEE, R,   Feb/89. Assessment Report #092672 by D. Waugh.
 
PACIFIC RIDGE EXPLORATION LTD, Feb/2011.  Assessment Report  #095527 by J. Fingler.
 
PACIFIC RIDGE EXPLORATION LTD, News Release. 23 Sep/2009, 20 Apr/2010, 17 Aug/2010, 23 Sep/2010, 2 Mar/2011, 13 Apr/2011, 28 Jul/2011, 29 Nov/2011.
 
PACIFIC RIDGE EXPLORATION LTD, Apr/2011.  Web Site: www.pacificridgeexploration.com.
 
PRIVATE SYNDICATE, Jan/2001.  Assessment Report #094197 by T. Morgan.
 
PRIVATE SYNDICATE, Jan/2002.  Assessment Report #094297 by T. Morgan and V. Matkovich.
 
RICHARDS, G.G. Feb/2010.  Assessment Report #095249 by G.G. Richards.
 
RYAN, J.J. AND GORDEY, S.P. 2002.  Bedrock geology of Yukon-Tanana terrane in southern Stewart River map area, Yukon Territory. Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research 2002-A1, 11 p.
 
RYAN, J.J. ET AL., 2003.  Update on bedrock geological mapping of the Yukon-Tanana terrane, southern Stewart River map area, Yukon Territory. Geological Survey of Canada. Current Research 2003-A9, 7 p.
 
Ryan, J.J. AND GORDEY, S.P., 2004;  Geology Stewart River Area (Parts of 115N/1,2,7,8 and 115O/2- 12), Yukon Territory; Geological Survey of Canada, Open file 4641, scale 1:100 000.
 
YUKON EXPLORATION 1987, p. 300; 1988, p. 202-203.
 
YUKON EXPLORATION AND GEOLOGY OVERVIEW 2010, p. 29, 60; 2011, p. 46-45, 65, 72.