Work History
According to D.D. Cairnes (1910) of the Geological Survey of Canada, prospectors first explored the area in 1907 and hand trenched the numerous quartz-bearing mineralized lenses carrying magnetite, chalcopyrite and malachite formed along the contact between granite and limestone. The area was worked intermittently by various individuals.
Modern staking appears to have begun in Aug/62 when J. Allen staked Copper AA cl 1-2 (77945) and Copper A cl 1-2 (77947) over porphyry mineralization located west of the occurrence. P. Nuotio staked a single Duck claim (85089) south of the Copper claims in Jun/63. The Duck claim appears to cover the current Mitsu West zone. In Jun/64 L. Nault restaked the Duck claims as H.M. claim (86382).
In Jul/64 R.Holway and G. Washington surrounded the HM claim with Pony cl 7-8 (90391), cl 1-2 (90394) and cl 5-6 (90395). Later in the month, J. Allen staked single Fox (90469) and Linck (90470) claims between Pony claims 5 and 8.
Mitsubishi Metal Mining Company Ltd. staked the occurrence location within AD cl 1-40 (Y24945) and cl 41-56 (Y25049) in Jun/68. In Jul/68 the company added AD cl 57-64 (Y25374) to their holdings. The claim block surrounded the surviving HM claim and portions of the Hopper South occurrence (Minfile Occurrence #115H 019) located 1.5 km to the south. The staking of the AD claims marks the first time the majority of the porphyry mineralization was contained within one property.
Later in the summer (1968) Mitsubishi carried out airborne electromagnetic, magnetic and radiometric surveys, and a helicopter supported soil and rock sampling program.
In 1969 Mitsubishi carried out bulldozer trenching and an Induced Polarization (IP) survey on the AD claims.
It appears that in Oct/75, Mitsubishi Metal Mining Company Ltd. restaked the majority of porphyry mineralization (including the occurrence location) within ML cl 1-15 (YA3955). The company carried out radiometric prospecting in 1976.
In Oct/75 M. Jorgensen staked Cu cl 1-12 (YA4021) to the south and southeast. The Cu claims covered outlying areas of mineralization associated with the Hopper South occurrence.
In Apr/76 the Mug Joint Venture (Malabar Silver Mines Ltd, Union Oil Company of Canada Ltd and Getty Mining Pacific Ltd) staked AG cl 1-46 (YA4268) around the ML and Cu claims and parts of the Hopper South occurrence.
In Mar/89 Casau Exploration option the Hopper South occurrence (which were covered by Acme cl 1-13 – (YA94105) from D. Baird and immediately surrounded the claims with Hop cl 1-74 (YB25531). The Hop claims also covered the majority of the Hopper North occurrence.
In May/89 Casau Exploration entered into a joint venture agreement with Aurora Gold Ltd whereby Aurora obtained a 75% interest in the Acme and Hop claims. In Jun/89, the companies added Hop cl 75-102 (YB26329). The newly staked Hop claims encompassed the remainder of the porphyry mineralization associated with the Hopper North occurrence. The companies appear to have ignored, for the most part the porphyry mineralization associated with the Hopper North occurrence and concentrated their efforts on the skarn mineralization associated with the Hopper South occurrence.
In 1991 the Hop and Acme claims were returned to D. Baird who performed blast trenching on the Hopper South occurrence in 1992. A 33.3% interest in the Acme and Hop claims was transferred to each of A.E. Thom and Patricia Lattin in March/93. In June/94, Baird et al carried out further drilling and blasting on the Hopper South occurrence. The assessment credit obtained from these programs was used to fulfil assessment requirements on both the Acme and Hop claim groups.
In Aug/95 the remaining Hop and Acme claims were transferred to J.C. Stephen. The last of the remaining Hop and Acme claims lapsed at the end of 2000.
G. Delorme restaked the south occurrence as Guy cl 1-16 in May 2002. In May/2003 the claims were transferred to G. MacDonald.
In Feb/2006 Strategic Metals Ltd restaked the north occurrence as Hop cl 1-20 (YC41091). The company carried out preliminary prospecting and geological mapping programs in and around the porphyry occurrence. Initial results led the company to stake Hop cl 21-162 (YC47017) in Jun/2006. These claims surrounded the Guy claims, which host the Hopper South occurrence.
In 2007 Strategic Metals carried out prospecting, rock and soil sampling and excavator trenching programs in the vicinity of the porphyry occurrence. Later in the season the company carried out helicopter-borne versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) and magnetic geophysical surveys over the entire area including the Guy claims which cover the skarn occurrence. In Oct/2007 the company staked Hopper cl 163-168 (YC65915) and Gal cl 1-8 (YC65907) south of the Guy claims.
In March 2008 Monster Mining Corporation acquired a 100% interest in the Guy claims.
In Aug/2010 Strategic Metals carried out a grid based soil sampling program over the various portions of the Hopper South occurrence including the Guy claims. The Guy claims were sampled as part of an option agreement with Monster Mining which was formalized the following month.
In Sep/2010 Monster Mining optioned an undivided 100% interest in the Guy claims to Strategic Metals in return for 50% of any of the proceeds from the sale, option or disposition of all or any part of the Guy claims as well as from any claims associated with Strategic Metal’s Hopper property. The company amalgamated both occurrences into the Hopper property. In Dec/2010 Strategic Metals staked Hopper cl 171-266 (YD123011) around the outer edge of the existing Hopper property.
On December 14, 2010 Bonaparte Resources Inc optioned a 100% interest in the Hopper property from Strategic Metals in return for cash, a 2% net smelter return and certain work commitments.
Bonaparte Resources funded the 2011 exploration program. The company carried out prospecting, geological mapping, and soil sampling programs followed by a diamond and reverse circulation drilling programs. In November and Dec/2011 the company carried out helicopter-borne VTEM and magnetic surveys over areas not covered during the previous survey flown in 2007.
Work carried out on the Hopper North occurrence include; limited rock sampling, grid based soil sampling over areas hosting porphyry and skarn mineralization in the north half of the property, 58 vertical percussion drill holes (1 729.74 m) and airborne VTEM and magnetic surveys flown over newly staked areas. In Oct/2011 Strategic Metals staked Hopper cl 267-342 (YF28607) around the existing claim block.
In 2012 Strategic Metals contracted Condor Consulting Inc to combine the results of the 2007 and 2011 airborne geophysical surveys and then process and interpret the combined data. In Jul/2012 Strategic Metals purchased Monster Mining’s interests in the Hopper property, thus becoming the property’s sole owner.
In 2013 Strategic Metals carried out aerial photography, topographic surveys, and heritage studies, re-examined all available diamond drill core and percussion chip samples. The company also carried out further grid soil sampling, geological mapping and outcrop sampling.
Capsule Geology
The property is located approximately 70 km northeast of Haines Junction and 115 km northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon. The property lies east of Hopkins Lake and access is via the Aishihik Lake road, which runs along the western property boundary. Access within the property is gained through numerous drill roads, which require the use of 4-wheelers and/or trucks, equipped with 4-wheel drive.
The property lies within the Yukon-Tanana terrane and is situated between the Tintina Fault, 200 km to the northeast and the Denali Fault 50 km to the southwest. Both faults are steeply dipping transcurrent structures with hundreds of kilometers of dextral strike slip offset. The regional geology of the area was remapped at a scale of 1:50 000 in 1997 by Johnston and Timmerman of the Yukon Geoscience Office, a forerunner of the Yukon Geological Survey. The adjacent Ruby Range to the west was remapped, at a scale of 1: 50 000 by Israel Corbett et al. (2011) of the Yukon Geological Survey. In 2014, Morris et al. released U-Pb age, whole rock geochemistry and radiogenic isotopic composition data for the Late Cretaceous volcanic rocks in the central Aishihik area, Yukon (NTS 115 H).
Regionally, the area is underlain by Mississippian and older Snowcap and lesser Finlayson assemblage metamorphic rocks assigned to the Yukon-Tanana terrane, which occur in a northwest-trending belt along Aishihik Lake. They consist of metasedimentary and metamorphic rocks, including quartz-muscovite +/- garnet schist, carbonaceous biotite +/- garnet schist and quartzite, garnet amphibolite and marble as well as rare intermediate composition metaplutonic rocks.
The metamorphic rocks are intruded by intermediate to felsic intrusions of the Early Jurassic Aishihik and Long Lake plutonic suites northeast of Aishihik Lake and felsic intrusive rocks of the Paleocene to Eocene Ruby Range plutonic suite primarily to the southwest of Aishihik Lake. A number of smaller, calc-alkaline, Late Cretaceous plutons (including the Sato and Hopper) intrude the early Jurassic Intrusions and the metamorphic rocks located northeast of the Ruby Range Batholith. These smaller plutons were previously assigned to the Ruby Range batholith but recent age and composition studies completed by Morris et al. suggest they are correlative to the Prospector Mountain suite. Uranium-lead age dating on the Hopper pluton (situated within this property) returned an approximate age of 76 million years placing it in the same metallogenic episode as the Patten Porphyry, host of the mineralization at the Casino porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum-silver deposit (Minfile Occurrence #115J 028) located approximately 190 km to the northwest. A number of Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary volcanic complexes overlies all of the above lithologies.
The Hopper property is primarily underlain by the 5 by 7 km Late Cretaceous aged Hopper pluton, which intrudes Mississippian and older metasedimentary rocks of the Snowcap assemblage. Both units are intruded by predominantly north-trending feldspar-hornblende, +/-biotite, +/-quartz porphyritic dykes and lesser sills thought to be related to the Hopper pluton. Basalt and rare dykes of Late Cretaceous to possible Eocene age intrude all the units.
The metasedimentary rocks primarily consist of micaceous quartzite which grades to biotite-quartz schist and locally gneiss. This unit correlates with the Snowcap assemblage. The metasedimentary rocks generally trend northerly but strike north-northeast in the northwestern property area and north-northwest in the southwestern property area and dip shallowly to the east.
Due to extensive Quaternary cover, only the western portion of the Hopper pluton has been mapped in detail. Geological contacts for the rest of the pluton have been interpreted from airborne magnetic data. A small satellite plug has been interpreted from aeromagnetic data in the southeast portion of the property, approximately, 1.5 km south of the Hopper pluton. The main phase of the pluton is a grey, coarse-grained, equigranular biotite-hornblende granodiorite with 5 – 15% mafic minerals. A pink coloured medium-grained phase and a local darker coloured phase has also been mapped. Metasedimentary xenoliths are locally abundant within the granodiorite at the contact with the metasedimentary country rocks.
The feldspar-hornblende, +/- biotite, +/- quartz porphyritic dykes and sills are light grey to pinkish-grey in color, commonly weather green-grey and are dacite in composition. The dykes generally trend northerly, persist along strike and range in thickness from 0.5 to 50 m. The dykes generally dip steep east but also steep west to moderately east. The basalt dykes and sills are dark green, grey to black in color, massive to commonly feldspar porphyritic with amygdaloidal to vesicular margins. They are generally only 1 to 3 m thick but are persistent in strike. They primarily trend northerly with steep dips but locally trend easterly and crosscut feldspar porphyry dykes.
The Hopper property hosts two main types of mineralization; copper porphyry (this occurrence and copper skarn (Hopper South – Minfile Occurrence #115H 019). Some copper skarn mineralization occurs adjacent to the porphyry mineralization and further north of the Hopper Pluton.
Exploration carried out to date has identified porphyry copper style mineralization within the Hopper pluton over a 2.3 km (east west) by 650 m area, (open to the south and east) at the western edge of the Hopper pluton. The occurrence location marks the approximate centre point of the mineralization. Mineralization within the porphyry consists of chalcopyrite, with lesser pyrite, pyrrhotite, magnetite and molybdenite as fracture fillings, dissemination and aggregates and within quartz +/-carbonate veins. The quartz +/- carbonate veins measure a few cm to 3 m wide, occur primarily within the pluton, and probably represent “D” veins associated with the porphyry system. The vein parallel and occur orthogonal to the dominant north trending fracture orientation. The quartz is clear to white to smoky and occasionally chalcedonic, exhibits weak banding, druzy cavities and brecciation. The veins are commonly mineralized with isolated coarse blebs and clots of chalcopyrite +/- molybdenite.
Mitsubishi Metals originally discovered the porphyry zone in 1968. Composite chip samples returned significant results; 0.52% copper over 45.72 m, 0.25% copper over 60.96 m, 0.24% copper over 45.72 m etc. Excavator trenching carried out by Strategic Metals encountered difficulties reaching bedrock due to permafrost and heavy overburden, but returned 0.07% copper over 35 m in the vicinity of Mitsubishi’s 0.24% copper over 45.72 m result. Grab samples collected by Strategic east of the occurrence location returned up to 2.25% copper.
The porphyry zone has not been tested with drilling except for the 58 shallow, vertical rotary percussion holes collared by Bonaparte Resources in 2011, of which 19 were collared in metasedimentary rocks. Despite the holes being unfavorably orientated (vertical); thus too steep to intersect the steep fracture sets controlling mineralization, several of the holes intersected significant copper porphyry mineralization. Hole PDH-11 -19 intersected 0.36% copper over 9.15 m, hole PDH-11-23 intersected 0.33% copper over1.53 m and hole PDH-11-39 intersected 0.24 % copper over its entire 39.62 m length.
The Mitsu West zone is located near the western end of the porphyry zone (approximately 1 km west of occurrence location). The zone covers a contact zone containing large screens and xenoliths of metasedimentary rocks within the Hopper pluton. Chip sampling completed by Mitsubishi Metals in 1968 returned values up to 0.25% copper over 60.96 m and 0.52% copper over 45.72 m. The Mitsu East zone located at the eastern end of the porphyry zone marks the location of coincident, moderately to strongly elevated gold, silver and molybdenum soil values.
Skarn mineralization was also reported along the northern boundary of the Hopper pluton adjacent to the porphyry copper mineralization and individual skarn horizons have been reported 1.5 km further north. Although these skarns are generally of lower average grade than those near Franklin Creek (Hopper South occurrence) in the south, rock exposure is more limited. Geological mapping has outlined a 350 by 350 m area of chalcopyrite mineralization associated with magnetite skarn and calc-silicate alteration within the embayment located along the northern boundary of the Hopper pluton. Two percussion drill holes collared in 2011 but not directly targeting skarn mineralization returned significant intervals of 0.54% copper over 3.05 m and 1.16% copper over 16.76 m.
