Work History

First staked as Bastille cl (57459) in Aug/48 by Great Northern Exploration Company Ltd, headed by Dr. F.W. Galbraith of the University of Arizona. Restaked as Mid cl 1-29 (Y64349) in Sep/71 by Wolf Lake Joint Venture (Rayrock Mines Ltd, Ashland Oil Inc and Caltor Syndicate), which carried out grid soil sampling and detailed geological mapping in 1972.

Restaked as CMC cl 1-24 (YA56628) in Sep/80 by A.W. Hyde, who trenched later in the year. The CMC cl 25-136 (YA66067) were staked in Jul/81 to surround the occurrence. The claims were optioned to BRX Mining & Petroleum Corp in 1982, which carried out geological mapping, geochemical sampling and drilled 2 holes (197 m) later that year. McDame Project (BRX Mining & Petroleum Ltd, Eldorado Minerals & Petroleum Corp and Highmark Resources Ltd) tied on BRX cl 1-20 (YA68275) to the west in May/82 and carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling later in the year.

After the first option expired, Hyde performed more trenching in 1983 with T. McCrory & B. Preston before optioning the property to United Greenwood Exploration Ltd & Consolidated Montclerg Mines Ltd late in 1983.

When the option lapsed, the owners trenched again and optioned the property for a third time in Nov/84 to a joint venture between Silver Hart Mines Ltd and Shakwak Exploration Company Ltd. The joint venture added about 500 SH, Sab & Bea cl (YA72267) between Oct/84 and Feb/85 and explored with trenching, 50 drill holes (3,658 m), a 673 m adit and 2 raises, and built a 40 km access road in 1985-86.

Early in 1986, Shakwak sold its interest to Ark La Tex Industries Ltd. Silver Hart drilled 4 holes (609.6 m) in 1987 on the main showing and carried out extensive bulldozer trenching of the occurrence and the surrounding claims. Following a feasibility study in 1988, a $10 million deal was signed with with Morgan-Gundy to put the property into production however a drop in silver prices lead to the project's eventual cancellation. Trenching and environmental reclamation was carried out in July and Aug/92.

The CMC claims were later returned to W. Hyde, B. Preston and T. McCrory (60%, 20% and 20%, respectively) who performed environmental reclamation, road construction and bedrock stripping from June to Aug/93. Hyde carried out magnetometer and EM geophysical surveying in 1999. In Jan/2000, 100% interest in the CMC claims was transferred to Hyde. Hyde continued environmental reclamation work, road construction and bedrock stripping in 2000.

In Feb/2005, Bellevue Capital Corporation acquired a 100% interest in the CMC silver property. A technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 was completed at that time. Bellevue was subsequently reorganized and renamed CMC Metals Ltd.

From 2006 to 2010, CMC completed prospecting, geological mapping, trenching, road work, metallurgical testing and drilled 6 068 m in 95 holes. In 2010 the company complete an updated resource estimate.

The site was relatively dormant from 2011 to 2016.

From 2017 to 2022, the company drilled 8 391 m in 71 holes.

Capsule Geology

The original showing consists of galena in leached gossans which cut Cambrian or older biotite-quartz schist, limy hornfels and calcareous horizons near the margin of the mid Cretaceous Cassiar Batholith. Pyritic zones in the schist contain minor chalcopyrite. Minor scheelite, molybdenite, galena and sphalerite are also present in narrow skarn zones near the intrusive contact. Gossan specimens collected at surface in 1971 gave assays up to 270 g/t Ag, 18.5% Pb and 10.1% Zn.

A silver-rich vein was found about 1.6 km to the west in 1982-84. It strikes 045°, dips steeply southeast and is best developed at the batholith contact, which it offsets about 150 m in a left-handed direction. The vein consists of a wide shear zone containing lenses of galena, tetrahedrite and sphalerite. Three mineralized zones about 1.8 m wide named the TM, FM & SM, have been traced for an aggregate length of 1160 m.

Float with similar mineralogy is reported from two areas to the east that also lie near the batholith contact. A new zone (Meteorite Zone) was discovered in 1986 north and east of the FM Zone. It appears to consist of 3 parallel veins. Chip samples taken along a 21 m strike length averaged 1,187.8 g/t Ag across 1.5 m.

Trenching in 1987 identified numerous other mineralized areas. At the end of 1987, Silver Hart reported reserves of 97,370 tonnes grading 1025.1 g/t Ag.

The 1999 geophysical program outlined 5 anomalous areas that contain one or more conductors and/or magnetic anomalies. Three of the areas displayed evidence of previous trenching and/or surface mineralization and two are new untested targets. Hyde trenched some of the targets the following year but the majority of trenching was reclaimation based. Hyde did not file any assays or rock descriptions and only claimed assessment costs for physical work, i.e. volume of material moved.

A  resource estimate, incorporating the 2005-2009 drilling, was released in a report dated January 14, 2010 by Dahrouge Consultants.The resource is quoted at two cut-off grades, which were determined at a silver price of $8.60/oz.

At a cut-off grade of 600g/t AgEq, the combined resource for the TM, KL and M zones is calculated at 69 500 tonnes grading 555.66g/t Ag, 1.89% Pb and 9.12% Zn for  1.24M oz ( 38.5 Mg) Ag. At a cut-off grade of 900g/t AgEq, the combined resource for the TM and M zones total 27 300 tonnes grading 901.04g/t Ag, 3.21% Pb and 12.79% Zn for approximately 0.9 Moz (28 Mg) Ag.