Work History

Although the claim records have been lost, it appears the earliest staking in the area occurred in Jul/06. The main claim, Legal Tender (10424) was staked in Jul/07 by L. Hill, who drove a 30 m adit, surveyed the claim in 1908 and leased it with six other claims in 1914. On the Lucky Boy claim to the southeast, trenching was carried out during this time.
Restaked as Polar Star cl (18970) about 1925 by A. Auston and T. Brooks, who trenched from 1926-28; as Banded Ore cl (4413) in Jul/44 by W. McAlister & C. Eminger, who trenched in 1947; as Min cl (92119) in May/65 by Yukon Antimony Corporation Ltd; as LT cl (Y24615) in May/68 by C. Eminger; and as Toby cl (Y30970) in Mar/69 by W.J. Reed. Yukon Antimony built a bulldozer trail to the showing in 1965. Restaked in Dec/74 as LT and WM cl (Y91770) by J. Higgins, who trenched from 1980-82. Tally Ho Exploration Company Ltd purchased the property in 1983 and carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling in 1984 and 1985 on behalf of Wheaton River Joint Venture.
Restaked as Laf cl 1-20 (YA94861) in Jun/86 by New Era Development Ltd and Havilah Gold Mines Ltd, which remapped the adit and carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling in 1986 and 1987 and tied on Four F cl (YB21983) to the east in Oct/88. Restaked as Bad cl 1-2 in Sep/93 by B. Kreft. Restaked as Sled Tiger cl 1-2 (YB57451) in Mar/95 by G. Lee.
G. Harris tied on MH cl 1-7 (YA86833) in Jun/85, and carried out prospecting and geochemical sampling that year before transferring the claims in 1988 to Skukum Gold Inc, which added Net cl 1-78 (YB06231), Vin cl 3-115 (YB07319), Hod cl 1-46 (YB12902) and LT cl 1-8 (YB13391) from March to Jul/88 and carried out geological mapping, prospecting, geochemical sampling and hand trenching in 1989. The Hod claims were restaked as Hod cl 1-42 (YB35996) were restaked in Jun/91 by E. Bergvinson.
Side Hill Enterprises Ltd staked Ben cl 1-6 (YC07997) 2.5 km to the southwest in Jul/97, surrounded them in partnership with D. Sufady on three sides with Ji cl 1-16 (YC08728) in Apr/98 and carried out prospecting, blast trenching and geochemical sampling later in the year.

Capsule Geology

Gold and silver occur along the Tally-Ho shear zone in northwest-trending veins associated with a swarm of Eocene rhyolite and andesite dykes which cut Cretaceous granodiorite.
The Legal Tender Vein occupies a shear zone up to 2 m wide and has been traced for a length of 120 m. The vein contains bands and disseminations of galena, pyrite and some chalcopyrite. Specimens collected from the adit reportedly assayed 51.4 to 68.6 g/t Au and 2 057 to 2 743 g/t Ag. Sampling on surface east of the adit gave up to 51.4 g/t Ag across 1.6 m, 8.2 g/t Au across 1.0 m and up to 25.0 g/t Au from a specimen. A selected specimen collected in 1977 from the old dump assayed 325.7 g/t Au, 637.7 g/t Ag and 25.3% Pb.
The Lucky Boy showing consists of a series of en-echelon quartz pods in chlorite schist which are exposed over a 40 m strike length. Individual pods are up to 2 m wide and contain small amounts of chalcopyrite, pyrite, galena, malachite and azurite. Samples of vein material taken by Skukum Gold in 1989 contained up to 0.48 g/t Au and 360.0 g/t Ag.
Five hundred metres northwest of the Lucky Boy showing, Skukum Gold discovered veins and mineralized shears associated with rhyolite dyke swarms along a 450 m strike length. Referred to as the 'Off Road' zone, this area contains discontinuous quartz-sulphide lenses with chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, pyrite, malachite and azurite. Samples contained up to 0.71 g/t Au, 371.3 g/t Ag, 9 648 ppm Cu, 3 482 ppm Pb and 2 129 ppm Zn.
On the Hod claims, Skukum Gold discovered an area of intense quartz-carbonate-sulphide veining in sheared, altered metavolcanic rocks immediately east of the summit of Mt Hodnett. Mineralization includes sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena and pyrite, and specimens assayed up to 7.2% Zn, 1.12% Pb, 1.89% Cu and 376.6 g/t Ag. This showing is referred to as the 'TK'.
On the Net and Vin claims, visible gold was discovered in quartz veins associated with a swarm of rhyolite dykes. Soil sampling in 1989 outlined four anomalous areas. Three of the anomalies are located along a northwest trend which passes through the gold showing and returned values up to 188 ppb Au. South of this trend, anomalous arsenic, zinc and copper values were obtained over a 1 000 x 750 m area.
Reconaissance sampling across the central portion of the Ben-Ji claims by Side Hill in 1998 returned a number of weakly anomalous Au values (up to 34 ppb). Trenching revealed rusty weathering granodiorite, which was cut by a near vertical rhyolite dyke in Trench #2. No mineralized quartz was observed in either of the two trenches and the best assay of 0.4 g/t Au, was returned from quartz float located in the vicinity of Trench #2.

References

DAWSON DAILY NEWS, 1909.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, 1907. Summary Report 1906, Part A, p. 27.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, Memoir 31, p. 112-113.

GEORGE CROSS NEWSLETTER, 18 Sep/88.

HAVILAH GOLD MINES LTD, Jun/86. Assessment Report #091831 by T. Garagan.

HAVILAH GOLD MINES LTD, Jun/87. Assessment Report #091949 by T. Garagan.

SIDE HILL ENTERPRISES LTD, Jan/99. Assessment Report #094014 by M. Glynn.

SKUKUM GOLD INC, Jan/89. Assessment Report #092646 by H.F. MacKinnon and A.L. Wilkins.

SKUKUM GOLD INC, Apr/89. Assessment Report #092706 by H.F. MacKinnon and A.L. Wilkins.

SKUKUM GOLD INC, Dec/89. Assessment Report #092780 by H.F. MacKinnon.

SKUKUM GOLD INC, Jan/90. Assessment Report #092804 by H.F. MacKinnon.

WHEATON RIVER JOINT VENTURE, Apr/85. Assessment Report #091626 by G. Macdonald.

YUKON EXPLORATION 1985-86, p. 200-201; 1987, p. 107-108.