Work History

Staked as On cl 1-20 (YB47740) in May/94 by Cominco Ltd to cover geophysical anomalies detected by an airborne survey flown earlier in the year.
Atna Resources Ltd staked Toe cl 1-16 (YB56214) 1 km to the north in Oct/94. In May/95 Atna transferred the claims to Westmin Resources Ltd as part of a joint venture agreement. In Jun/95 the joint venture group staked Toe cl 17-36 (YB59962). During 1995 and early 1996 the joint venture group carried out preliminary exploration programs on the Toe claims.
In Oct/95 Cominco staked On cl 21-244 (YB62677) to the east, west and south. Westmin staked Toe cl 43-154 (YB63794) over top the same area but their application was withdrawn in Mar/96. Cominco flew a combined helicopter-borne EM/magnetic survey over all the On claims in March and April of 1996. Following completion of the survey, Cominco entered into a joint venture agreement with Westmin Resources Ltd and Atna Resources Ltd (Cominco 50%, Westmin 30%, Atna 20%) to explore On cl 21-101, 104-113, 116-129, 134-146, 162-173, and 197-198. In 1996 the joint venture group carried out grid soil sampling, geological mapping and prospecting programs.
Cominco continued to hold 100% interest in On cl 1-20 and in 1996 carried out a small soil sampling and prospecting program on the claims.
The Westmin-Atna Resources joint venture staked Jill cl 1-24 (YB86778) north of Wind Lake in Aug/96 and Cap cl 1 Fr, Lin cl Fr and Jill cl 25-41 (YB87468) east and northeast of the lake in Sep/96. During this period the companies carried out regional geological mapping and soil sampling on the Toe and Jill claims in association with a larger program on the neighbouring Foot claims (Minfile Occurrence #105G 040). In the fall of 1996 they drilled 4 holes on the Toe claims to test stratigraphy and follow-up geophysical and geochemical targets and in 1997 they carried out geochemical soil sampling, magnetometer and MaxMin geophysical surveying.
In 1997 Cominco carried out a brief ground geophysical survey on, On cl 1-20. The joint venture group (for On claims) carried out further soil sampling and drilled 1 diamond drill hole (308 m) 1 km east of the occurrence. (see Minfile Occurrence #105G 116 for other information concerning On claims).
In Jul/2001 Expatriate Resources Ltd staked Bug cl 1-27 (YB93298) at the southeast end of the On claim block, overtop lapsed On claims (On cl # 103 etc.). In 2001 the company collected a line of soil samples across the length of the claim block and carried out reconnaissance geological mapping.

Capsule Geology

The area surrounding the occurrence was recently re-mapped by Murphy and Piercey (1999b) and Murphy et al (2001) of the Yukon Geology Program. They report that the area is underlain by a layered sequence of Mississippian to Pennsylvanian metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks belonging to the Yukon-Tanana Terrane (YTT). The YTT is a volcanic-plutonic, pericratonic arc assemblage that was strongly deformed and metamorphosed by late Triassic time. Volcanic hosted massive sulphide deposits exist at different stratigraphic positions within the YTT including the Fyre Lake deposit (Minfile Occurrence #105G 034) in Devonian to early Mississippian Fire Lake mafic meta-volcanic unit, the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit (Minfile Occurrence #105G 117) in the Mississippian Kudz Ze Kayah felsic meta-volcanic unit, and the Wolverine deposit (Minfile Occurrence #105G 072) within the Early Mississippian Wolverine Succession.
The occurrence is underlain by the Kudz Ze Kayah felsic metavolcanic unit. It is in turn overlain by quartzite, biotite-chlorite schist and carbonaceous phyllite, quartzite and minor quartzofeldspathic psammite. All four units belong to the Mississippian age, Grass Lakes Succession. Mississippian granitic to monzonitic metaplutonic rocks, belonging to the Grass Lakes Plutonic Suite intrude the sequence to the northeast and southwest.
The occurrence (On cl 1-20) consists of an area where elevated magnetics and associated conductivity were identified by an airborne geophysical survey. A follow-up helicopter borne survey delineated several large magnetic anomalies with strong but variable EM conductivity. Soil sampling and prospecting carried out by Cominco failed to identify any potential mineralization or explain the geophysical anomaly. A small ground geophysical survey completed in 1997 outlined a magnetic feature possessing variable conductivity.
Grid soil sampling completed by the On claims joint venture group, outlined a strong Cu-Zn anomaly with elevated Pb values southeast of the occurrence. Prospecting returned several pieces of quartz-biotite schist containing several percent disseminated pyrite, pyrrhotite and minor chalcopyrite from the same general area but of several samples submitted for assay, none returned anomalous values.
Follow-up soil sampling completed in 1997 helped to better define the extent of the anomaly and a UTEM ground geophysical survey in the same area outlined 2 conductors (A and B) with magnetic associations . The two conductors appear to be associated with the magnetic feature located by Cominco on the neighbouring On 1-20, claim block. As the A anomaly appeared to possess the best combination of geophysical and geochemical values of all the anomalies in the area, the joint venture group decided to test it with a single diamond drill hole (308 m). The hole intersected light grey cherty material (felsic protolith) and jet black cherty siliceous argillite. Although abundant (up to 15%) disseminated and stringer hosted pyrite and pyrrhotite was found, minerals of economic interest were restricted to a 1 cm wide band of disseminated sphalerite.
North of the occurrence on the Toe and Jill claims, the area is probably underlain by metasedimentary and felsic volcanic rocks belonging to the Early Mississippian Wolverine Succession. The contact between the Wolverine Succession and the underlying Grass Lakes Succession is interpreted to be an angular unconformity. Soil sampling, north and east of Wind Lake, returned generally low values for Au and Ag with several scattered non-coincident anomalies for Cu, Pb and Zn. The most significant of these was a two station Cu anomaly with a peak value of 347 ppm. Ground geophysics identified 11 HLEM conductors, four of which display a positive magnetic field, high conductance, narrow width response and are associated with anomalous geochemical response.
The Bug claim block is mainly underlain by Upper Devonian to Lower Mississippian felsic metavolcanics assigned to Murphy¿s (2001) Kudz Ze Kayah felsic metavolcanic unit (unit DK). Early Mississippian granitic to monzonitic metaplutonic rocks (unit MGg) belonging to the Grass Lakes Plutonic Suite intrude the sequence to the east. Coarse meta-sandstones (unit MWcl) assigned to the Early Mississippian Wolverine succession occur at the extreme eastern end of the claim block.
Extrapolation of stratigraphic information compiled from diamond drilling on the adjoining Redline property (Minfile Occurrence #105G 124) indicates that the area covered by the Bug claims hosts stratigraphy thought to be favorable for volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. Soil sampling identified three separate areas of anomalous soil results, all of which are underlain by favorable Kudz Ze Kayah felsic metavolcanic stratigraphy.

References

COMINCO LTD, Jun/95. Assessment Report *#093339 by P.A. MacRobbie.

COMINCO LTD, Feb/97. Assessment Report #093550 by R.D. Holroyd.

COMINCO LTD, Apr/98. Assessment Report #093728 by V.L. Bannister.

COMINCO LTD, Oct/98. Assessment Report #093893 by R.W. Holroyd.

EXPATRIATE RESOURCES LTD, Jul/2002. Assessment Report #094309 by T. Tucker.

HUNT, J.A., 2002. Volcanic-associated massive sulfide (VMS) mineralization in the Yukon-Tanana Terrane and coeval strata of the North American miogeocline, in the Yukon and adjacent areas. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon Region, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Bulletin 12, 107 p.

MURPHY, D.C., AND PIERCEY, S.J., 1999a. Finlayson project: Geological evolution of Yukon-Tanana Terrane and its relationship to Campbell Range belt, northern Wolverine Lake map area, southeastern Yukon. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 1998, C.F. Roots and D.S. Emond (eds.), Exploration and Geological Services Division, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p.47-62.

MURPHY, D.C. and PIERCEY, S.J., 1999b. Geological map of parts of Finlayson Lake (105G/7, 8 and parts of 1, 2, and 9) and Frances Lake (parts of 105H/5 and 12) map areas, southeastern Yukon (1:100 000-scale). Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Open File 1999-4.

MURPHY, D.C. AND PIERCEY, S.J., 2000. Syn-mineralization faults and their re-activation, Finlayson Lake massive sulphide district, Yukon-Tanana Terrane, southeastern Yukon. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 1999, D.S. Emond and L.H. Weston (eds.), Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 55-66.

MURPHY, D.C. ET AL., 2001. Preliminary bedrock geological map of northern Finlayson Lake area (NTS 105 G), Yukon Territory (1:100 000 scale). Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon Region, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Open file 2001-33.

WESTMIN RESOURCES LTD, Apr/96. Assessment Report #093404 by M. Baknes and J.S. Weber.

WESTMIN RESOURCES LTD, Apr/97. Assessment Report #093583 by D.A. Terry and T.L. Tucker.

WESTMIN RESOURCES LTD, Apr/97. Assessment Report #093588 by G.D. Bradshaw, et al.

WESTMIN RESOURCES LTD, May/97. Assessment Report #093625 by D.A. Terry, et al.

WESTMIN RESOURCES LTD, Mar/98. Assessment Report #093782 by D.A. Terry.

WESTMIN RESOURCES LTD, Jun/98. Assessment Report #093821 by D.A. Terry and D. Hall.

YUKON EXPLORATION AND GEOLOGY 1996, p. 15. 1997, p. 15; 2001, p. 9.