Work History

Staked as Wynne, etc cl (66684) in Sep/53 by A. Kulan, B. Law and others and optioned to Prospectors Airways Ltd which carried out geochemical, magnetic, EM and gravity surveying and drilled 162 holes (18 517 m) from 1953-1956. Prospectors Airways was later merged into Kerr Addison Mines Ltd and the property was transferred to a subsidiary, Vangorda Mines Ltd. 
Adjoining claims to the east were staked late in 1953 by Conwest Exploration Ltd (Blin, Gran, etc cl (66931), Alator Corp & Chemical Research Corp (Vang, Gora, etc cl (67238)). In 1963 and 1964, the property was surrounded by claims owned by Dickson Yukon Syndicate (later Pelly River Mines Ltd) and Dynasty Explorations Ltd (later Cyprus Anvil Mining Corp), which included the Rich and Bob claims on which geochemical soil sampling was carried out in 1966. 
Metallurgical drilling was conducted by Kerr Addison in 1964 and 1968 and by Dowa Mining Company Ltd in 1974 (6 holes). In Aug/73, 63 claims surrounding the deposit were optioned to AEX 73 Syndicate, which carried out Turam surveying and drilling later in the year. AEX 73 Syndicate was incorporated as AEX Metals Corp in 1974 and merged with 79902 Resources Ltd to form Canadian Natural Resources Ltd in 1975. Vangorda drilled 4 holes (57 m) in 1976 and 1 hole (23 m) 800 m to the west in 1977. 
In 1978, Kerr Addison, Vangorda Mines Ltd and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd sold their interests in the deposit and surrounding claims to Cyprus Anvil Mining Corporation, which resampled the deposit with an extensive drill program and initiated new metallurgical and feasibility studies in 1979. Control of Cyprus Anvil Mining Corp was sold to Hudson's Bay Oil & Gas Ltd and subsequently to Dome Petroleum Ltd in 1981 and to Curragh Resources Inc in 1985 which drilled 2 042 m in 1987; 2 964 m (68 holes) and constructed a haul road in 1988; and collected a 100 000 tonne bulk sample in 1989. The first concentrate from the Vangorda pit was shipped in September, 1990. 
In 1992, Curragh milled 4 550 000 tonnes of mostly Vangorda ore, containing 112 895 000 kg lead, 158 367 000 kg zinc and 124 145 000 grams silver. Milling stopped for 2 weeks in August and 2 weeks in December, 1992. All of Curragh's operations in the Faro area ceased in Apr/93 due to low metal prices. In May/93, Korea Zinc and Samsung agreed to purchase a 50% interest in Curragh Inc. for $50 million, with the intention of resuming production in September. The deal with Korea Zinc and Samsung was never carried out and Curragh was forced into receivership by its creditors. 
In Nov/94 Anvil Range Mining Corporation acquired all claims owned by Curragh following the bankruptcy of the latter. Anvil immediately began stripping the neighboring Grum deposit (Minfile Occurrence #105K 056) and rehabilitating the mill complex. In Feb/95 Anvil signed an economic development agreement with the Ross River Dena Council. In Aug/95 Anvil began mining the Grum deposit and in Sept/95 resumed production from the Vangorda deposit. Anvil achieved commercial production on November 1, 1995 
Anvil continued mining the Grum and Vangorda deposits throughout 1996, with the concentrator processing between 12 and 14 000 tones of ore per day, the bulk of which was mined from the Grum deposit. In Dec/96 Anvil exhausted reserves in the Vangorda deposit and suspended mining because of low metal prices and other factors, including lower head grades, mechanical problems in the mill and a strong Canadian dollar. The mill continued to process low-grade stockpiles at 50% capacity until the end of Mar/97. 
Anvil re-started mining operations on the adjoining Grum deposit in Nov/97 and continued until Jan/98 when Anvil filed for court protection from creditors. In Apr/98 a receiver was appointed to handle the company¿s assets and maintain the mine site. Anvil Range was delisted in Jan/99.

Capsule Geology

This is one of five major synsedimentary, stratiform lead-zinc-silver deposits located in an arcuate belt along the south flank of the Anvil Batholith. They are distributed through a 150 m thick stratigraphic interval which straddles the boundary between non-calcareous phyllite of the Lower Cambrian Mount Mye formation and calcareous phyllite of the Cambrian to Ordovician Vangorda formation. Some of the sulphide lenses appear to be laterally equivalent to a discontinuous carbonaceous unit which marks the base of the Vangorda formation. The deposits are considered to be submarine exhalites formed from hot metalliferous brines discharging through sea floor fumaroles along a synsedimentary fault related to Lower Cambrian extensional tectonism (Pigage, 1990). 
Vangorda was the original discovery in the Anvil Range due to a gossanous sulphide outcrop which occurs in Vangorda Creek. The deposit consists of a 1 300 m by 200 m flat-lying massive sulphide layer about 40-120 m below the carbonaceous layer which marks the base of the Vangorda formation. Several minor sulphide layers above the deposit are thin or low grade and therefore uneconomic. In Jun/83 Cyprus Anvil estimated that the deposit hosted geological reserves of 7.1 million tonnes grading 3.4% Pb, 4.3% Zn, and 48 g/t Ag using a cutoff grade of 4% Pb + Zn. Open pit reserves were estimated at 5.2 million tonnes of similar grade material. As at Grum, the Vangorda orebody contains a significant amount of byproduct gold (approximately 1 g/t). 
The upper part of the orebody consists mainly of massive pyrite and pyrrhotite with quartz-barite gangue. The massive sulphides are segregated in alternating barite-rich and pyrite-rich bands 0.5-5 m thick. Ore minerals are pale yellow sphalerite, galena, minor amounts of chalcopyrite, and traces of tetrahedrite, bournonite and arsenopyrite. Lead, zinc, silica and barite contents increase toward the top of the deposit. The lower part of the orebody consists of pyritic quartzite which grades downward into siliceous phyllite. The pyritic quartzite is enriched in copper and gold. Footwall rocks are bleached and strongly altered with variable amounts of silica, chlorite and sulphides. 
The deposit and its host rocks are metamorphosed to upper greenschist facies and have been subjected to complex polyphase deformation. It occurs in the hinge of a large second phase fold and is elongated in a northwest direction parallel to the plunge of F2 fold axes. The sulphides are extensively sheared and brecciated along fold limbs and thickened in hinge areas as a result of mechanical remobilization during folding. Detailed mapping has showed that a steep normal fault truncates the deposit at its northwest end. 
As of December 31 1996, Anvil Range Mining estimated that the Vangorda open pit contained a remaining, proven reserve of 165 000 tonnes grading 3.27% Pb, 4.14% Zn and 43 g/t Ag. However given the economics of trying to mine such a small reserve the deposit is considered to be essentially mined out.

References

ALATOR CORPORATION LTD, 1954. Assessment Report *#017523 by C.E. Dunn and L.G. White. 

ALATOR CORPORATION LTD, 1954. Assessment Report *#017524 by H.M. Powell. 

ALATOR CORPORATION LTD, 1954. Assessment Report *#019520 by H.M. Powell and L.G. White. 

ALATOR CORPORATION LTD, Jan/55. Assessment Report *#092028 by C.E. Dunn. 

ANVIL MINING CORPORATION LTD, 1966. Assessment Report *#018986 by R.S. Adamson. 

ANVIL RANGE MINING CORPORATION, Apr/97. Assessment Report #093636 by C. Wels. 

ANVIL RANGE MINING CORPORATION, 1996. Annual Information form (availabile on SEDAR website). 

BROCK, J.S., Oct/73. Geophysical exploration leading to discovery of the Faro deposit. Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Bulletin, p. 97-116. 

BROWN, D., AND MCCLAY, K., 1993. The Vangorda Deposit. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 1992, Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 27-32. 

CHISHOLM, E.O., 1957. Geophysical exploration of a lead-zinc deposit in Yukon. In: Canadian case histories in geophysics; Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Special Volume 1, p. 269-277. 

CHISHOLM, E.O., Nov/59. Geochemical exploration of a Yukon lead-zinc deposit. Western Miner, p. 36-47. 

CONWEST EXPLORATION COMPANY LTD, 1954. Assessment Report *#017541 by B.I.F. Breakey. 

CURRAGH RESOURCES INC, Jul/89. Assessment Report *#092737 by J.C. Nyberg. 

CYPRUS ANVIL MINING CORPORATION, Feb/77. Assessment Report *#091249 by J. Howard. 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA Bulletin 208, p. 46-47. 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA Paper 64-36, p. 31-32; Paper 68-1A, Part A, p. 43-52. 

GEORGE CROSS NEWSLETTER, 22 Jul/97, 28 Nov/97. 

JENNINGS, D.S., JILSON, G.A., AND PIGAGE L.C., 1979. Anvil Range stratigraphy. Paper presented to the Seventh Geoscience Conference, Whitehorse, 2 Dec/79. 

KERR ADDISON MINES LTD and CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES, Jan/78. Assessment Report *#091225 by M. Mallette. 

NORTHERN MINER, 31 Apr/93; 28 Nov/94; 22 Mar/95, 25 Nov/96, 2 Dec/96, 26 May/97. 

PIGAGE, L.C., 2001. Geological map of Faro (NTS 105K/3 NE) and Mount Mye (105K/6 SE), central Yukon (1:25 000 scale). Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon Region, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Open File 2001-27. 

PROSPECTORS AIRWAYS COMPANY LTD, 1954. Assessment Report *#091764 by R.W. Baker and V.S. Papezik. 

PROSPECTORS AIRWAYS COMPANY LTD, Dec/55. Assessment Report *#091755 by R.W. Baker and V.S. Papezik. 

TEMPELMAN-KLUIT, D.J., Oct/70. The relationship between sulphide grain size and metamorphic grade, etc. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, p. 1139-1345. 

WHITEHORSE STAR, 6 Apr/93; 5 Jun/95; 21 Jun/95; 14 Aug/95; 16 Aug/95. 

YUKON EXPLORATION AND GEOLOGY 1982, p. 143. 

YUKON MINING AND EXPLORATION OVERVIEW 1988, p. 2, 27; 1989, p. 546. 

YUKON NEWS, 5 Mar/93; 14 Dec/94;1 Feb/95; 15 Mar/95; 16 Aug/95.