Exploration History

Originally staked as Bell, Lill, Shugar, etc cl (13255) in Jun/20 by R. McNeill, J. Dorbolo, C. Brefalt and others, who carried out hand trenching. 
Restaked as Bullion, etc cl (55179) in Aug/40 by T.W. Erickson and C. Brefault, who carried out hand trenching and drove a 37 m adit in the cirque face at the head of McNeil Gulch (the location for this occurrence) in 1941.

Following the release of results of the Operation Keno sampling program carried out by the Geological Survey of Canada, United Keno Hill Mines Ltd (UKHM) staked T cl 1-6, V cl 1-8 and U cl 1-6 (84328) contiguously to the south of Erickson's claims in Mar/65. The company subsequently staked T cl 7-35 (84524) and carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling in Aug/65. In 1966, the company staked T cl 36-173 and Vu cl 174-191 (Y6111) in April; staked T cl 176-191 in July; carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling from July to September; staked T cl 192-220 (Y6403) in August; and optioned the Erickson claims at the end of the field season.

UKHM restaked the Erickson claims as more T cl (Y6977) in Oct/67; carried out soil sampling, hand trenching, overburden drilling, and 8 m of shafting on the 21 Vein (the location of this occurrence) in 1966-68; staked TV cl 1-84 (YA40408) to surround the T claims in Aug/79; drilled 74 percussion holes (1 779.7 m) on the 5 Vein (the location of this occurrence) in 1980; and carried out 48 m of cross-cutting and 49 m of drifting on the 19 Vein in 1984.

The W cl 1 (YA40325) was fringed staked to the west in Jul/79 by Beaverdell Silver Syndicate and optioned to Canada Tungsten Mining Corporation Ltd, which carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling later in the year. K. Klippert staked Adam cl 1-18 (YB65184) to the north in Jan/96.

In Feb/98 the Hinton Group, a private syndicate, restaked location of the occurrence as Hinton cl 1-18, location as Hinton cl 19-30 and location as Hinton cl 31-34 (YC00401). The syndicate then staked Hinton V cl 1-7 and Hinton IV cl 1-6 (YC01417) in Sep/98, midway between this occurrence and Minfile Occurrence #105M 070 to the east and 2 km south of the location of this occurrence, respectively.

In 2002 the UKHM claims (T, V, U, etc) on Mount Hinton were allowed to lapse and were restaked by the Hinton Group as Key cl 1-18, 27-82, 89-92 and 100-104 (YC10609) in Aug/2002. The syndicate then optioned all of their claims in the area to Yukon Gold Corporation Ltd. Yukon Gold immediately carried prospecting, limited hand trenching and resampling of old workings, minor bulldozer trenching, excavator trenching and road building. In 2003, the company carried out excavator trenching, road building, geological mapping, geochemical sampling and staked Red cl 1-9 (YC10948) contiguously to the northeast in Sep/2003.

Capsule Geology

As many as fifty northeast-trending veins have been found in the area and consist of well mineralized gold and silver bearing quartz vein bedrock or float occurences, hosted by dilatent fault or shear zones. The most important vein occurrences, discovered to date, are confined to a 300 m wide by 3.4 km long belt that coincides with arcuate trend of the cirque face that forms the headwall of McNeil Gulch. The veins range in length from 30 to 600 m and occur mainly at contacts between Mississippian aged Keno Hill Quartzite and Triassic aged greenstone sills, and in the footwall of bedding faults marked by graphitic schist. The veins are typically narrow (less than 1 m) and are mineralized with arsenopyrite, galena, jamesonite, pyrite, sphalerite, siderite and gold in quartz gangue.

The ore shoots are structurally controlled and are typically short and erratic. Mineralogy indicates some zoning, with base metals more abundant at lower elevations. Individual specimens assay up to 693 g/t Au and 8 959 g/t Ag.

The 1980 drilling was directed toward a longitudinal-type vein 3 to 6 m wide that has been traced for a length of 600 m, and which was reportedly missed by the 1941 adit.

The shaft on the 21 Vein outlined 119.1 tonnes of ore per vertical metre grading 41.1 g/t Au and 627.4 g/t Ag. The 1984 drifting returned disappointing results with all analysis returning less than 100 g/t Ag and 0.69 g/t Au.

Excavator trenching carried out in 2003 to expose various targets in the area, facilitated detailed channel sampling, over limited strike lengths, of four veins. The 19 Vein was exposed and sampled over 24 m and returned an average value of 6.51 g/t Au and 68.57 g/t Ag over an average width of 170 cm; the 21 Vein was exposed for a length of 22 m and sampling returned 42.5 g/t Au with 319 g/t Ag across an average width of 105 cm; the 24 Vein was exposed over 24 m and sampling returned an average of 17.5 g/t Au with 1 546 g/t Ag over a 49 cm average width; and the 42 Vein was exposed over 12 m and returned an average of 23.31 g/ Au with 237 g/t Ag over an average width of 27 cm.