Work History

The claim block covering the occurrence was staked (Val cl 1-318, YA30884 in July and Aug 1978 by Prism Joint Venture (Asamera Oil Corporation, Chieftain Development Company Ltd, Prism Resources Ltd, Siebens Oil and Gas Ltd and E & B Exploration Ltd). ). In 1979, Dome Petroleum Ltd replaced Siebens in the joint venture, and staked Val cl 319-376 (YA40125). In 1979, five holes were drilled on the Little Red Zone and bulldozer trenching was carried out on the lower slope. Dome dropped its interest and E & B's was transferred to Imperial Metals Ltd in 1983. The occurrence has seen rock and soil sampling, trenching, mapping, geophysical surveys and drilling starting in 1979. A regional airborne geophysical survey was conducted over the Val-Vera claim block in 2001 (no report available). In 2010, Archer Cathro and Associates Ltd. restaked the area as Rusty 1-344, including the claim underlying Little Red (Rusty 236, YD33476).

Capsule Geology

The occurrence is located at the southern edge of the Mackenzie Platform, a predominantly shallow water carbonate and clastic sequence that formed on the western margin of the North American craton during Lower Proterozoic through Paleozoic times. The regional geology consists of Upper Proterozoic Rapitan(?) Group mudstones overlain by Upper Proterozoic Profeit Formation dolostones and Upper Proterozoic Nadaleen Formation silty limestone. Over these units are minor clastic and carbonate rocks of the Neoproterozoic to Lower Cambrian Hyland Group. Lower Paleozoic platform carbonates unconformably overlie these units.

The Little Red Zone comprises argentiferous galena, sphalerite and tetrahedrite hosted in sparry dolomite veins (likely Profeit Formation dolostone) and highly oxidized breccia zones. Its surface expression is a large, gossanous kill zone on a southwest-facing talus slope.
 
In 1978, rock sampling, soil sampling and reconnaissance mapping was carried out. In, 1979, three diamond drillholes partially delineated a lens of mineralization. The best drillhole (79-8) returned 126 g/t Ag, 2.2% Pb and 29.0% Zn over 6.10 m and 21 g/t Ag, 1.0% Pb and 2.9% Zn over 12.20 from near surface (AR 090615).
 
Diamond drilling in 1988 targeted structural extensions of the Little Red Zone, 150 m east of the occurrence, but encountered only poorly mineralized breccias and quartz veining in the host dolomites. Drillhole 88-7 encountered minor pyrite, siderite and sphalerite in narrow veins at 78.9 m to 79.5 m but assayed low for zinc (AR 092725).
 
Landsat imagery acquired in 1998 and processed to enhance areas of alteration highlighted the Little Red Zone (LRZ), but was of limited usefulness in identifying unknown targets. The LRZ displayed a weak chargeability response and is within a resistivity low, however, the 1998 IP survey did outline a chargeability anomaly south and downhill of LRZ
 
In 1999, drilling south and west of Little Red (VA-99-01 & 02) tested IP chargeability anomalies along the structural trend that contains the Little Red Zone. This drilling identified a sequence of black graphitic calcareous shale in brecciated sparry dolomite as the probable source of the anomaly and did not intersect mineralization (AR 094073).
 
In 2010, Strategic Metals dug three hand trenches and collected chip and grab samples from the Little Red Zone. Hand trenching focused on the top of the kill zone, the source of mineralized float, which was higher up the slope than previous bulldozer trenching. The western-most float train consists of abundant, closely spaced massive galena fragments with strong malachite staining and bands of oxide. The first trench successfully exposed a massive galena vein in bedrock, which assayed 3430 g/t silver, 64.34% lead and 7.38% zinc over 18 cm. A second trench 20 m uphill was unmineralized. The third trench was dug about 20 m east of the first trench, at the top of a float train composed of mineralized breccia and oxide fragments. That trench exposed highly fractured dolostone with abundant galena, sphalerite and limonite as fracture fillings. Chip samples across a 3.4 m section yielded a weighted average of 296 g/t silver, 8.27% lead and 19.64% zinc (AR 096938).