Work History

Mineralization was originally noted in this vicinity by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1961 and the area was first staked as Will cl 1-60 in Jul/75 by Cyprus Anvil Mining Corporation, which carried out geological mapping, geochemical silt and soil sampling and prospecting later in the year.

Restaked as Blende cl 1-15 in Mar/81 by Archer, Cathro and Associates (1981) Ltd which carried out geochemical rock sampling in 1981; geochemical rock sampling, prospecting and airphoto interpretation in 1982; and hand trenching and geochemical rock sampling in 1984. The property was subsequently optioned by Canadian Nickel Company Ltd, which staked Blende cl 16-88 to surround the existing claims in 1984 and carried out geological mapping in 1985 before dropping the option.

In 1986 the Blende 1-15 claims were sold to NDU Resources Ltd which staked surrounding Blende claims 16-66 in 1988 and carried out 720.3 m of diamond drillholes in three holes from a single set-up on the Blende 10 claim. In 1989, NDU Resources staked Blende 67-122 claims and carried out geological mapping, grid geochemical soil sampling, road construction and geophysical magnetometer and VLF-EM surveying.

Billiton Metals Canada Inc optioned the property in Oct/89 and the following year carried out geological mapping, baseline water quality testing, road construction, drilled 15 holes (3659.7 m) and staked Blende 123-128 claims and 1fr-28fr.

Billiton's 1991 work included completion of the soil geochemical and geophysical coverage, drill-testing (15 holes southeast, south and west of the occurrence), preliminary metallurgical testing and the staking of Blende cl 129-169 in Jun/91 and Zinc cl 1-48 in Jul/91.

Eagle Plains Resources Ltd restaked the land over the occurrence as Mix cl 1-8 in Mar/2002 and carried out a one day property examination to assess the property's infrastructure. Eagle Plains staked Trix cl 1-46 to surround the Mix claims in Apr/2004; announced that it had executed an option agreement with Shoshone Silver Mining Company whereby Shoshone could earn a 60% interest in the Blende deposit in May/2004; and staked Trix cl 47-56 contiguously to the southeast in Aug/2004. Shoshone released a technical report in Oct/04 which verified the resource calculations originally prepared in 1991 by Billiton Metals Canada Ltd. Shoshone terminated its option in May/2005.

In Aug/2005 Eagle Plains optioned the property to Blind Creek Resources Ltd which carried out an exploration program consisting of re-logging historical diamond drill core, a ground-based gravity survey, and rock sampling. In Mar/2006 Blind Creek constructed a winter road into the property, mapped surface showings in old trenches and carried out diamond drilling just southwest of the occurrence. In 2007 the company carried out further geological mapping. In 2009, Blind Creek Resources finalized the purchasing agreement for the entire Blende property from Eagle Plains Resources and assumed 100% interest in the property. In 2018, a NI 43-101 resource estimate for the Blende deposits was calculated.

In 2020, Blind Creek Resources Ltd changed their name to Blende Silver Corp. and in 2021, Blende Silver drilled 3 holes on the Blende-West target (1,082.14 m).

Capsule Geology

The Blende West Main Zone occurrence is a zinc-lead-silver Mississippi Valley type deposit located on the south edge of the Mackenzie Platform, just north of the regional scale Kathleen Lakes Fault Zone. It is hosted in the upper part of the Lower Proterozoic Gillespie Lake Group dolomite, a thick sequence of interbedded clastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks that transitions upward from deep water mudstones to shallow water stromatolitic dolomite. Extension after deposition led to the deposition of Late Proterozoic sedimentary rocks in small local basins. Paleozoic limestone and dolomite unconformably overlie these strata. Mesoproterozoic Hart River gabbro and diorite sills cross-cut stratigraphy.

The deposit is tabular and steeply dipping, cutting bedding at moderate to high angles. Mineralization occurs intermittently along a shear zone about 6 km long and up to 200 m wide in a series of parallel breccia zones. The breccia zones occur in the core of a broad southeast-plunging anticline and are parallel to the axial planar cleavage which strikes northwest and dips steeply to the southwest. The age of mineralization is estimated to be between 1490 and 1300 Ma (Moroskat).

The mineralization consists mostly of yellow sphalerite, which is difficult to distinguish from the host dolomite. Other sulphide minerals include galena, pyrite and minor chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite. Some syngenetic or early diagenetic mineralization has been found associated with oolites and dewatering structures.
On surface, the deposit is outlined by soil anomalies up to 10,000 ppm zinc. Billiton's 1991 drilling established that the west zone mineralization is predictable and extends more than 400 m continuously down dip. Billiton suggested the deposit could be mined by open pit since the deposit is located on a ridge crest and the ore is non-acid generating.
 
The 2006 drill program tested the Main zone to the southeast with three drillholes. Diamond drillhole BE06108 intersected 16.50 m of 2.82% Zn and 4.83% Pb and a deeper intersection of 65.10 m of 1.53% Zn and 1.85% Pb. Diamond drilling in 2008 was carried out to provide material for metallurgical test work.

A National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource on the Blende deposits was released in March 2017. The West Pit was calculated at 2.585 Mt @ 1.78% Zn, 2.21% Pb, 45.0 g/t Ag at a zinc-equivalent cutoff grade of 2.0% (indicated); and, 29.538 Mt @ 1.96% Zn, 2.00% Pb and 34.7 g/t Ag at a 2.0% zinc-equivalent cut-off grade (inferred).