Work History

Staked as the Cash and Johnny cl (Y39873) in November 1969 by E. Schiller and optioned to Atlas Exploration Ltd., which carried out geochemical silt sampling and geological mapping in 1970.

The west half was re-staked as Car cl (Y78734) in May 1974 by the Carmacks Syndicate (Castlemaine Exploration Ltd., Welcome North Mines Ltd., W.M. Bath Inv Ltd. and Ventures West Capital Ltd.), and optioned to a joint venture between Western Mines Ltd., Belmoral Mines Ltd. and Cream Silver Mines Ltd., which carried out grid geochemical soil sampling and magnetometer surveying in 1974, added 96 EX cl (Y91625) in November 1974 and drilled 12 holes (1,026.3 m) in 1975.

The east half was re-staked as Bear and Fox cl (Y80423) in August/September 1974 by Klotassin Joint Venture (Newconex Canada Exploration Ltd., Marietta Resources International Ltd., Molybdenum Corporation of America) which carried out magnetic surveying, grid soil sampling and hand pitting in 1974, added the Roc cl (Y91802) in December 1974 and constructed an airstrip and participated in an IP survey with Western Mines Ltd., et al in 1975.

Re-staked as Cash cl (YA82667) in July 1984 by Archer, Cathro, which explored by bulldozer trenching in 1984 and sold the property to Nordac Mining Corporation, which added more claims and performed mapping and geochemical sampling in 1985. Nordac changed its name to Big Creek Resources Ltd. and vended the property into Big Creek Joint Venture (Big Creek Resources Ltd. and Rexford Minerals Ltd.) in the spring of 1987. Big Creek Joint Venture optioned the claims in 1988 to Rinsey Mines Ltd, which built an access road in 1989 then sold the claims to Auspex Gold Ltd. in February 1990. A.C. Main fringed the claims with Lotsa cl (YB27133) in February 1990. Big Creek Resources Ltd. optioned the Cash property and the surrounding claims, including the Lotsa group, in December 1990, and added Big cl (YB35594) in the same month, and added more Big claims (YB35650) in February 1991. Two diamond drill holes (387.1 m) were drilled in November 1991. Big Creek changed its name to Cash Resources Ltd. and performed line cutting on the Cash, Fox, Lotsa, Nex, Bear, Big and Nitro claims in 1993. In January 1994, Cash Resources transferred the claims back to Archer, Cathro and Associates (1981).

Regional & Property Geology

The occurrence is partly underlain by Yukon-Tanana Terrane (YTT). The rocks of the YTT in this region consist of Early Mississippian metamorphic rocks separated into meta-sedimentary and meta-igneous suites. The meta-sedimentary suite consists of micaceous quartz-feldspar gneiss, schist and quartzite. The meta-igneous package is comprised of biotite-hornblende feldspar gneiss and coarse-grained granodiorite orthogneiss with lesser amphibolite.

The YTT basement rocks are cut by numerous plutonic and volcanic events from the Mesozoic (Allan & Friend, 2018; AR 091619), including:
1. Early Jurassic granodiorite to granite and monzonite to syenite plutonic suites;
2. Mid-Cretaceous Mount Nansen Suite andesite;
3. Mid-Cretaceous Whitehorse granodiorite, quartz monzonite and granite;
4. Late Cretaceous Casino calc-alkaline suites; and,
5. Feldspar porphyry dykes and plugs.

The Cash occurrence is located on the south side of the Big Creek Fault and associated with northerly trending feldspar porphyry dykes and plugs crosscutting Paleozoic schists and syenites (AR 091619; Ryan et al., 2013).  

Mineralization & Results

Copper, molybdenum and gold occur in a 3,050 x 900 m area of porphyry-style mineralization associated with northerly trending feldspar porphyry dykes and plugs. Mineralization occurs as finely disseminated pyrite and chalcopyrite with minor molybdenite in hairline quartz veins (AR 090067; AR 091619).

Based on the 1975 to 1977 drilling (20 shallow drill holes spaced at 150 m centres), a maximum hypogene grade of 0.17% Cu and 0.018% MoS₂ within a volume of 2,267,962,000 tonnes to a depth of 305 m. Gold content is about 0.2 g/t and silver content ranges from about 0.4 to 9.0 g/t. Four of the early drill holes defined a northwest limit to the deposit, which is still open to three sides and to depth (AR 090067).

Two zones grading better than 0.4% Cu equivalent (using 1977 Cu and Mo prices) have been defined to date. The Journeay Zone, the initial discovery, lies at the southwest end of the area of mineralization and is covered by thin overburden. The best hole in this zone (W3) averaged 0.28% Cu and 0.054% MoS₂ over a core length of 79 m. The Jensen Zone occurs at the northeast end of the drill pattern and was found in an area of deep overburden by 1977 hole K4, which averaged 0.2% Cu and 0.054% MoS₂ over a core length of 57 m (AR 090067).

The 1984 trenching explored gold soil geochemical anomalies associated with the exposed portion of the porphyry copper deposit. The 1985 geochemical sampling outlined three areas of gold and gold-arsenic soil geochemical anomalies. These appear to be related to fault structures peripheral to the main porphyry deposit. A specimen of arsenopyrite-rich float found during construction of the airstrip in 1975 assayed 68 g/t Au, 710 g/t Ag, 12.9% Pb, 6.5% Zn, 0.2% Cu and 2.9% Sb and may have been derived from one of these anomalies (AR 091619).

The 1991 drill holes returned consistent values in copper and molybdenum, including an intersection of 0.21% Cu, 0.015% Mo and 0.14 g/t Au over 234.7 m in hole 91-2 (093001).