Exploration History

Apparently found by placer miners prior to 1920 and first staked as Per, etc cl (76620) in Jun/65 by Per Johnson, who optioned it to General Enterprises Ltd. General Enterprises carried out bulldozer trenching and drilled two short holes in 1965.

Restaked as Dana, etc cl (Y56827) in Jun/70 by J. Bailey, etc, who carried out hand trenching. Cogasa Mines Ltd staked 6 claims (called mineral claims 1 to 6 - YA10391) 3.2 km northeast in Jul/77 in connection with nearby placer work and carried out bulldozer trenching in 1979. J. Trottier staked Martin cl 1-8 (YA47786), Rodger cl 1-8 (YA47818) and YBS cl 1-8 (YA47866) 4.8 km to the southeast in Oct/79. Trottier carried out trenching later in the year. In Jan/80, J. Millhouse staked Vance cl 1-2 (YA52675) 1 km to the north and in May/84, R. Stirling staked Quartz cl 1-4 (YA79880) between the occurrence location and the Vance claims.

Restaked as Delia cl 1-6 (YA87688) in Aug/85 by E. Kreft, who carried out trenching and geochemical sampling later that year. Kreft added Wendy cl 1-9 (YA88114) in 1986 and carried out additional trenching and sampling. Esso Minerals Canada briefly optioned the Delia and Wendy claims later in 1986 and carried out geological mapping and geochemical sampling in August. In Oct/86 Esso staked Sixty Mile cl 1-51 (YA88238) along strike to the southwest and northeast and carried out geological mapping and geochemical rock sampling in 1987. Esso carried out additional geological mapping and geochemical sampling of the northeast block of Sixty Mile claims and magnetometer surveying over their entire claims holdings in 1988. Kreft optioned the Delia and Wendy claims to Klondike Gold Mining Corporation which carried out magnetometer surveying in 1988 and diamond drilling of 4 holes (192 m) in 1989.

Homestake Mining (Canadan) Ltd optioned the Sixty Mile claims in Apr/89 and carried out geological mapping and geochemical rock sampling of newly exposed bedrock in placer pits later in the year.

In May/92, R. Stirling transferred the Quartz claims to J. McFaull. K. Hawker partially restaked the northeast block of Sixty Mile claims as Kurt cl 1-4 (YB81760) in May/96 and Kreft carried out trenching on the Delia claims in the summer of 1996. J. Millhouse staked Vance cl 3-5 (YC04305) to adjoin the northeast end of his existing Vance claims in Jun/97.

Restaked as Dorothy cl 1 (YC07261) by F. Travis and Jay cl 1 (YC07262) by J. Murtagh in May/98. In Aug/98 Kennecott Cananda Exploration Inc staked Sixty cl 1-143 (YC12289) to the northeast, forming a contiguous claim block with other claim groups they had staked or optioned over the previous year in the area to the north (Minfile Occurrences #116C 019, 020, 082 and 146). In Apr/99 Kennecott staked Sixty cl 144-257 (YC13419) at the southeast end of their assembled land package, surrounding this occurrence, and carried out prospecting, geochemical sampling and airborne geophysical surveying over their combined holdings. The following year, Kennecott dropped all of its options in the area.

In 2000, McFaull contracted Amerock Geosciences Ltd to carry out VLF-EM geophysical surveying and prospecting of his Quartz claims.

Capsule Geology

Galena, sphalerite and arsenopyrite occur in a northeast trending vein which cuts a small down-faulted block of Late Cretaceous volcanics that are correlative with Carmacks Group volcanic rocks. The volcanic rocks overlie Late Devonian (?) to mid-Mississippian aged Nasina assemblage schists of the Yukon Tanana Terrane. The vein is about 8 to 60 cm wide and is exposed for up to 60 m along strike. The best chip assay reported was 428.6 g/t Ag, 26.4% Pb, 4.7% Zn, and 1.4 g/t Au across 76 cm. 
Kreft's 1986 trenching tested a 91 m wide zone of altered andesite containing massive pyrite lenses, quartz stockworks, and disseminated chalcopyrite and galena. Specimens from the trenches assayed up to 26 g/t Au and 42.5 g/t Ag. The highest silver values were obtained 460 m north of the main showing area. All four of Klondike's drillholes intersected granodiorite dykes of probable Late Cretaceous age (unit lKgdr) containing quartz veins and stockworks with pyrite and arsenopyrite. DDH #2 intersected 12 m grading 7.1 g/t Au, including 1.5 m grading 41.1 g/t Au. The mineralized intersection was also enriched in Zn and Hg (E. Kreft, personal communication).

Homestake's 1989 samples contained up to 402 ppb Au and 7.9 ppm Ag. Brecciated andesite with 1-2% pyrite returned a value of 204 ppb Au and was also anomalous levels of silver, arsenic, bismuth, copper and tellurium.

Cinnabar was recovered in sluice boxes by placer miners along this portion of the Sixty Mile River gravels but the source was never found. Esso investigated strongly fractured andesite flows and andesite breccia with local clay alteration but obtained disappointing results.

Glasmacher and Friedrich (1992) recognized two types of veins in this area: a gold-bearing pyrite-arsenopyrite type and a silver-bearing galena-sphalerite type, both of which they related to Late Cretaceous volcanic activity. The Miller Creek veins are of the second type, and this is reflected in the notably higher silver content (9 to 35 weight %) of gold nuggets from the lower part of Miller Creek. Four stages of mineralization are recognized: (1) iron-poor sphalerite-galena-quartz; (2) iron-rich sphalerite-pyrite-pyrrhotite-arsenopyrite-chalcopyrite-galena-siderite; (3) sphalerite-pyrite-marcasite-chalcopyrite-galena-siderite-ankerite-dolomite-calcite; (4) iron-poor sphalerite-pyrite-tetrahedrite-polybasite-pearcite-pyrostilpnite-chalcedony-ankerite-dolomite-calcite. Most of the silver was deposited during Stage 4. Fluid inclusions indicate that the veins formed from low temperature, low salinity fluids with a pH of about 4.6.

Geophysical surveying carried out on McFaull¿s Quartz claims located four weak VLF-EM conductors. Limited prospecting and sampling (two grab samples) carried out at the same time as the surveying failed to detect any significant mineral occurrences. Analysis of quartz vein material collected just east of the claim block returned 13 ppb Au and 858 ppm As.