Exploration History

Originally staked as part of a large block of 762 CC cl (YA53506) between Sep/80 and Aug/81 by Canada Tungsten Mining Corporation Ltd, which carried out property wide geological mapping and geochemical sampling of an area 1.5 km to the southwest in 1981.

Restaked as BHW cl 1-12 (YA89857) in Aug/87 by H. Herbertz. In late 1992 Ivanhoe Goldfields Ltd optioned all of the surrounding Clear Creek claims from their various owners. Ivanhoe restaked the occurrence as the CC 1-96 cl (YB45087) in Jul/93, carried out contour soil geochemical sampling in Aug/93 and added CC cl 97-131 (YB477963) in Nov/93. In 1994, Ivanhoe carried out geochemical surveying of the claims before it was acquired by First Dynasty Mines Ltd.

In Jun/95 Kennecott Canada Inc optioned the Clear Creek area claims (including the CC claims) and carried out a large exploration program including reverse circulation drilling on the Rhosgobel stock (Minfile Occurrence #115P 012) and soil sampling, geological mapping, trenching and road building throughout the claim block. In Nov/95 Kennecott dropped its option.

New Millennium Mines Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Dynasty, took over as operator of the Clear Creek project in May/97 and carried out machine trenching on the CC cl 17, 19 and 21 (Barney Ridge zone) later in the year.

Between Feruary and Mar/94 R. Wondga staked LL cl 1-120 (YB48063) to the north and shortly after, optioned them to Montoro Resources Inc. In the summer of 1994 Montoro carried out geological mapping and grid soil sampling. In May/95 Wondga transferred LL cl 1-78 (YB48063) to Montoro Resources Inc.

Newmont Exploration Ltd staked BZ cl 1-79 (YB94420) 3 km to the north in Sep/96 and carried out geochemical sampling and geological mapping in 1996 and 1997.

In 1998, Newmont entered into an option agreement with New Millennium to acquire their adjoining claim holdings to the south, including th CC, Dum, Rain, Rum, Rye, Sleet, Wet and Wind claims. The company carried out geochemical rock and soil sampling and geological mapping across the northern third and the south central part of the claim block in Jul/98. This was followed by airborne magnetic and radiometric geophysical surveying of the entire claim block and surrounding areas in Aug/98. 
In 1999 Redstar Resources Corporation entered an option agreement with Newmont to acquire an interest in their Clear Creek claim holdings. During June and Jul/99 Redstar carried out geological mapping and geochemical rock and soil sampling of the south-central and eastern portions of the Clear Creek claim group and in Nov/99 the company drilled 2 holes (219.2 m) on Sleet cl 18 (YB04273) mear the southern boundary of the claim group. Redstar carried out geochemical sampling west of this occurrence location in 2000 and drilled 9 more holes (1 211 m) the following year on Sleet cl 18 and 20, which Redstar called the Bear Paw zone (Minfile Occurrence #115P 023). Redstar terminated it's option agreement on the Clear Creek property in 2002. 
First Dynasty changed its name to Sterlite Gold Ltd in Jul/2002.

In Oct/2004, StrataGold Corporation entered into a binding agreement to acquire all of Sterlite's interest in the Clear Creek property. The agreement is subject to a satisfactory due diligence review by StrataGold and receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

The Claw claims we staked by prospector B. Kreft in 2010 to cover the occurrence and he conducted soil, rock and silt sampling and hand tenching later that year.

In 2011, the property was transferred to Clear Creek Resources and they conducted trenching, rock and soil sampling. Clear Creek dropped the option in 2013.

In 2017, Kreft completed soil sampling, prospecting and rock sampling.

Capsule Geology

The mid-Cretaceous Barney stock intrudes metasedimentary rocks of the Late Proterozoic to Early Cambrian Hyland Group. Ivanhoe theorized that the stock hosted narrow, gold-bearing quartz-arsenopyrite veins like those found at other nearby intrusions. Contour soil sampling carried out over the stock returned low Au values thus suggesting low potential for auriferous sheeted vein mineralization. Mapping and trenching on Barney ridge outlined two localities of quartz-eye porphyritic granitic dykes intruding inter-bedded muscovite phyllite and micaceous quartzite. The dykes range from 2 to 20 m in width and appear to occupy shear zones paralleling and crosscutting foliation. Samples collected from the dykes and related sheared wall rocks returned low Au values. Specimens of greissened and brecciated quartzite collected by Emond and Lynch (1992) contained anomalous levels of Au, As and Sb. 
A total of 16 soil samples were collected by First Dynasty in 1994. The samples generally returned low values, possibly due to the presence of deep overburden in the area. Kennecott limited its work to mapping the bed of Clear Creek.

Montoro Resources centred their soil sample grid over a breccia zone mapped by Murphy et al in 1992. The soil survey revealed several spot Au anomalies (to 257 ppb) but no significant anomalies.

Trenching by New Millennium of the Barney Ridge zone encountered frozen and deeply weathered ground and failed to expose significan bedrock or visible mineralizaion.

Soil sampling of the BZ claims identified two large and highly anomalous As and Sb anomalies that led to the discovery of minor gold mineralization that was closely associated with arsenopyrite bearing float and scree from quartz veins, breccias and silicified zones. Selected grab smaples returned maximum Au values in the 1 to 2 g/t range.

Newmont's sampling confirmed anomalous gold values reported by previous operators and outlined existing areas of anomalous gold and arsenic geochemistry. Magnetic data from the airborne survey defined dominant structural trends in the area. The Barney stock has only very minor radiometric response and the absence of a strong potassium signature suggest the intrusion has a markedly different composition than the other stocks in the area and/or is poorly exposed.

Soil sampling by Redstar in the area of the Barney stock outlined a moderate gold and arsenic anomaly related to the mapped margins of the stock, the extent of which is difficult to determine due to the absence of outcrop in the area.