Work History

The first claim in this area was Isabelle Marion cl (15536) staked by F. Purdy in Dec/30.
Restaked by prospectors grubstaked by Fred Caley as Brownie, Skip, etc cl (58006) in Jul/55 and optioned in 1956 to Conwest EL, which explored with trenching. Conwest assigned the option in 1958 to Cassiar Asbestos Corp L, which explored with more trenching and 360 m of drifting in two adits.
After this option lapsed, the property was optioned by Can Johns-Manville CL, which explored in 1963-65 with a ground mag survey, mapping and 609.6 m of diamond drilling (12 holes); and by Sphere Dev Corp L, which added Joe, Ida, etc cl (Yl5lOO) and flew an aeromag survey in 1966-67. Sphere restaked most of the original claims as Joe & UTE cl (Y37502) in Mar/70, conducted bulldozer trenching in 1971, and sold the property in Jan/72 to Anglo Western Mls L, which conducted geophysical surveys and trenching in 1972 in a joint venture with Branta EL.
Restaked as Pet cl (YA10413) in Aug-Sep/77 by R. Gillespie and Jo cl (YA29607) in Jan/78 by F. Caley. In early 1978, R. Gillespie mined 229 073 tonnes by open-pit and trucked the ore 55 km to Clinton Creek, where it was sold to Cassiar Asbestos Corp L. Production statistics from the Caley deposit are included in the final figures from the Clinton Creek Mine (see Clinton Creek occurrence, Minfile 116C 025).
In July, 1980, R. Gillespie conducted bulldozer trenching on the Pet cl.

Capsule Geology

A flat-lying, serpentinized ultramafic body about 460 m long and 900 m wide lies within metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. Considerable asbestos was found on surface but underground work indicated it was a small lens less than 60 m thick. Three other areas with minor asbestos were found nearby but drilling indicated low grade and poor continuity.
The Cassiar work indicated about 900 000 tonnes grading 4 to 6% Group 4 (cement) fibre. A 2.7 tonne bulk sample from surface contained 8.4% recoverable fibre and a similar sized sample from the adits contained 3.6% recoverable fibre. The 1978 ore is estimated to have averaged 8% fibre although an exact figure is not available because the shipment was blended with ore from the Clinton Mine.
Two other small serpentine bodies occur nearby and were explored in connection with the main Caley deposit. One is exposed in the road cut about 1.6 km southwest of the pit and was originally staked as Rainbow and Brownie cl. No fibre was found in it. The other is on the north bank of Cassiar Creek, about 3.2 km upstream. It was explored with several bulldozer trenches in about 1958 but is also unmineralized and was apparently not staked.