Work History

The occurrence area was explored by Ukon Joint  Venture (Chevron and Kerr Addision) with rock sampling and a ground contour radiometric survey in 1976, despite being off the Guano claims 1-30 to the southwest. In 1990 an airborne magnetic , electromagnetic and VLF survey was carried out over the Mathew 1-146 claims by Granges Inc, which covered the occurrence. In 2000, Dr. Lee Groat from the University of British Columbia working for True North Gems Inc examined a sample collected by D. Eaton of Archer, Cathro and Associates Ltd. in 1976 at the occurrence, and identified the mineral as beryl. In Dec 2002, True North Gems Inc contracted Archer, Cathro and Associates (1981) Ltd to explore their various claims holdings for gemstone deposits. Archer, Cathro staked Shark cl 1-16 (YC23168) in Dec/2002 over the area they believed Eaton had previously discovered his blue beryl, and expanded the claim block to 94 claims in 2003. The 2003 exploration program was focused on locating the site of Eaton’s initial find and prospecting for any potential beryl mineralization. In 2009, a silt sample was taken from a stream in the Gill Zone drainage. In 2010, contour soil sampling was carried out downhill from the occurrence and a helicopter aeromagnetic and radiometric survey was flown over the entire property.
 
Regional Geology
 
The occurrence is located on the Cassiar Platform, a curvilinear shelf that formed in the early Paleozoic, roughly parallel to the western margin of the North American craton but separated from it by the Selwyn Basin. Shallow marine miogeoclinal sediments were emplaced on the platform until Late Devonian time. Block faulting and local uplift during the Late Devonian and Mississippian resulted in deposition of carbonaceous shale and chert pebble conglomerate in the Selwyn Basin and across the platform. Local explosive volcanism produced volcaniclastic material and flows of the Pelly Mountains volcanic belt. The belt comprises localized submarine volcanic centres generated in an extensional environment that are separated by basins in-filled with sediments and volcaniclastic rocks. Several cogenetic syenite and trachyte domes and small stocks are the remains of vent areas. Subsequent deformation is a result of Mesozoic thrust faulting related to the Cordilleran orogeny, emplacement of Cretaceous intrusions and Tertiary strike-slip movement along the major northwest-trending Tintina Fault, 30 km to the northeast.
 
Property Geology
 
The occurrence is hosted in Devono-Mississippian True Blue Pluton syenite. The stock is medium to fine grained, equigranular and becomes increasingly mafic towards its margins. The original 1976 beryl location was rediscovered in 2003 in the Gill Zone, an area measuring 300 by 100 m where four occurrences of medium to deep blue beryl were found in tension gashes in syenite on either side of a ridge. It is primarily a beryl showing where fine blue beryl grains occur in the syenite ground mass. There are also a number of small dykes cutting the syenite that contain higher REE concentrations. One grab sample of a dyke returned 0.45% TREO, 2.64% ZrO2 and 0.12% Nb2O5.