The Star of Hope (Lot 2671) prospect is situated near a pass separating the headwaters of Bradshaw Creek to the west and Cedar Creek to the east, approximately 9 kilometres northwest of Olalla. The occurrence was originally covered by the Star of Hope claim group, consisting of Lot 1918, Lot 1919, Lot 1921, Lot 2473, Eclipse (Lot 2670) and Star of Hope (Lot 2671) Crown grants. The latter two are now reverted Crown grants.
The regional geology of the area consists of a series of Carboniferous to Triassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by granitic Okanagan intrusions. Larger intrusions are composed of granite and granodiorite, whereas smaller stocks are composed of diorite and gabbro. Numerous sills, dikes and apophyses are associated. Carboniferous to Triassic rocks are assigned to the Shoemaker and Old Tom formations. These rocks form the eastern limb of a large anticlinal fold with fold axes striking roughly north. The Shoemaker consists of cherts, greenstone and minor argillite. The Shoemaker Formation cherts are commonly lighter coloured (buff, pink, grey, grey-green) and show a saccharoidal texture. The overlying Upper Triassic Independence Formation consists of interbedded, dark grey to black chert (commonly rusty or red-stained), chert breccia and siliceous greenstone containing disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite or pyrite and arsenopyrite.
The predominant rock type in the claim area is a dark brown, grey to white, fine-grained, massive competent chert. Occasional thin beds up to 0.3 metre thick are identified by layers of chert pebble tuff or silt. The age of these chert beds is uncertain but, based on colour and texture, most likely belong to the Shoemaker Formation. The cherts form contorted beds 2 to 50 millimetres thick and are in fault contact with andesitic volcanic rocks of the Old Tom Formation. The presence of rounded quartz grains suggests they are recrystallized and silicified detrital rocks. Jurassic diorite and gabbro intrusions cut the cherts and andesites. A pervasive quartz-calcite alteration affects the andesitic rocks and the diorite intrusion. The four main rock types at the occurrence are argillaceous chert, dark green andesite, buff chert and chert breccia, and biotite-hornblende diorite. The Old Tom Formation consists mainly of basalt with minor andesite and chert. A number of narrow, north-trending postmineral andesite dikes and porphyritic trachyte dikes are also present.
Three mineralized zones occur on the Eclipse and Star of Hope claims. They consist of a series of three small shear zones (Zones A, B and C) aligned linearly along a northeastern trend. Zone A (Bush Rat shear zone) consists of four 30 to 100-centimetre-wide shear zones hosted in volcanics on the Eclipse claim. Three of the shears are 3 metres apart along a north trend. The fourth lies 13 metres to the east. Mineralization consists of pyrite and arsenopyrite. Host volcanic rocks contain pyrite and yielded up to 1.58 grams per tonne gold, 6.4 grams per tonne silver and 0.12 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 14580). A northeast-trending zone of old workings might have tried to follow this zone. The workings are centred around an adit driven through iron-stained cherts and greenstones of the Shoemaker Formation. A weak shear strikes 232 degrees and dips 85 degrees west. Samples from this adit and surrounding trenches yielded negligible gold values (Assessment Report 14580).
Zone B consists of shear zones in close proximity to a porphyritic trachyte dike, exposed over a strike length of 1.3 kilometres. An adit was driven on a 1-metre-wide shear along this zone. The shear strikes 065 degrees and dips 80 degrees south. The Star of Hope shaft was sunk on a 10-centimetre-wide quartz vein (Star of Hope vein) containing 5 to 20 per cent pyrite, arsenopyrite and galena. The vein has a variable orientation, striking 078 degrees and dipping 65 degrees south at its western end and striking 042 degrees and dipping 75 degrees south on the east wall of the shaft. At the shaft, a 1-metre-wide shear, striking 038 degrees and dipping 68 degrees south, occurs on the south side of the vein. Chip sample YU29 across the vein yielded 12.89 grams per tonne gold, 43.54 grams per tonne silver and 0.48 per cent lead (Assessment Report 14580). The vein was intersected under the shaft by drillhole E86-1 at 32.7 metres depth. Sample 4276 yielded 0.64 gram per tonne gold and 0.39 per cent arsenic over 0.21 metre (Maximus Resources Inc. [1987]; Prospectus). Several samples from a plagioclase porphyry dike also yielded significant gold values. In diamond drill hole E86-2, sample 4301 yielded 2.05 grams per tonne gold and 1.4 grams per tonne silver over 0.61 metre. Sample 4304 yielded 5.1 grams per tonne gold and 3.5 grams per tonne silver over 0.2 metre (Maximus Resources Inc. [1987]: Prospectus). A dump sample yielded 41.83 grams per tonne gold and 281.15 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 14580). The highest silver and lowest gold values are associated with pyrite-arsenopyrite mineralization.
Several pits were blasted at other points along this shear zone in 1985. In the first pit, quartz stringers hosting pyrite and arsenopyrite yielding anomalous gold and silver values were exposed in a shear zone striking 082 degrees and dipping 55 degrees south. In the second pit, quartz stringers with pyrite and arsenopyrite occurred in a shear zone striking 095 degrees and dipping 75 degrees south. Diamond drilling on the Star of Hope vein in 1986 revealed that the vein was faulted at depth.
Zone C consists of pyrrhotite and pyrite in silicified greenstones of the Independence Formation, adjacent to a north-trending plagioclase porphyry dike.
The present Bradshaw Hill property was expanded by C. Greig, partner to B. Kreft, in January 2004, just prior to the finalization of an option agreement with Firestone Ventures Inc. In the same year, a work program carried out by Firestone Ventures Inc. consisted of five days of helicopter-supported detailed geological mapping, rock geochemical and limited silt and soil geochemical sampling. The program focused on due diligence–style sampling of the Main zone (MINFILE 082ESE180) and “ground truthing” of geochemical anomalies to the east and west.
In 2005, Target Exploration and Mining Company optioned the property. Target undertook geological, geochemical and geophysical work between 2006 and 2008. In 2007, Target completed a total field magnetics and induced polarization survey, approximately 3.5 by 0.8 kilometre in size, following the east-northeast trend of mineral showings on the property. Sampling resulted in zones of anomalous metal values in soil coincident with chargeability and resistivity anomalies.
Soil sampling between 2007 and 2012 has outlined multi-element geochemical anomalies near known mineralization.
