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File Created: 05-Apr-1989 by George Owsiacki (GO)
Last Edit:  19-Jul-2020 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

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NMI
Name WOMBAT, DELL NO. 1 Mining Division Greenwood, Osoyoos
BCGS Map 082E035
Status Prospect NTS Map 082E06E
Latitude 049º 23' 45'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 119º 05' 17'' Northing 5473557
Easting 348493
Commodities Gold, Copper, Silver Deposit Types I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
L04 : Porphyry Cu +/- Mo +/- Au
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

The Wombat prospect is located 5.25 kilometres west of the summit of Mount Wallace and 4.5 kilometres south of Beaverdell, British Columbia (Assessment Report 16772).

Initial prospecting began in the Beaverdell area in the late 1880s. The first ore was shipped in 1896. The major producing mines in the Beaverdell silver-lead-zinc vein camp, from west to east, were the Wellington (082ESW072), Sally and Rob Roy (082ESW073), Beaver (082ESW040), and Bell (082ESW030), with numerous other small workings throughout the area. The Wombat prospect was discovered in 1982 during an exploration program by Canstat Petroleum Corp. Follow-up exploration was carried out in 1983. In 1996-1998, the prospect was explored, under the Dell property, by Gold City Mining Corporation.

Granodiorite of the Westkettle batholith underlies most of the area. It has been intruded by small quartz monzonite porphyry stocks including the Eocene Beaverdell, Tuzo Creek, Eugene Creek and Carmi stocks. Other granitic porphyry stocks that intrude the Westkettle batholith are the Eocene Beaverdell porphyry. The Westkettle batholith has been correlated with the Nelson intrusions that have been dated by potassium-argon and uranium-lead methods as Middle Jurassic. The Westkettle batholith contains remnants of pendants and/or screens of metamorphosed Wallace Formation. The Wallace Formation is believed to be correlative with the upper (Permian) section of the Carboniferous to Permian Anarchist Group. Lithologies include metamorphosed andesitic tuffs and lavas, hornblende diorite porphyries, olivine gabbro and hornblendite, hornfels and minor limestone. The contact between the Wallace Formation and the Westkettle batholith is sinuous, trending north with gentle east dips. These are unconformably overlain by Oligocene tuffs and conglomerates and Miocene plateau basalts. Westkettle granodiorite or Beaverdell quartz monzonite are the dominant hostrocks. Mineralization rarely extends into the Wallace Formation to the east. A series of dikes, ranging in composition from quartz latite and quartz monzonite porphyries to hornblende andesite porphyries, are found throughout the area. In the Beaverdell camp, fine-grained, brown andesite dikes, referred to as Wellington-type dikes, are believed to be pre-mineralization. Quartz latite dikes are referred to as Idaho-type dikes and thought to be syn or post-mineralization.

Beaverdell silver-rich veins are found in a 3.0 by 0.8 kilometre belt, referred to as the Beaverdell silver-lead-zinc vein camp. The mineralized veins are fissure-hosted, formed along east-trending faults in the west portion of the Beaverdell camp and northeast- trending faults in the east portion of the camp. Faults have been classified into five types based on their orientation, with each type having common orientation, kind of movement and age relationship. The northeast-striking, high-angle normal faults pose the greatest obstacle to systematic exploration and mining, as these faults are commonly spaced a few metres apart dividing veins into short segments in a northwest-downward direction.

Vein-type mineralization of the Beaverdell camp is characterized by a high silver content. Mineralization is composed of galena, sphalerite and pyrite with lesser amounts of arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite, pyrargyrite, chalcopyrite, polybasite, acanthite, native silver and pyrrhotite. The gangue minerals in veins are mainly quartz with lesser amounts of calcite, fluorite and sericite with rare barite. The Wombat is located 4.5 kilometres south of the Beaverdell mine (082ESW030) and 1.75 kilometres west of the Fran past producer (082ESW071). The area is underlain by Westkettle granodiorite and Permian Wallace Formation metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks. Chlorite alteration and calcite veining occurs in fault gouge zones, potassic alteration (potassium feldspar) is common throughout the granodiorite and propylitic alteration (epidote) is common at depth.

During 1982 and 1983, five trenches were excavated on the Wombat claim. Trench 1 was cut to expose an east-trending shear zone in the centre of the Wombat copper soil geochemical anomaly. Several narrow shears and fractures are associated with chlorite and kaolinite altered granodiorite with occasional malachite staining. Quartz and carbonate veinlets constitute 10 per cent of the hostrock. Trenches 2 to 4 were cut to determine the extent of mineralization. Fractured granodiorite with gossanous pods containing pyrite and chalcopyrite were exposed along the northern edge of the copper soil geochemical anomaly. Trench 5 exposed siliceous granodiorite with pervasive malachite and azurite staining with disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite. Massive pyrite, chalcopyrite and bornite were exposed in narrow quartz lenses over 10 metres along a trend of 150 degrees and updip over 6 metres. Sample 47201c from Trench 5 yielded 125.5 grams per tonne silver, 49.9 grams per tonne gold, 11 per cent copper and 0.06 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 12734). The sample consisted of granodiorite with 10 centimetres of chalcopyrite and pyrite in grey quartz with malachite staining.

Four diamond-drill holes were drilled to test mineralization exposed in Trench 5 at depth. Only WB83-2 intersected copper-silver- gold mineralization, in an upper and lower zone. The upper zone is composed of 0.33 metre of disseminated or massive veinlets of chalcopyrite and pyrite with malachite staining in siliceous granodiorite. The lower zone is composed of 0.20 metre of disseminated chalcopyrite and malachite staining. Assay results from the upper zone were 10.9 grams per tonne silver, 4.25 grams per tonne gold and 0.52 per cent copper (Assessment Report 12734).

In 2008, a select grab sample (080730C) of limonite and malachite stained silicified granodiorite assayed 56.870 grams per tonne gold, 97.9 grams per tonne silver and 0.824 per cent copper (Gray, P.D. (2010-05-28): Technical Report on the Beaverdell Property).

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT 9988, *10979, *12734
EMPR EXPL 1981-174; 1982-33,34; 1983-41,42
EMPR PF (Gold City Mining Corp. (1996-01-01): Dell Project - Available for Option; unknown (1996-01-01): Summary Report - Dell; Chapman, J.A. (1997-11-08): Re: Dell Project, Beaverdell, B.C., St. Elias Discovery "T1" on Logan Creek and Claim Maps; Consolidated Gold Mining Corp. (1998-11-02): Dell Project - Available for Option)
GSC MAP 538A; 539A; 37-21; 15-1961; 1736A
GSC MEM 79
GSC OF 481; 637; 1505A; 1565; 1969
GSC P 37-21
CJES Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 1264-1274, 1984
GCNL #248(Dec.29), 1982; #162 (Aug.23), #175(Sept.12), #179(Sept.16), #192(Oct.4), #211(Nov.1), 1983; #167(Aug.29), 1997
Watson, P.H. (1981): Genesis and Zoning of Silver-Gold Veins in the Beaverdell Area, south-central British Columbia, M.Sc. Thesis, University of British Columbia, 156 pp.
*Gray, P.D. (2010-05-28): Technical Report on the Beaverdell Property

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