The Fisher Maiden occurrence is situated on Silverton Creek at 1435 metres elevation above sea level in the Slocan Mining Division. The property includes the Troy and St. Helena Crown grants (Lots 3800 and 3799).
The claims were staked in 1892 and for the first few years were worked by a syndicate. In 1897 the Fisher Maiden Mining Co. was incorporated, acquired the property and worked the claims intermittently until 1935. The property is now owned by F.S. Mille and S. Dewis.
On the north zone workings include 5 adits distributed vertically over 145 metres. The lowest, or No. 5 level, is about 9 metres above Silverton Creek and is 405 metres long. From it a winze was sunk to an unknown depth on the lode. Above this level about 343 metres of drifts and crosscuts are reported to have been run. On the south zone workings include 4 adits over a vertical distance of 55 metres, and about 457 metres of drifts and crosscuts.
In 1953 the property was optioned to Violamac Mines (B.C.) Limited and the No. 5 level rehabilitated. The option was dropped and no further work was done until 1956 when some 68 tonnes of ore were removed from the mine.
In 1958 the No. 3 level on the South zone was re-opened and 196 tonnes of ore removed from an old stope above the level. The caved Portal of No. 3 level on the North zone was also opened and the adit retimbered for a distance of 18 metres.
Regionally, the area lies on the western margin of the Kootenay Arc, in allochthonous rocks of the Quesnel Terrane. In the vicinity of the occurrence, the Quesnel Terrane is dominated by the Upper Triassic Slocan Group, a thick sequence of deformed and metamorphosed shale, argillite, siltstone, quartzite and minor limestone. Rocks of the Slocan Group are tightly and disharmonically folded. Early minor folds are tight to isoclinal with moderate east plunging, southeast inclined axial planes and younger folds are open, southwest plunging with subhorizontal axial planes. The sedimentary sequence has been regionally metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies.
The Slocan Group has been intruded by the Middle Jurassic Nelson intrusions which comprise at least six texturally and compositionally distinct phases ranging from diorite to lamprophyre. The most dominant phase is a medium to coarse grained potassium feldspar porphyritic granite (Paper 1989-5).
The occurrence is hosted within coarse grained potassium feldspar porphyritic granite of the Nelson intrusions near the northern contact with the Slocan Group rocks. Within the workings the porphyritic granite is cut by a few hornblende biotite dikes. The occurrence consists of a fissure vein striking 160 degrees and dipping 75 degrees west. The vein has been explored with at least five adits over a vertical range of about 145 metres. Within the adits the vein varied from a few centimetres up to 3 metres in width. The wider portions of the vein consisted mainly of gouge and crushed granite. The vein followed a hornblende biotite dike on its hangingwall for most of its length. Between the No. 5 and No. 4 levels the ore zone was mined for an average strike length of 22 metres and 50 metres updip. The zone varied between 15 centimetres and 2.5 metres and was composed of a series of overlapping lenses of vein material carrying layers of massive ore 15 to 30 centimetres thick. The massive ore layers consisted of sphalerite, galena, argentite, pyrargyrite and native silver in a gangue of quartz-calcite and minor barite.
A second mineralized zone is situated about 180 metres south of the main workings on the Troy claim. This zone strikes 060 degrees and dips steeply northwest. It consists of an 18 metre wide brecciated zone within porphyritic granite. The breccia consists of large blocks of granite cemented by quartz and calcite containing sphalerite, galena, argentite and native silver.
Production from the Fisher Maiden between 1894 and 1979 yielded about 2319 kilograms of silver, 59,023 kilograms of lead, 59,896 kilograms of zinc, 289 kilograms of cadmium and 31 grams of gold from 1132 tonnes mined.
