The Slocan King occurrence is located immediately south of Sandon at 1400 metres elevation above sea level, on the east side of Sandon Creek, in the Slocan Mining Division. The property includes the Slocan King, Hidden Treasure and Emma Crown grants (Lots 547, 1715 and 1009 respectively). The occurrence is developed on the same vein as the Silversmith deposit (082FNW053) to the west and the Richmond-Eureka deposit (082FNW054) to the northeast. This occurrence is likely the Treasure Vault, which was operated by B. White in 1908.
The Slocan King was staked about 1893, Crown-granted to the Byron N. White Company in 1897 and later was acquired by Noonday Mines, Limited.
In 1926, Slocan King Mines Limited was formed under the same control as Silversmith Mines Limited to develop the property. Operations here were carried out to investigate the easterly extension of the Slocan Star-Silversmith lode, and the extension down dip of the same lode from the workings of the Richmond-Eureka mine adjoining to the west.
Work has been done on 4 different levels; No. 6 of the Richmond-Eureka mine, the Slocan King adit level, and Nos. 5 and 10 levels of the Slocan Star-Silversmith mine workings. These workings explore the lode over a vertical depth of about 244 metres. No. 5 level is connected near the face with a raise to the Slocan King adit 24.3 metres above. No. 6 level of the Richmond-Eureka mine is 79.2 metres above the Slocan King and is not connected with it. Although heavy mineralization was encountered at different places in the workings, no orebody was found.
In 1937 Slocan King Mines Limited was purchased by Silversmith Mines Limited, and the holdings of this company purchased in 1948 by Carnegie Mines Limited, later (1951) Carnegie Mines of British Columbia Limited. In 1958 under terms of an agreement with Violamac Mines Limited, Carnegie Mines of British Columbia was reorganized and renamed Carnegie Mining Corporation Limited. This company holds 52 claims in the Slocan area, of which the claims of this group form a part.
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.
South of the occurrence, 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. Several feldspar porphyritic granodiorite dikes, apparently related to the Nelson intrusions, also cut the sedimentary sequence near the occurrence (Paper 1989-5).
The rocks hosting the occurrence consist of massive, more or less carbonaceous argillite, quartzite and limestone of the Slocan Group. The structure is complicated by folding and faulting but in general the beds strike south to southeast and dip between 30 and 75 degrees south. The sedimentary rocks have been intruded by a fine grained and dark green olivine pyroxene lamprophyre dike less than a metre thick.
The fissure zone that hosts the Silversmith and Richmond-Eureka deposits is exposed on the northwest part of the Slocan King Crown grant. The vein has been exploited with a short adit on the Slocan King Crown grant and from the No. 6 level of the Richmond-Eureka mine. The vein consisted of quartz and siderite and varied from a few centimetres to 0.6 metre in width. It contained mostly sphalerite, galena and pyrite mixed with the gangue minerals.
Production from the Slocan King adit between 1927 and 1930 yielded 87,368 grams of silver, 10,505 kilograms of lead and 1302 kilograms of zinc from 18 tonnes mined.
During 2007 through 2009, Klondike Gold Corp. completed programs of prospecting, soil sampling and trenching on the area.
