The Shady Fraction occurrence is located on Carpenter Creek at 1280 metres elevation above sea level. This claim was Crown-granted as the Gem in 1898. All production has been derived by placer methods, from float. Although attempts have been made to find the source of the float these have not been successful. In recent years the claim has apparently been renamed Shady Fraction.
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 Shady Fraction property is underlain by massive to slaty argillite of the Slocan Group and several small quartz porphyritic dikes probably related to the Nelson intrusions. The occurrence consists of large rounded boulders and nodules of waterworn galena that have been recovered from the gravels in Carpenter Creek, at the foot of an old landslide on the north side of the creek. The galena boulders are well rounded and probably came from eroded veins further up the slope, possibly from the Chambers Crown grant (Lot 1752), (082FNW032).
Mining of galena boulders from the creek bed yielded 199,712 grams of silver, 51,787 kilograms of lead and 620 kilograms of zinc from a total of 73 tonnes mined between 1917 and 1963. Production in 1939 from the Maple Leaf Fraction, operated by M. Byrne, is possibly from this area.
