The area of interest is in the vicinity of Ivanhoe Ridge and Sophia Creek, some 6.4 kilometres southwest of Rossland.
From incomplete information it appears that two chromite showings have been prospected, one located on Crown-grants at about 1341 metres elevation on Ivanhoe Ridge, and the other, about 1.6 kilometres to the south, at about 1250 metres elevation on the ridge between the two main forks of Sophia Creek and about 300 metres southeast of the natural gas pipeline (Vandot, 082FSW130).
Crown-grants were obtained on two claims, the Burlington West (Lot 2715) and Burlington (Lot 4359); the latter was Crown-granted to Bob Lamont in 1901.
The reverted Crown-grants were leased and additional claims staked in 1918 by A. Cameron, J.H. MacDonald and associates. Work was apparently confined to trenching and stripping. The Vandot group of 5 recorded claims, reported to be located on the Cascade highway at the first summit west of Rossland, were owned in 1966 by V.M. Van, of Rossland. Old trenches were deepened and sampled.
Noranda Exploration Company Limited held the property in 1984 as the Ross, Ross 2-3, and Cal claims. Work included magnetometer surveys over 16 kilometres, induced polarization and electomagnetic surveys over 1 kilometre, a geochemical soil survey comprising 177 samples, and trenching.
The claims are underlain by ultramafic rocks, of probable Permian age, that are in contact with Lower Jurassic Elise Formation volcanics of the Rossland Group. The rocks lie in fault contact with the Tertiary Marron Group volcanics comprised of trachyandesite and trachyte. A Middle Eocene Coryell pluton comprised of a mass of syenite intrudes the suite of rocks.
A base metal showing lies at the north end of the Cal claim within discontinuous shears striking 330 to 015 degrees and dipping 75 degrees west. The showing, known as the Constantine prospect, lies within shears in fine-grained feldspar porphyry with rusty, vuggy quartz infilling hosting pyrite, chalcopyrite, malachite, limonite and manganese oxide. In 1980, three samples assayed an average 0.8 per cent copper, 0.4 per cent lead, and 0.4 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 7162). The samples also contained a trace of gold and from 12 to 80 grams per tonne silver.
In 1946, a shaft was sunk 30 metres along the shear which strikes 320 degrees and dips 70 degrees southwest. In 1982, exploration in the old shafts on the Ross 2 claim showed lenticular quartz veins with a quartz lense striking 330 degrees and dipping 75 degrees northeast at a depth of 20 metres hosting disseminated chalcopyrite and sphalerite in white quartz gangue. A 20 centimetre metre sample from the old shaft sunk in 1946 along the vuggy quartz averaged 0.6 grams per tonne silver and 17.0 grams per tonne gold with one sample at 22.6 grams per tonne gold. A 20 centimetre sample taken in 1982 assayed 30.59 grams per tonne gold, 7.20 grams per tonne silver and 0.02 per cent copper (Assessment Report 10799).
Three samples from sheared fine-grained porphyry dykes in contact with serpentinized ultramafics averaged 319 grams per tonne silver and 2.35 per cent copper across 90 centimetres (Assessment Report 10799). Mineralization consisted of colourless blebs of quartz with disseminated pyrrhotite and pyrite with manganese oxide and limonite coatings. Mineralized sheared bands varying from less than 5 centimetres to greater than 1 metre in serpentinized andesite (?) host abundant malachite with trace sphalerite, galena and nodular pods of chalcopyrite. A 30-centimetre sample of black, serpentinized andesite (?) hosting a 3-centimetre band of malachite encrusted in talc schist assayed 0.8 grams per tonne gold, 35.7 grams per tonne silver and 0.45 per cent copper (Assessment Report 10799).
There are chromite showings on the property in black serpentinite. The showings host visible chromite and nickeliferous magnetite and are described in the Vandot showing (082FSW130).
In 2008, Kim and Peck collected ultramafic samples from Ivanhoe Ridge for scanning electron microscopy and x-ray spectrometry analysis. The sample showed silica minerals of olivine, serpentine, talc, and amphiboles. The sulphides included pentlandite, millerite, and pyrite. Coarse silica minerals showed sulphide and Fe-oxide inclusions (Collins, S., Stryhas, B. (2009-02-11): NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources – Record Ridge South).
