The Cherry Silver, or AJ, showing is situated east of Echo Lake, between Ferry and Jacks creeks, approximately 5.5 kilometres southwest of Cherryville and 48 kilometres east-southeast of Vernon.
The area is underlain by sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Devonian to Triassic Harper Ranch Group. The area of the showing comprises primarily schistose rock but includes phyllite, amphibolite and limestone. These have been intruded by granitic rocks of the Jurassic Nelson intrusions.
Locally, a test pit exposed shaly rocks overlying a major flat-lying fault underlain by highly metamorphosed rocks carrying mineralized quartz-carbonate veins. Sampling of narrow, sheeted veins exposed in a test pit returned significant gold, copper and silver values.
At the original AJ showing, the mineralized zone measures from 15 to 25 centimetres in width, strikes east-southeast and dips approximately 70 degrees south-southwest. The attitude of the mineralized zone is similar to that of the hosting phyllite-argillite sequence. Quartz gangue contains patches of brightly coloured, porous limonite and localized white to flesh-coloured calcite. Within the limonitic areas, localized remnant grains of chalcopyrite and/or pyrite were observed. Minor galena was also observed within the quartz zone. Irregular patches of a dark brown to sooty grey amorphous mineral, possibly tetrahedrite, occur within the quartz. Locally, this dark mineral is associated with an amorphous, olive green alteration mineral.
Though no record of exploration exists for the property prior to 1990, an old shaft of unknown age was discovered approximately 250 to 300 metres west-northwest of the AJ showing in 1990. The shaft was sunk on a quartz vein-breccia zone in argillitic rocks. The only mineralization observed was disseminated pyrite, and a grab sample of quartz-rich material from the dump did not return any anomalous values.
While conducting logging activities in the area sometime prior to 1990, John Harvey discovered a zone of malachite staining in a narrow quartz-rich zone exposed along a road cut. Together with Allen Harvey, they staked the AJ-1 claim over the area. The zone was hand trenched for approximately 4 to 5 metres along the road cut. The claim was later forfeited in 1993.
After the Harveys allowed the claims to lapse, Ronald Otteson staked the Otteson claims over the area in 1997. Additional logging activity had exposed a gossanous area containing a series of small, mineralized quartz veins. Between 2000 and 2005, Otteson undertook several prospecting and sampling programs on the property.
In 2007, Chris Knudsen, the owner of the claims encircling the Otteson property, undertook a program of stripping, prospecting and sampling on both his own Cherry Silver claims and the Otteson claims. The program was centred on the gossanous area exposed prior to 1997. Knudsen used a backhoe to excavate a sample pit in the gossanous zone. Later that year, Knudsen hired geologist Leo Lindinger to examine the property. Lindinger recommended that further work involve soil sampling and additional prospecting.
The following year, Knudsen and Otteson conducted a prospecting program on the Otteson claim. Several trees had been blown down near the northern claim boundary, exposing the underlying rocks in the root area. Prospecting focused on the newly exposed outcrops. Several samples were collected and sent for assay, but no significant results were obtained.
In 2012, ownership of the Otteson claim area was transferred to Chris Knudsen.
In 1990, sample AJR-1, a 15 to 20-centimetre sample taken over a 1.5-metre strike length, returned assays of 88.46 grams per tonne (2.58 ounces per ton) gold and 2389.71 grams per tonne (69.7 ounces per ton) silver (Property File, Gruenwald, 1990, page 3).
Several sets of rock samples sent for assay in 2000 returned significant results. Sample 700 returned 36.48 grams per tonne gold and 5271 grams per tonne silver; sample 800 returned 57.59 grams per tonne gold and 9127 grams per tonne silver; sample 2511 returned 140.9 grams per tonne gold and 680 grams per tonne silver; and sample CCO103 returned 388.5 grams per tonne gold, 4600 grams per tonne silver, 2.47 per cent copper, 2.61 per cent lead and 1.79 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 28413, page 8).
In 2008, a rock-chip sample (132021) from the test pit returned 66.8 grams per tonne silver with anomalous copper, lead and zinc over 2 metres. A hand sample from a small carbonate vein in the same area returned up to 314 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 29565, page 9).
29565).
