The Ember showing is located 11.2 kilometres southwest of Spences Bridge, at an elevation of 1400 metres. The property can be accessed via the Botanie Lake Road, which is along Highway 12, approximately 1 kilometre northeast of its junction with the Trans-Canada Highway. An alternative access point may be gained via the Sleetis Creek Road, which is located approximately 9 kilometres from the start of Botanie Lake Road. The Sleetis Creek and Skoonka Forestry roads are linked via a 1.5 kilometre connecting road dubbed the “JJ Connector”, which was built in 2006 to allow easier access through the property and is where the JJ showing is situated.

Regionally, the northwest-southeast–trending Cretaceous Spences Bridge Group is part of the southern Intermontane tectonic belt of the Canadian Cordillera. The Spences Bridge Group volcanics are faulted against older plutonic and related metamorphic rocks of the Triassic-Jurassic Mount Lytton Complex. The dominant rock types within the area are subaerial andesite flows and tuffs, overlain by amygdule-rich basaltic flows. Minor felsic flows occur within these intermediate and mafic rocks, along with some sandstone, shale and conglomerate units. Stratigraphy is intruded by abundant Late Triassic and/or Jurassic to Miocene plutons. Metamorphic assemblages consist of Cache Creek Complex mélanges and Bridge River Complex metamorphic and ultramafic rocks. Quaternary sediments occur as thick drifts along the main rivers and some of the larger creeks. Major structural features in the region are steeply dipping normal faults, oriented subparallel to the western-bounding Fraser (River) fault system. The faults have two dominant trends: northwest-southeast and north-south (Assessment Report 34626). The Deadwood, Ember, Discovery and Backburn gold showings define a 3-kilometre-long corridor of low-grade gold mineralization (Assessment Report 34636).

Locally, the Spences Bridge Group is overlain by Tertiary mafic to felsic volcanics of the Kamloops and Princeton groups, which are in turn cut by small intrusions of intermediate composition. The Spences Bridge Group underlying the Skoonka Creek property is further divided into two assemblages, the Pimainus Formation and the Spius Creek Formation. Above the basal conglomerate, the Pimainus Formation is a predominantly volcaniclastic package comprising subaerial andesite ash, crystal, and lapilli tuffs (Assessment Report 29084). These flows are poorly sorted, weakly to non-bedded, and may contain up to 50 percent amygdules. Sandstone, shale, and conglomerate units can also be found alongside the andesite flows within the Pimainus Formation. The Spius Creek Formation overlies the Pimainus Formation and comprises amygdule-rich basaltic flows. Bedding is often apparent in the fine-grained tuff units throughout the property, oriented at a northwesterly strike and dipping between 0 and 40 degrees to both the northeast and southwest (Assessment Report 28182).

The Ember showing is defined by massive quartz veins, 20 metres in length and 6 metres in width, that strike east-west over 100 metres. Silica alteration occurs as pervasive to localized zones associated with thin quartz veinlets or stockwork veining mineralization (Assessment Report 29084). Clay alteration is usually weak to moderate in intensity and occurs as localized envelopes or patchy zones. The veins pinch and swell, have well-defined contacts, and are composed of massive white quartz with occasional thin symmetric banding and locally developed quartz breccia, cut by irregular quartz veinlets. The quartz vein breccias are composed of jigsaw-fit, centimetre scale, angular fragments of siliceous wallrock, surrounded by a weakly oxidized and siliceous matrix. Minor to trace, fine-grained, disseminated pyrite is present in the wallrock and veins along the northern vein margin. The massive veins have a primary strike ranging between 075 and 110 degrees and dip steeply to the north. Limonite is found along fractures in breccia zones and hematite alteration is present, but likely not related to hydrothermal processes. There are two styles of gold mineralization and alteration: (1) multi-stage massive, banded veins with associated breccia zones and intense proximal silica to distal argillic alteration and (2) narrow stockwork veinlets with disseminated pyrite and moderate silica, minor carbonate, limonite and clay alteration. The second style is more prevalent in the Ember showing (Assessment Report 34626).

Five channels, comprising a total of 51 rock chip samples, were laid out perpendicular to the general strike of the east-west veins. Results from the channel sampling assayed from 110 to 1060 parts per billion gold (Sample 32226) and grab samples from the surrounding area assayed up to 2.156 grams per tonne gold (Sample 42308) (Map 20, Assessment Report 29084).

Work History

Strongbow Exploration Inc. has done all work on the Ember showing, which was discovered while following up anomalous results from 2005 soil samples in the area (Assessment Report 28182). In 2006, a total of 1624 samples were collected over the property. Five ground magnetic surveys were completed in the northern half of the property between April 2 and September 24, 2006. The surveys contribute to a total of 33.7 line-kilometres and are set up over areas that contained the most anomalous gold in soil results and/or rock samples: JJ extension, Discovery, Deadwood, Ember and Backburn. The 2007 exploration program consisted of mapping, grid and trench soil sampling (2262 samples), surface to trench rock sampling (783 samples), mechanized and hand trenching (432 metres), ground geophysics (33.9 line-kilometres of magnetometer surveying), airborne geophysics (580 line-kilometre DIGHEM V survey), and diamond drilling (3147 metres in 13 holes; 1,129 core samples assayed). Summer surface work focused on developing the Ember, Deadwood, Backburn, and Zebra showings as drill targets for a fall program. Ground geophysics was conducted over the Deadwood, Ember, Backburn and Zebra areas. The airborne magnetic, electromagnetic and radiometric surveys tie onto the 2006 airborne survey area. The fall diamond drilling program tested the Deadwood (six holes), Ember (two holes), Backburn (four holes), and JJ (one hole) zones. In addition, a 1.46-kilometre road was constructed to provide backhoe and drill access to the Ember showing.

In 2013 and 2015, Strongbow completed programs of geological mapping, prospecting and geochemical (rock and soil sampling) on the Skoonka property.

In 2017 and 2018, Westhaven Ventures completed programs of geochemical (rock and soil) sampling, 2376 line-kilometres of airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys, 31.8 line-kilometres of ground magnetic surveys, a 6 line-kilometre passive seismic survey and 29 diamond drill holes, totalling 11 882 metres, on the area as part of the Spences Bridge Group (SBG) of properties.

In 2019, Westhaven completed a program of prospecting, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling, petrographic and Terraspec analysis on select 2018 drillcore samples, a LiDAR survey, 327 line-kilometres of ground magnetic surveys, a 20.3 line-kilometre DC resistivity survey and 49 diamond drillholes, totalling 21 849.3 metres, on the Spences Bridge Group (SBG) of properties.

In 2020, Westhaven completed a further program of geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling, various ground geophysical surveys and 102 diamond drill holes, totalling 43 268.7 metres, on the Spences Bridge Group (SBG) of properties.