The GOLDEN prospect is located approximately 1 kilometre northeast of the mouth of Gun Creek, north of Carpenter Lake, 500 metres west of the former producing Minto Mine and 7.5 kilometres northeast of Gold Bridge, B.C.
The area is underlain by Mississippian to Jurassic Bridge River Complex (Group) siliceous cherty sediments, argillites, limestones and volcanics.
The main occurrence is a vein explored by an adit striking southeast and dipping steeply west within steeply inclined, northwest-striking, siderite-altered argillites, greenstone and chert. The 15 to 60-centimetre wide vein contains lenticular, coarsely crystalline masses of stibnite; gold is associated with pyrite and arsenopyrite in the vein.
In 1974, samples assayed up to 16.1 grams per tonne gold, 51.8 grams per tonne silver and 3.32 per cent antimony (Geology, Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 1974, page 206). In 1984, sampling of the main adit yielded values up to 0.77 per cent zinc from sample A-2 and up to 10.6 grams per tonne silver and 1.3 grams per tonne gold from sample A-4, while a dump sample yielded 2.8 grams per tonne gold and 88.9 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 13035). In 1994, a grab sample of massive stibnite-arsenopyrite hosted by a quartz-carbonate shear vein assayed 1.06 grams per tonne gold and greater than 0.2 per cent antimony (Assessment Report 23731).
To the north, the greenstone hosting the mineralization is intruded by dikes. A quartz vein containing pyrite and mariposite occurs in a strong fissure along the contact of the greenstone with a coarsely porphyritic dike. Bedded sediments also host narrow discontinuous veins of stibnite, pyrite, arsenopyrite and sphalerite in quartz and calcite gangue.
In 1974, samples (0058 and Gossan A+50) taken to the north of the adit area assayed up to 28.1 grams per tonne silver, 3.1 grams per tonne gold with 10.5 per cent antimony from a stibnite-rich quartz vein, while a gossanous area of altered and fractured tuffs with minor rhyolite assayed 77.1 grams per tonne silver and 93.9 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 5364).
The Golden group was first staked in 1932 and in 1935 an adit was driven for total of 310.5 metres. In 1941, a shipment of 11.8 tonnes of antimony ore was reported to have been made from the group but no assays or grades are known (Assessment Report 5364). In 1974, Empire Metals completed a program of rock and soil sampling and geological mapping on the area as the Golden claim. The following year a self- potential geophysical survey was completed. In 1984, Kaliber Resources prospected and sampled the area as the Dream claim. In 1994, LRX Capital completed a program of geological mapping and rock, silt and soil sampling on the area as the Golden King claim.
Avino Mines and Resources Ltd. acquired the Minto property to the north of Carpenter Lake and the Olympic property south of the lake in 1987, and conducted programs of soil sampling, airborne VLF-EM and magnetometer survey, trenching and diamond drilling through to 2005. This included 2 NQ drill holes at Minto's Jumper and Golden zones and 3 NQ drill holes at Minto North zone in 2005. (Assessment Reports 16964, 17790, 18433, 27443, 28340). International Wayside Gold Mines Ltd. also drilled 7 BQ diamond drill holes on the Minto area in 1995 and 1996 (Assessment Report 24631).
