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File Created: 18-Dec-2019 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)
Last Edit:  07-Jan-2020 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

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NMI
Name YAUCO NO. 7 (L.1679), BIG BEN NO. 4 (L.1678), ARNOLD, EHATSET Mining Division Alberni, Nanaimo
BCGS Map 092L007
Status Showing NTS Map 092L02W
Latitude 050º 04' 08'' UTM 09 (NAD 83)
Longitude 126º 47' 38'' Northing 5548621
Easting 657873
Commodities Gold Deposit Types I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
I06 : Cu+/-Ag quartz veins
Tectonic Belt Insular Terrane Wrangell, Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

The Yauco No. 7 (Arnold) vein is located near the northwestern corner of the Yauco No. 7 (L.1679) Crown grant on the east side of the Zeballos River and approximately 800 metres north of Fault Creek.

Regionally, the area is underlain by Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group basaltic to rhyolitic volcanic rocks. Conformably underlying the Bonanza volcanic rocks are limestones and limy clastics of the Triassic to Lower Jurassic Parson Bay Formation (Bonanza Group) and Upper Triassic Quatsino Formation (Vancouver Group), and the tholeiitic basalts of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation (Vancouver Group). Dioritic to granodioritic plutons of the Zeballos intrusion phase of the Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite have intruded all older rocks. The Zeballos stock, a quartz diorite phase of the Eocene to Oligocene Mount Washington Plutonic Suite, is spatially related to gold-quartz veining in the area. Bedded rocks are predominantly northwest-striking, southwest-dipping and anticlinally folded about a northwest axis. A north-south–striking fault occurs along the Zeballos River valley, north of the rivers junction with the Nomash River.

Locally, a 7.5 to 10-centimetre wide quartz vein hosts sphalerite with lesser pyrite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite. The vein strikes north 10 degrees east and dips 50 degrees east. The vein is bordered by 15 centimetres of oxidized and altered rock. In 1938, a sample of vein material assayed 7.5 grams per tonne gold, whereas samples of the altered hostrock assayed 2.0 grams per tonne gold (Property File - C.C. Starr [1938-05-03]: Report on the King Midas Mine).

Another vein, referred to as the Big Ben No. 4 vein, is located on the eastern bank of the Zeballos River to the south of the previous vein. The vein is hosted by a shear or fault zone striking north 10 degrees west and dipping 60 degrees east, and is 7.5 centimetres wide with minor pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization. In 1938, a sample of vein material assayed 0.9 gram per tonne gold (Property File - C.C. Starr [1938-05-03]: Report on the King Midas Mine).

In 1931, the area was explored as the Ehatset claims. In 1938, the King Midas Mining Co. Ltd. was operating on the property. In 1979, Esperanza Explorations completed a program of regional silt sampling and prospecting on the area. In 1999, the area was prospected by the Zeballos Mining Company as the Zeb Au claim. In 2009, Global Silver Producers Ltd. and A25 Gold Producers Corp. prospected the area.

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT 26082, 31273
EMPR BULL 20-V, p. 16; *27, p. 115
EMPR FIELDWORK 1982, p. 290; 1983, p. 219
EMPR PF (*C.C. Starr (1938-05-03): Report on the King Midas Mine; *C.C. Starr (1938-05-04): Map of North Half of Claims Showing Locations of Veins and Contacts; C.C. Starr (1938-05-04): Workings on North Fork of Zeballos River - King Midas Mining Co. Ltd.; C.C. Starr (1938-05-14): Re: Further work on the King Midas property)
GSC EC GEOL 1-1947
GSC MAP 4-1974; 255A; 1028A
GSC MEM 204, p. 17; 272, p. 47,59
GSC OF 9; 170; 463
GSC P 38-5; 40-12, p. 30-32; 69-1A; 70-1A; 72-44; 74-8; 79-30
GSC SUM RPT 1929A; 1932A II, p. 38-42
CIM TRANS Vol. 42, 1939, pp. 225-237; 1948, pp. 78-85; 72, pp. 116-125
GCNL #146, 1983; #5, 1984
Carson, D.J.T., (1968): Metallogenic Study of Vancouver Island with emphasis on the Relationship of Plutonic Rocks to Mineral Deposits, Ph.D. Thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa
Stevenson, J.S.(1938): Lode Gold Deposits of the Zeballos Area

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