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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  19-Aug-2009 by George Owsiacki (GO)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name SADDLE (L. 4668), SADDLE EXTENSION (L.4669), MIDAS (L.4670) Mining Division Cariboo
BCGS Map 093A083
Status Prospect NTS Map 093A14W
Latitude 052º 50' 45'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 121º 25' 25'' Northing 5856285
Easting 606165
Commodities Gold, Lead, Zinc, Copper Deposit Types I01 : Au-quartz veins
I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Barkerville
Capsule Geology

The geology of the region consists of (?)Hadrynian to Paleozoic Snowshoe Group rocks. The Snowshoe Group is an assemblage of dominantly metasedimentary rocks within the Barkerville Terrane of south-central British Columbia. The metasedimentary rocks consist primarily of marble, quartzite and phyllite. In the Yanks Peak area these rocks comprise the Keithley and Harveys Ridge successions but further to the east they remain undifferentiated. Metamorphism of the region varies from chlorite to sillimanite and higher grade. Gold-bearing quartz veins occur only in greenschist facies rocks.

The Saddle vein is at 1757 metres elevation on the top of the ridge 701 metres east of Yanks Peak and near the southern margin of the Saddle claim (Lot 4668). The Saddle claim adjoins the Midas mine (093A 035, Lot 4670) on the west.

The Saddle showing consists of a mineralized quartz vein, averaging about 1.2 metres in width, within a north striking fault zone. The vein strikes 355 degrees and dips 70 degrees east. The fault zone cuts rocks of possibly Lower Paleozoic age. Black silty quartzites occur west of the showing and grey argillaceous and sericitic schists occur to the east. Mineralization within the vein consists of gold, pyrite, galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite. In 1954, a 1.5 metre chip sample taken across the vein assayed 131.56 grams per tonne gold (Bulletin 34, page 69).

The Saddle vein is exposed in an open cut for a length of about 24 metres. South of the shaft it pinches to 30 centimetres in width, and north of the shaft it maintains a width of about 1.2 metres for about 18 metres. The vein terminates abruptly at its northern end against a branch of the northerly striking fault whose zone it occupies. There has been post-mineral movement along the east side of the vein, and striations on the walls, seen both at surface and underground, plunge ahout 20 degrees south. The amount of displacement along the fault is not known.

A wide crush zone occurs about 61 metres west of the Saddle shaft and is exposed in bulldozed trenches for more than 609 metres (ca. 1954). It is not known whether this crush zone is a strike fault or not (Bulletin 34).

In the early 1920s, Glover and Pickering exposed the vein in an open cut about 12 metres long. In the early 1930s, from the west side of the ridge at an elevation of 1721 metres, Glover and Pickering drove a crosscut adit southeastward for a distance of about 152 metres to explore the vein at a depth of about 36 metres below the outcrop. The portal of the adit is caved and these lower workings are inaccessible (ca. 1954). In 1933, Britannia Mining and Smelting Co. Limited sank a shaft on the vein to connect with the adit; the lower part of the shaft is now inaccessible (ca. 1954). In 1949, Colonel Codville bulkheaded the shaft at a depth of 11 metres and drove a sub-level 2.7 metres north and 5.5 metres south. About 45 tonnes of vein quartz was hauled to the mill at the portal of the Midas adit and milled in August, 1949.

In 2001, the surviving members of the Codville family sold all interest in the property, consisting of sixteen Crown granted mineral claims, to M. Renning, prospector. In 2006, prospecting and rock sampling was conducted at the Saddle shaft by Guardsmen Resources Inc.

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1929-C193; 1930-A176
EMPR BULL *34, pp. 69-71
EMPR OF 2001-11; 2004-12
EMPR ASS RPT 11849, 28892
GSC MAP 562A; 59-1959; 1424A; 1538G
GSC MEM 421
GSC P 38-16, p. 38
GSC OF 574; 844

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