The North Ben Creek occurrence is located on North Ben Creek, approximately 52 kilometres north of Williams Lake, and approximately 54 kilometres south-southeast of Quesnel, British Columbia. As part of the larger Ben property, the North Ben Creek occurrence is situated between the Mount Polley Mine and the Gibraltar Mine. The Ben property lies on the Fraser Plateau, a flat and gently rolling area mostly covered by glacial drift. The Ben property lies on a northwest trending height of land between the Beedy Creek and Beaver Creek Valleys, two prominent topographic lineaments considered to mark significant faults (Assessment Report 35173).
Situated within the Cache Creek Terrane, the North Ben Creek occurrence is underlain by rock units of the Permian to Triassic-aged Cache Creek Complex. Noted rock units include marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks including phyllite, siliceous phyllite, ribbon and massive chert, argillite, mudstone, sandstone, limestone, tuff, mafic volcanic rocks, and serpentinite. The area is bounded to the east and to the west by rocks of the Quesnel Terrane. The structural geology of the Ben property is not well understood or documented. The fabric of the underlying sedimentary and volcanic rocks trends north-northwest (Assessment Report 35173).
Gold mineralization at the surface at North Ben Creek is associated with northwest trending quartz-carbonate-mariposite alteration in a zone approximately 25 by 50 metres in area. This gold mineralization occurs where listwanite-silicified metavolcanic rocks are interbedded with mudstone.
Amoco Minerals first explored the area of the Ben property and North Ben Creek occurrence in 1983 and 1984 by way of a regional silt sampling program. Strong amounts of heavy minerals (gold, arsenic, antimony) were identified in North Ben Creek, South Ben Creek, and Skelton Creek.
In 1987, B.H. Kahlert staked claims covering the North Ben Creek occurrence and optioned the Property to Circle Resources, who conducted geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and petrographic work. In 1990, Circle resources drilled 2 holes (107.9 metres) at the North Ben Creek occurrence, intersecting basalt/andesite, interbedded black shale and tuff, as well as strongly altered quartz-feldspar porphyry, and silty limestone. Zones of chlorite-pyrite alteration were noted, as well as slightly anomalous values of gold (up to 104 parts per billion) associated with silicification and quartz veins (Assessment Report 21309). The option was returned to the claim owner.
Between 1991 and 2012, claim owner B.H. Kahlert conducted several campaigns of geochemical sampling, ground geophysics, and petrographic studies on the North Ben Creek occurrence. Around 2010, the property was known as Cortez, and was considered for option by OHG Resources.
In 2012, the Ben property was optioned to Westhaven Ventures Inc., and additional claims were staked around the property. Prospecting and rock sampling was completed across numerous showings across the property, and a follow up program of induced polarization and ground magnetic geophysical surveys were completed (Assessment Report 33544). In 2013, Westhaven Ventures drilled 2 holes (322 metres) at the North Ben Creek occurrence and intersected interbedded sequences of mudstones and volcanic breccias. Zones of intense silicification and quartz stockwork reported 3.5 metres at 0.28 gram per tonnes gold (in BN13-01 from 50.5 to 54 metres down hole depth), 1.5 metres at 0.59 gram per tonnes gold (in BN13-02 from 46.5 to 48 metres down hole depth), and 2.8 metres of 0.57 gram per tonne gold (in BN13-02 from 57.2 to 60 metres down hole depth). Additionally, significant intervals of cobaltiferous pentlandite were encountered in non-magnetic ultramafic shale, including 15 metres grading 0.17 per cent nickel and 80.3 parts per million cobalt (in BN13-02 from 4 to 19 metres down hole depth) (Assessment Report 34737).
In 2014, Westhaven Ventures completed a property wide airborne magnetic survey, consisting of 851-line kilometres, with flight lines oriented east-west and spaced at 200 metre intervals. Follow up work at North Ben Creek in 2014 included soil sapling (Grid A) for a total of 62 samples, to add to the 1987 soil results by Circle Resources. Results confirmed historical nickel values and show scattered, weakly anomalous (up to 328 parts per million nickel) levels trending in a northwesterly direction (Assessment Report 35173).
