The Wolverine area is largely underlain by andesitic tuffs of the Lower to Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group and by rock of the Eocene Ootsa Lake Group.
The Wolverine and Ice zones are part of a series of altered and mineralized zones which appear to be localized along an 060 degrees trending brittle fault zone cutting Smithers Formation tuffs and the basal part of the Ootsa Lake Group.
The Wolverine zone is located about 400 metres southeast of the top of the Moraine Zone cirque. The 060 degree structure, which parallels the main Whitesail fault, can be traced intermittently for a distance of over two kilometres, from the upper basin of Cummins Creek to Blitz Creek, a tributary of Troitsa Creek. The Wolverine Zone comprises strong silica-sulphide(-barite) alteration with minor silica-pyrite breccia focused along northeast trending faults. Wolverine Zone comprises strong silica-sulphide(-barite) alteration with minor silica-pyrite breccia focused along northeast trending faults.
The Wolverine zone was originally mapped in 1983, and described as a zone of silicification and bleaching of lapilli tuffs. Initial sampling results (1981-1983) for the zone included one 10 metre long rock chip sample running 0.75 gram per tonne gold and 7.2 grams per tonne silver (as reported in Assessment Report 33898).
The Ice zone was originally described as consisting of float samples of “disseminated galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite in argillic altered chaotic breccia. Mineralized outcrop at the edge of the glacier discovered in 2005 is located about 500 metres east of the Moraine Zone at about the same elevation and about 400 metres northeast of the Wolverine zone.
Despite the apparent structural link between the Ice and Wolverine zones, mineralization differs radically in tenor, with higher gold and arsenic at Wolverine and higher silver, copper, lead and zinc at the Ice.
In 2005, rock and chip samples from the Wolverine zone assayed up to 1.43 grams per tonne gold, while float and felsenmeer samples from the Ice zone yielded up to 23.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.199 per cent lead and 0.450 per cent zinc (Sample B386232; McRoberts, S.S. (2009-05-01): Summary Report on the Troitsa Property).
Refer to Cummins Creek Veins prospect (093E 100) for common details of area work history.
