The 2XFred Mid occurrence (Skid Trail and High Grade zones) is located west of Stoney Creek at an elevation of approximately 930 metres and approximately 2.3 kilometres east of Welch Lake.
The area occurs within the Intermontane Belt, underlain dominantly by Lower to Middle Jurassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Hazelton Group. These assemblages are overlain by felsic and andesitic volcanic rocks of the Eocene to Oligocene Ootsa Lake Formation (Nechako Plateau Group) and basalt volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks of the Miocene Chilcotin Group. Intruding Lower Jurassic rocks of the Hazelton Group in the northeastern part of the map sheet is a belt of granodiorite, diorite and quartz diorite plutons of the Lower Jurassic Topley Intrusive Suite. Felsic plutons, probably Cretaceous, intrude both Lower and Middle Jurassic Hazelton strata.
Locally, shallow-dipping, banded to chalcedonic (epithermal) quartz veins, up to 2.5 metres wide, stockworks and hydrothermal breccias are hosted in silicified and argillic-altered basalts and andesites. Common alteration minerals include hematite, limonite, jarosite, clay, chlorite, epidote, carbonate, manganese, zeolite, specularite, magnetite and pyrite.
Another veined zone, referred to as the High Grade zone, is located approximately 500 metres east-southeast of the 2XFred Mid zone on the west side of Stoney Creek. The zone comprises a 20- by 30-metre subcrop/outcrop of argillic basalt with banded quartz veins and pyrite.
In 2012, seven rock samples (SK12-52, -70, -71 and -74 through -77) yielded from 0.288 to 1.592 grams per tonne gold and 2.9 to 39.3 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 33436). Also at this time, two samples (SAK12-50 and -51) from another mineralized zone, located approximately 500 metres to the west-southwest of the previous zone, yielded values of up to 0.307 gram per tonne gold and 11.4 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 33436).
In 2013, 64 2-square-metre chip samples (2XF-1 through -59 and 2XF-171 through -175) taken at intervals of 10 to 20 metres over an approximately 600-metre strike length yielded an average of 0.310 gram per tonne gold and 11.3 grams per tonne silver, with values of up to 1.466 grams per tonne gold and 34.6 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 34967).
In 2014, composite samples from trenches 11 and 13 yielded up to 0.11 and 0.28 gram per tonne gold, respectively (Assessment Report 35291).
In 2016, two grab samples (SK16-108 and TKN-28), taken approximately 500 metres east-southeast of the previously trenched zone and referred to as the High Grade zone, yielded 12.8 and 11.4 grams per tonne gold with 129 and 39.5 grams per tonne silver, respectively (Assessment Report 36588).
In 2018, rock float and subcrop samples from the Mid zone yielded up to 2.05 grams per tonne gold and 24.1 grams per tonne silver, whereas samples from the High Grade zone to the east yielded up to 4.87 grams per tonne gold and 22.5 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 37772). Other float samples, taken approximately 200 to 600 metres northeast of the Mid zone, yielded values of up to 2.56 grams per tonne gold and 194 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 37772).
Work History
During 2011 through 2020, Kootenay Silver Inc. completed programs of prospecting, geological mapping, geochemical (rock, soil and biogeochemical sampling), trenching, 82.3 line-kilometres of ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys and 13 diamond drill holes, totalling 1627.9 metres, on the area as the 2XFred property.