The Fran property is located 4 kilometres north of Inzana Lake and approximately 60 kilometres north of Fort St. James in north-central British Columbia. The western boundary of the property is marked by Benoit Lakes.
The property is underlain by Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Takla Group sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks from the Inzana Lake Formation. Dikes and small stocks of monzonite, monzodiorite, diorite and more felsic porphyries occur throughout the area.
The North Contact gold zone on the Fran property, just north of Inzana Lake, was the subject of a major exploration program through much of the 2000s. Closely-spaced trenching and drilling identified the North Contact zone over an 800-metre northwest trending strike length. Mineralization is spatially associated with the contact between a Late Triassic to Early Jurassic porphyritic monzodiorite and hornfelsed volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks of the Upper Triassic Takla Group (Inzana Lake Formation). The zone consists of narrow, quartz-pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite vein mineralization enveloped by broad zones of lower grade material. For example, hole FR-59 intersected 4.85 metres grading 10.63 grams per tonne gold, 40.15 grams per tonne silver and 1.47 per cent copper within a 54.6-metre interval averaging 1.18 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 29389).
An excerpt of the report on the Fran surface examination by Ron Wells (private unpublished 2002 Placer Dome report) is found in several of the mid-2000s assessment reports completed on the property. Several styles of gold mineralization in the Bullion Alley grid area are reported by Wells as follows:
Quartz-sulphide veins with gold, silver (copper). This is the predominant auriferous vein type in the drilling area and is associated with the higher-grade gold intersections. These veins have steep dips and are hosted by either intrusive rocks or hornfels country rocks proximal to contacts. The textures often indicate multi-stage veins and wallrock replacements along fracture zones and faults. Quartz is the main gangue mineral followed by carbonate, chlorite and epidote. There are highly variable amounts of sulphide minerals and silicate-carbonate gangue in veins. Sulphides include fine- to coarse-grained aggregated disseminations of pyrite and pyrrhotite. Minor dark iron sphalerite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite and rare galena may be present. Gold was observed in several thin sections and hand specimens with several modes: 1) sub-rounded to angular solid inclusions in massive pyrrhotite and less common pyrite. Some angular electrum inclusions up to 300 microns occur in pyrrhotite; 2) as clusters of angular free gold grains in vein quartz up to 150 microns; 3) gold and/or electrum veinlets and stringers in fractured grains and at fractured quartz grain boundaries. Up to 100 micron elongate grains; 4) extremely fine, less than 5 to 60 micron gold inclusions in chalcopyrite; and 5) at sulphide grain boundaries-pyrite, pyrrhotite chalcopyrite and sphalerite, grains up to 40 micron grains. The above gold modes are texturally both early (1) and late (2 to 5). Some remobilization of gold is suggested. Many quartz-sulphide veins feature narrow zones of intense potassium feldspar alteration in the wallrock.
Polymetallic veins hosted by country rocks with gold, silver, zinc, copper, lead and arsenic. Several holes intersected quartz-carbonate-sulphide veins and stockworks hosted by variably fractured country rock hornfels (siltstone, argillite). These veins and veinlets contain variable amounts of pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, galena and arsenopyrite. Gold values are generally much lower than in the previous vein type, they are often in the 0.1 to 1 gram per tonne range and locally up to 8.25 grams per tonne. Silver to gold ratios are noticeably higher in this type of vein and there are generally higher arsenic, lead and zinc values.
Amphibole veins with copper-gold (silver). These are less common and hosted by monzodiorite porphyry dikes mainly in the Lower Showing (Roadside) area. Medium- to coarse-grained pyrite and chalcopyrite are associated with deformed hornblende veins with fine disseminated chalcopyrite greater than pyrrhotite and pyrite in the wallrock. These vein intervals have yielded copper values up to 0.92 per cent, gold up to 2.94 grams per tonne, silver up to 5.4 grams per tonne and appear to be early stage (late magmatic).
Quartz-albite veins. This is a less common intrusion-hosted vein type that was noted in the drilling at the Hill Top area. These veins feature variably deformed coarse-grained quartz and tabular albite with interstitial carbonate, extremely fine arsenopyrite and pyrite. The wallrocks are carbonate-epidote-sericite altered. Gold values are low elevated: 100 parts per billion up to 1.1 grams per tonne.
Following the discovery of the Mt. Milligan deposit (MINFILE 093N 194) in the 1980s, significant porphyry copper-gold exploration took place in the Nation Lakes region to the north and northeast of Inzana Lake, but no documented mineral exploration programs took place on the Fran property prior to 1996.
In 1997, gold was discovered by the original property owner, R. Haslinger Sr., near the western end of the then-new logging roads along Inzana Creek. In 1998, Homestake Canada Inc. conducted a six-day property examination, mainly in the Upper and Lower Showing areas. At the time, 40 rocks were collected and 132 closely spaced soil samples were taken from small grids partially covering these two areas. Later in 1998, an exploration agreement was made between R. Haslinger Sr. and Placer Dome Inc., which was followed by a nine-day geological-geochemical program. A 7.5 line-kilometre survey grid was completed and 193 soil and 26 rock samples were collected. In 1999, U. Mowat (for owner R. Haslinger) completed two short soil lines that extended the known gold-in-soil anomaly. Mowat collected 43 soil and 63 rock samples.
In 1999, a small portion of the Fran area was examined and sampled; 64 rock samples and 11 silt samples were collected. A small grid was established 100 metres west of a gold-in-soil anomaly outlined by Placer Dome in 1998. A total of 43 soil samples were collected on two lines 100 metres apart. The drilling was along a northwest-trending panel called the Bullion Alley zone which featured favourable intrusive rocks with gold values in bedrock and soils. Drilling concentrated on three main areas along this trend from west to east: Hilltop (Upper Showing area), Mid-Ridge (central gold soil anomaly) and Roadside (Lower Showing area). This trend later became known as the North Contact zone.
Cassidy Gold Corp. entered into an option agreement on the Fran property in 2001. Later in the year, Cassidy made an agreement with Navasota Resources Ltd. to earn 100 per cent of their interest through a series of payments (work on property). During 2001 and 2002, Navasota Resources completed five phases of diamond drilling for a total of 5094.85 metres in 32 NQ drillholes. Drilling took place along the northwest-trending Bullion Alley zone.
In 2004, Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd. optioned the property from Richard Haslinger and completed a property-scale program that included silt, soil and rock geochemical sampling, geological mapping and a low-level airborne magnetic and radiometric survey. The geochemical survey included 1030 rock, 33 silt and 1648 soil samples. A total of 900 kilometres of airborne surveying was completed. In 2005, Yankee Hat completed road building, trenching, induced polarization and magnetic geophysical surveys and two phases of diamond drilling, totalling 3028.41 metres. A 2051.12-metre program of diamond drilling in 16 holes was completed in 2006 by Yankee Hat. The North Contact zone was shown to have the potential to extend to greater than 1000 metres in strike length. In 2008, Yankee Hat completed 47.2 kilometres of induced polarization geophysical surveying and 48.4 kilometres of ground magnetic surveying.
In 2010, Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd. contracted Equity Engineering Limited to manage an exploration program on the Fran property. The eight-hole drill program yielded 1988.81 metres of NQ core. Drilling targeted the downdip extents of previously drilled mineralized zones within Bullion Alley. Significant assay results included 1.05 metres averaging 11.95 grams per tonne gold (sample FR-11-086), 0.70 metre averaging 9.93 grams per tonne gold (sample FR-10-082), 0.71 metre averaging 8.70 grams per tonne gold (sample FR-11-084) and 1.00 metre averaging 4.43 grams per tonne gold (Sample FR-11-087; Assessment Report 32257). Results of the exploration program indicated that the auriferous veins pinched out at depth and along strike to the northwest, limiting the extent of the mineralization.
In 2016, exploration fieldwork carried out by MGX Minerals Inc. consisted of magnetometer geophysics located immediately northeast of Bullion Alley (4.8 line-kilometres), geochemical analysis of rock chip samples from the A grid area and northeast and southeast of Bullion Alley (15 rock samples total), and spatiotemporal geochemical hydrocarbon analysis (178 samples) of soil from the A grid.
In 2017, the Fran East target was drilled by MGX Minerals Incorporated. Three BTW drillcores, totaling 112.48 metres, were completed. Throughout drilling, little to no bedrock was reached due to the thick overburden of glacial sediments.
Throughout most of 2018 and part of 2019, a diamond drilling program was performed and supervised by Rio Minerals Limited. Sixteen NQ2 holes (FR 18-88 to FR 19-103), totaling 5653.59 metres, were drilled over 14 sites. Eight drillholes (FR-18-88 to FR-18-91 and FR-18-100 to FR-18-103) in close proximity to the Fran prospect show elevated gold and copper values. Of the eight nearest drillholes, FR-18-100 resulted in the highest amount of gold and FR-18-101 resulted in the highest amount of copper: 21 grams per tonne over 1 metre and 1.440 per cent over 0.5 metre, respectively (Assessment Report 38374). In addition to the drilling program, an induced polarization survey was completed by MGX Minerals Incorporated in June 2018, and a total of 18 line- kilometres were surveyed.
