The Camp-Portal area is primarily underlain by a series of volcanic rocks and intrusions. The volcanic rocks consist mainly of dacites and dacitic andesites which are likely part of the Upper Cretaceous Kasalka Group. This package is intruded by dioritic rocks of the Bulkley Plutonic Suite.
The Camp Vein System occurs under deep overburden within a topographic low and has no surface exposure. This area contains some of the highest silver grades found on the property in association with pyrargyrite (“ruby silver”) in low-sulphide veins and also contains veins with sections of massive galena-sphalerite. Exploration to the north was discontinued due to an apparent weakening of the system in that direction. It is thought likely that the system has been slightly offset by the Wrinch Canyon Fault. The Camp vein has inferred reserves of 204,097 tonnes grading 0.99 grams per tonne gold, 829.5 grams per tonne silver and 4 per cent zinc (George Cross News Letter No.61 (March 26), 1996); reported in Silver Queen (093L 002).
The Portal vein system is reported contain some of the most spectacular metal grades found on the Silver Queen property. However, potential ore volume in this system appears small due to the position of the veins which are generally less than 30 vertical metres from surface. A quartz-chalcopyrite sample from Vein No. 5 assayed 9.6 grams per tonne gold, 829.7 grams per tonne silver, 7.2 per cent copper, 0.17 per cent lead, 0.17 per cent zinc, 0.11 per cent bismuth, and 0.01 per cent barium (as reported in Assessment Report 34439).
The Portal Veins strike roughly westerly and are generally narrow but high-grade. A small amount of ore was produced from Portal Vein stopes on the 2600 Level during the 1972 and 1973 production period but the structure in this area is difficult to follow due to offsets by faulting. Limited drilling indicates that the vein may be lost due to faulting below the 2600 level, but very little effort has been expended in locating the continuation of the vein beyond the fault.
An extensive drill program was carried out in 1987 to delineate the Camp vein system, 500 metres southwest of the No. 3 vein, which consists of about 5 veins striking northwest immediately west of the camp buildings. Inferred reserves for the Camp vein are 204,100 tonnes grading 4.0 per cent zinc, 754.2 grams per tonne silver and 0.89 gram per tonne gold (Open File 1992-1).
The Camp vein has inferred reserves of 204,097 tonnes grading 0.99 grams per tonne gold, 829.5 grams per tonne silver and 4 per cent zinc (George Cross News Letter No.61 (March 26), 1996); reported in Silver Queen (093L 002).
In 2010, a program of geophysics (EM16), soil sampling and 4106.5 metres of NQ2 diamond drilling in 26 holes was conducted on the property. Five drill holes were completed on the Camp North zone, located approximately 500 metres to the north, yielding intercepts of up to 0.71 gram per tonne gold, 39.8 grams per tonne silver, 0.09 per cent copper, 1.00 per cent lead and 1.57 per cent zinc over 5.15 metres, including 1.32 grams per tonne gold, 42.8 grams per tonne silver, 1.61 per cent lead and 1.40 per cent zinc over 1.4 metres of quartz-carbonate-sulphide veining in hole 10S-11 (JDS Energy & Mining Inc. (2011-04-18): Technical Report for the Silver Queen Property).
In 2011, New Nadina Explorations Limited conducted ZTEM and Quantum 24 geophysical surveys. The aeromagnetic and electromagnetic survey covered 708.4 lines-kilometres and covered all mineral occurrences on the Silver Queen property including: the Silver Creek (Wrinch) (093L 002), Camp/Portal (new), Chisholm (093l 216), George Lake (new) and Cole (093L 162) systems and the Itsit porphyry (new).
Refer to Silver Queen (093L 002) for related geological and work history.
