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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  03-Jun-2020 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

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NMI 093M3 Ag2
Name MAX, MARTIN, MG, BON 1-3, MARTIN 1-6, MG 1-14, MAX MAIN TRENCH, KNOLL VIEW, TED, FORGOTTEN, CREEK, DUD CAP, CAT, PRICE CREEK, LOST HOLDEN, BJORN, NORTH CREEK, MAX-KNOLL, SUSKWA MAX, HAZELTON Mining Division Omineca
BCGS Map 093M025
Status Prospect NTS Map 093M06E
Latitude 055º 16' 01'' UTM 09 (NAD 83)
Longitude 127º 09' 53'' Northing 6126029
Easting 616608
Commodities Silver, Gold, Lead, Zinc, Antimony, Copper Deposit Types G07 : Subaqueous hot spring Ag-Au
L01 : Subvolcanic Cu-Ag-Au (As-Sb)
G06 : Noranda/Kuroko massive sulphide Cu-Pb-Zn
I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Tectonic Belt Intermontane Terrane Stikine, Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

The Max property is located on the northeast slope of Blunt Mountain, 32 kilometres east of Hazelton.

The property is underlain by sandstone, siltstone and conglomerate of the Middle Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Bowser Lake Group. These have been intruded by stocks of the Upper Cretaceous Bulkley Plutonic Suite which range compositionally from diorite-quartz diorite to granodiorite and tonalite, and texturally they include both equigranular and porphyritic varieties. A contact metamorphic hornfels has developed for 300 metres or more around the intrusion. The sedimentary rocks are highly fractured and, locally, hydrothermally altered.

The main Max Stock is one kilometre in diameter and dioritic to tonalitic in composition. It has sharp vertical contacts and is composed of fine-grained plagioclase, hornblende, biotite and minor quartz. The Bowser Lake Group sediments generally strike northwest and dip west. A distinctive black shale-siltstone forms part of the assemblage, with conglomerate at higher elevations. Dikes of greenish hornblende-biotite-quartz feldspar porphyry are commonly found as highly altered material associated with the mineralization.

Originally six main areas of silver-gold mineralization were outlined in trenches and in drillholes. Mineralization consists of galena, sphalerite, jamesonite and pyrite in a gangue of quartz and manganiferous siderite, found mainly in altered Bowser Lake Group sediments adjacent to the diorite intrusions. The mineralization is generally fracture controlled although some is massive and bedding controlled.

By 2012, several styles of mineralization were recognized on the Max-Knoll property by geologist Gerald E. Ray. These include:

1) veins hosted by the Cretaceous-age Max Stock and its hornfelsic envelope and also include the Arseno and possibly the Spine occurrences in the Max area, which are north to northeast striking veins that contain pyrite and arsenopyrite plus/minus galena plus/minus sphalerite;

2) rhyolite-hosted disseminated pyrite and sphalerite which is seen in some historic drillholes from the Knoll area;

3) stratiform, bedding-parallel horizons of coarse massive sulphide, up to 1.5 metres thick, which contain pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, jamesonite, stibnite and gold, as well as possible argentite and tetrahedrite-tennantite. These were thought to have been deposited on the sea floor, and were likely related to a shallow marine, exhalative volcanogenic-massive-sulphide (VMS) hydrothermal system similar to those responsible elsewhere in British Columbia for the Eskay Creek (104B 008) and Equity Silver (093L 001) deposits. This style is best seen in the Max area at a number of significant stratiform occurrences including the Creek, the Max Main Trench, the Knoll View, the Ted and the Forgotten. It is also less well developed further southeast (2.3 kilometres) in the Knoll area (093M 100) where historic drillholes cut turbiditic siltstones containing thin (less than 3 centimetres), often graded beds of pyrite-pyrrhotite mineralization. The latter may be a distal signature of the thicker and more proximal-style stratiform sulphides present in the Max area; and 4) sediment and/or volcanic-hosted crosscutting veins of massive sulphide, up to 1.5 metres wide, containing variable quantities of pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena, sphalerite, stibnite, gold and various silver-bearing minerals. This style is seen in both the Knoll and Max areas; at the latter it includes the Dud Cap and Marc (093M 217) occurrences. These were probably conduit feeder zones for the stratiform sulphide horizons like the Creek and Max Main Trench occurrences.

Some veins, such as the Marc (093M 217), Dud Cap and Cat showings are believed to represent feeder zones to overlying stratiform VMS-type exhalite mineralization.

WORK HISTORY

A complete description of each mineralized zone can be found in report - Ray, G.E. (2008-09-03): The Geology and Mineralization at the MAXKNOLL Zn-Pb-Ag-Au Property.

Old hand trenches and pits in the Max area indicate some early unrecorded exploration activity, possibly dating back to the early 1900s. In 1966, this part of the property was staked and later optioned to Utah Mines, but with inconclusive results (Assessment Report 2495). Later, in 1975, seven claims were re-staked by John Young. Taylor (Assessment Report 6431) inspected the property and sampled the mineralized float and outcrops.

The claims were then optioned to Rebel Developments in 1977. Their exploration program involved bulldozer trenching the old mineral showings, as well as soil sampling, geological mapping, and the construction of a bulldozer-access road from Harold Price Creek. One short drillhole (hole EM-1), totalling 52 metres in length, was completed using a portable Winkie machine. In all, five grid lines totalling 1920 metres were completed and 12 chip samples collected; the latter were assayed for gold, silver, lead, zinc and antimony (Assessment Report 6998). The work was suspended before the full planned program could be finished.

In 1985, the Max area was re-evaluated by Donegal Exploration Ltd., and later by Accura Resources (Assessment Reports 14072, 18064, 18572). Portions of the property were geologically re-mapped, and bulk samples of sulphide-rich, high-grade material taken for testing. In 1988, it was reported that Georgia Resources Inc. reassessed the property. Work for Accura Resources Inc. began in 1987. This included cutting grid lines, soil sampling and constructing helicopter landing sites. Four new mineral showings were located and were then blasted and trenched. A very low frequency (VLF) geophysical survey was completed along the grid lines. In the first phase of drilling, completed in July 1988, five diamond-drill holes totalling 730 metre were completed and samples were assayed. The second phase in the following July and August involved a further 13 holes totalling 2400 metres. Further geological mapping was done.

In September 2007 and March 2008, an agreement was reached between CJL Enterprises Ltd. and Otterburn Ventures Inc. to option 13 claim tenures that cover the bulk of the Max-Knoll property. Otterburn conducted fieldwork between May and August 2008. This initially involved several helicopter visits to examine and sample the existing Max area trenches, as well as the old historic Knoll drill core which was stored in the bush in the Knoll area. Later road improvements included re-decking two bridges and the renovating a 1.1 kilometre stretch of the overgrown "cat" trail that led up to many of the Max occurrences, including the Max Main Trench, Creek and Forgotten showings. Otterburn set up an eight-person camp close to the north end of the property. Subsequent work included prospecting, surveying a total of 30.5 kilometres of soil lines and collecting more than 1300 soil and 160 rock samples; the latter included grab, chip and cut-channel samples. In addition, 20 silt samples were taken from streams throughout the property. During the 2008 season, Otterburn completed some mechanical trenching in various parts of the Max area, including reopening the 25 metre-long Max Main Trench prospect. In all, eleven trenches were either renovated or newly excavated.

In 2008, sampling of the mineralized zones yielded: 2015 grams per tonne silver, 3.88 grams per tonne gold, 0.31 per cent copper, 18.80 per cent zinc and 16.04 per cent lead from the Creek zone (Sample GRM20); 130 grams per tonne silver, 0.42 gram per tonne gold, 11.66 per cent zinc and 6.49 per cent lead from the Lost Holden zone (Sample GRM11); 68 grams per tonne silver, 0.11 gram per tonne gold, 1.60 per cent zinc and 0.41 per cent lead from the Bjorn zone (Sample GRM13); 422 grams per tonne silver, 0.71 gram per tonne gold, 0.22 per cent zinc and 4.19 per cent lead form the Dud-Cap zone (Sample GRM14); 452 grams per tonne silver, 1.73 grams per tonne gold, 7.74 per cent zinc and 10.12 per cent lead from the Cat zone (Sample GRM16); 647 grams per tonne silver, 1.38 grams per tonne gold, 8.66 per cent zinc and 10.93 from the Knoll View zone (Sample GRM19), while four float samples (GRM05 to GRM08) from the Main Trench zone yielded values from 234 to 492 grams per tonne silver, 0.94 to 1.77 grams per tonne gold, 3.77 to 15.03 per cent zinc and 11.00 to 16.05 per cent lead each (Ray, G.E. (2008-09-03): The Geology and Mineralization at the MAXKNOLL Zn-Pb-Ag-Au Property).

During the 2012 program, operator Price Creek Mining collected 1508 soil samples, 174 cut channel samples, 72 surface grab and rock chip samples, and 66 stream silt samples. Price Creek commissioned Geotech Airborne Geophysical Surveys and Exploration to fly an airborne geophysical survey over the entire property which consisted of 454.5 kilometres of VTEM electromagnetic surveying. Many of the chip and grab samples from the Max area were taken from altered and/or mineralized outcrops, on or close to some known occurrences. Thus, there is some sample bias because sulphide-bearing outcrops were preferentially chosen. The results show some samples with very high gold, silver, lead, zinc, arsenic and antimony. The maximum gold value was in sample 140619 which assayed 12.7 grams per tonne gold; seven samples assayed greater than 100 grams per tonne silver with sample 140605 having a maximum of 3398 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 33559).

The property was acquired by Jaxon Mining Inc. (formerly Jaxon Minerals Inc.) in November of 2016. During the 2017 season Jaxon Mining completed the following work on the Hazelton Property: VTEM Geotech data purchase and interpretation, ~20 kilometres of existing road clearing, ~10 line kilometres of induced polarization (IP) geophysics, 213 one-metre channel samples in 25 channels, 221 property-wide rock grab samples, 181 geological observation stations, 203 water samples, 105 metres (75 drillholes) of detailed back pack drilling of high grade material in the trenches, a structural study of exposed trenches and exposures over the Max target area, property-wide prospecting, detailed prospecting, and Differential GPS (DGPS) survey of the main trail and access to the numerous surface trenching and channel sample areas. In November 2017, Jaxon Mining Inc. conducted diamond drilling in the Max area of the Hazelton Property and drilled a total of 2022 metres of NQ-sized core in twelve holes collared from eight setups. Highlights of the drill program include eleven discrete intervals of high-grade silver mineralization (>100 grams per tonne silver) that were intercepted in seven of the twelve drillholes. The high-grade silver mineralization is associated with lead-antimony-silver sulphosalts and possible tetrahedrite-tennantite and argentite in polymetallic veins, feeder breccias, and rare stratiform beds. The highest silver grades recovered range from 103 to 1206 grams per tonne and are associated with elevated zinc (up to 11.1 per cent), lead (up to 6.87 per cent), antimony (up to 5 per cent), and, occasionally, gold (maximum 2.07 grams per tonne). The majority of mineralized intervals were interpreted as cross-cutting vein/breccia structures, though several bedding-parallel sulphide occurrences in drill core were interpreted to be exhalative in origin (Assessment Report 37618).

LOCATION COMMENT

For purposes of MINFILE documentation the main Max area (093M 027) is that discrete area where those showings, indicated in this paragraph, are clumped with the Max Main Trench (south of) in a discrete area of roughly 200 by 200 metres. See Figure 3 in Assessment Report 33559 for plotted showing locations.

In 2008, the length, trend, and UTM locations of the renovated or newly excavated eleven trenches were as follows:

1) Max Main Trench - 25 metres long, trending 010 degrees at UTM 616608E, 6126029N; 2) Knoll View - 10.8 metres long, trending 030 to 045 degrees at UTM 616646E, 6126013N; 3) Creek - 3 metres long, trending 089 degrees at UTM 616544E, 6125985N; 4) Lost Holden - 3.5 metres long, trending 220 degrees at UTM 616636, 6125929N; 5) Bjorn - 3 metres long, trending 020 degrees at UTM 616700E, 6125940N; 6) Dud Cap - 2 metres long, trending 030 degrees at UTM 616714E, 6125859N; 7) Cat - 3 metres long, trending 010 degrees at UTM 616600E, 6125810N; 8) Marc (093M 217) - 22 metres long, trends 150 degrees at UTM 617076E, 6125993N; 9) Lucky Jack (093M 218) - 11.5 metres long, trends 150 degrees at UTM 616613E, 6126653N; 10) Unnamed showing (093M 217) - 3.5 metres long, trending 150 degrees at UTM 616499E, 6126760N; 11) North Showing (093M 220) - 3 metres long, trending 030 degrees, UTM 616405E, 6126142N. Other showings in the main Max showing area are the Ted, Forgotten and North Creek.

All of these showings listed are contained in the main Max prospect area (093M 027) except the Marc (along with the "Unnamed") showings, which occur over 300 metres to the east, the North showing which occurs a few hundred metres to the northwest and the Lucky Jack showing which occurs about 600 metres north. Other known showings that occur outside the main Max area are the Bell, Broken Bit, Spine and Arseno which occur over 500 metres west and southwest of the main Max area and grouped with the Spine (093M 219).

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT 2495, 6431, 6998, 14072, 18064, *18572, *30787, *33559, *37112, *37618
EMPR AR 1968-113
EMPR EXPL 1977-E201; 1978-224; 1999-80-84
EMPR FIELDWORK 1978, p. 102
EMPR INF CIRC 2018-1, pp. 122,130,137
EMPR GEM 1970-174
EMPR MAP 69-1 (#238)
EMPR OF 1990-32; 1992-1, 3; 1998-10; 2008-6
EMPR PF (Report by United Pacific Gold Ltd., c. 1987; Accura Resources Inc., Prospectus, 1988; Prospectors Report 1995-53 by Dan Ethier)
GSC OF 551; 720; 2322 (#27); 5705
GSC P 44-24; 51-10, p. 43
GCNL #242, 1977; #4,#9,#25,#138, 1978
N MINER Jun.3, 2009
PR REL Jaxon Minerals Inc. Nov.2, Dec.13, 2016, Feb.1, Jun.*7,*15, Jul.*7, 2017
*Ray, G.E. (2008-09-03): The Geology and Mineralization at the MAXKNOLL Zn-Pb-Ag-Au Property
Ray, G.E. (2009-05-01): 2008 Exploration Report - The MAX-KNOLL Zn-Pb-Ag-Au Property
EMPR PFD 903196, 676316

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