The Mitzi showing is located 1 kilometre north-northeast of the east end of Mitzi Lake and 4.5 kilometres northwest of the Mount Milligan deposit (MINFILE 093N 194).
In the Mount Milligan area, the Takla Group has recently been divided into four informal units: the Upper Triassic Rainbow Creek, Inzana Lake and Witch Lake formations and the Lower Jurassic Chuchi Lake Formation (Fieldwork 1990, page 93).
The showing is a tetrahedrite-chalcopyrite–bearing quartz-ankerite breccia vein hosted in hornfelsed augite porphyry agglomerate of the Upper Triassic Witch Lake Formation (Takla Group). The 20-centimetre vein strikes 045 degrees, dips 65 degrees northwest and contains up to 5 per cent tetrahedrite with minor chalcopyrite. Alteration in the metavolcanics includes massive garnet and biotite. Prominent gossans occur within 500 metres of the vein but contain no visible sulphides.
Outcrops around the showing include strongly foliated, biotite-rich mafic schists that are intruded by and occur as xenoliths in coarse-grained equigranular diorite/syenodiorite. These regionally metamorphosed amphibolitic schists have been brought to the surface by the Mount Milligan horst. See the Mount Milligan deposit description for related information.
In September of 1972, a prospecting campaign, geological mapping, and geochemical sampling consisting of 115 soil samples were performed. The following year, an induced polarization and resistivity survey located a large anomalous zone from a disseminated metallic mineralization. In June and July 1974, a ground magnetometer survey, soil sampling survey and a two-line detailed induced polarization survey were completed with the purpose of determining more precise diamond drill hole locations. The following September and October, four diamond drill holes were drilled, totalling 528.52 metres. No geochemical analyses were performed on the samples; however, traces of copper were found in all four holes and were most prominent in holes one and three.
In 1984, Amex Exploration Services Ltd. was contracted for a soil sampling program on the Phil 1 claim. A total of 28.4 kilometres was surveyed and 295 samples were collected. Small sporadic low-contrast gold anomalies were present but didn’t reflect any significant bedrock sources. In 1988, United Lincoln Resources Inc. and BP Resources Canada Limited undertook a diamond drilling program consisting of a 152.8-metre NQ core on the Phil 9 claim. In 1985, 192 soil samples were collected from the east-central and southwestern parts of the claim group. The samples were collected at 100-metre intervals along lines spaced 200 metres apart. Significant anomalous conditions were not identified, and no further work was recommended.
In 1989, Continental Gold Corp. conducted a survey consisting of an airborne magnetic and very low frequency electromagnetic survey, geological mapping, and prospecting. A total of 22 east-west flight lines with 100-metre spacing were required for the survey. The airborne survey indicated some higher magnitude, semi-circular magnetic features on the claim, making it a highly favourable host for a porphyry copper-gold deposit similar to Mount Milligan.
In 1990, Continental Gold Corp conducted a phase one exploration program including grid layout, line cutting, geological mapping, soil sampling, magnetometer and very low frequency–electromagnetic geophysics on the Nation River property. This program outlined four target areas.
In 2009, a soil sampling program was completed over the Mitzi Lake area. A total of 1400 soil samples were collected on north-south lines over an 800 by 500-metre arsenic-antimony-molybdenum-cadmium-lead-zinc soil anomaly centred on the southern flank of a small hill 1000 metres west-southwest of Mitzi Lake. In 2010, an additional soil sampling program was conducted to infill the 2009 grid using a 50 by 50-metre sample density to more accurately define the shape and source of the soil anomaly. Over the 2009 and 2010 soil program, at least two potential sources of anomalous metals were discovered on the Mitzi Lake grid: source A and source B. Source A appears to be related to a bedrock mineralized zone and source B is related to a lithological unit with elevated background metal contents.
