The small, isolated KBE showing is located approximately 10 kilometres north-northeast of the east end of Inzana Lake and 5 kilometres southeast of Mudzenchoot Lake. The showing lies within the Fran claim group approximately 60 kilometres north of Fort St. James.
The granite intrudes volcanically derived epiclastic sediments of the Upper Triassic Inzana Lake Formation, one of four formations that form the Middle Triassic to Lower Jurassic Takla Group in this region. The Inzana Lake Formation is underlain by the Rainbow Formation consisting of fine-grained slates and sediments derived, in part, from a continental source. In turn, it is overlain by augite porphyry flows and agglomerates of the Witch Lake Formation and the subaerial maroon and green flows of the Chuchi Lake Formation.
The showing consists of less than 1 per cent disseminated malachite in a bleached and slightly gossanous early Cretaceous to Pliocene hornblende granite/granodiorite intrusion. No pyrite or other sulphides are associated with the malachite. Minor amounts of epidote and magnetite are found in the granite within 100 metres of the showing. A grab sample from this showing yielded 0.196 gram per tonne gold and 0.2 per cent copper (Fieldwork 1990, page 107).
Refer also to the Fran occurrence (MINFILE 093K 108) located approximately 3 kilometres to the southwest in NTS area 093K/16, for some common history. Mineralization was first discovered in 1990 by members of the BC Geological Survey during a regional mapping program (Fieldwork 1990, page 107).
Following the discovery of the Mt. Milligan deposit 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 property prior to 1990. The BN 2 claim was staked by Noranda Exploration Company to cover a regional airborne magnetic high and was followed with a reconnaissance geochemical and geological survey in August 1990. Results were generally poor.
While conducting a drill program on the Fran property to the south (in NTS 93K/16), it was reported that Navasota Resources Ltd completed some exploration on the KBE that was not documented (Assessment Report 27822, page 16). This work involved a few preliminary grid lines in the KBE area, on the Fran 8 mineral claim, that were soil sampled at 50-metre spaced stations. During this event, the KBE showing was located and sampled. These samples yielded 0.19 gram per tonne gold and 0.24 per cent copper from crowded plagioclase porphyry with fine disseminated chalcopyrite and malachite staining. Some anomalous copper in soil values up to 100 parts per million were returned from the area.
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 property examination during August and September, mainly in the Upper and Lower zones of the Fran (MINFILE 093K 108) occurrence. A total of 132 closely spaced soil samples and 40 rock samples were collected. In October 1998, an exploration program by Placer Dome Incorporated was completed, 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, 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. In total, 26 soil samples were collected at 25-metre intervals along two lines spaced 100 metres apart. Seventeen soil samples were collected from the road embankment.
In 2007, a geophysical program was conducted to investigate bulk tonnage and high-grade gold-polymetallic deposition on the Fran property approximately 1 kilometre south-southwest and 5 kilometres southeast of the KBE showing. The geophysical surveys consisted of a 47.2 line-kilometre induced polarization survey and a 48.4 line-kilometre magnetometer survey. These surveys revealed two interesting anomalous conditions along two parts of the grid, one in the south and the other in the north. The southern part of the grid displayed a strong magnetic anomaly located centrally and a strong induced polarization anomaly in the southern quarter of the gird. The northern grid revealed a flat magnetic signature coupled with several strong induced polarization anomalies.
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. 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.
