The Paula occurrence is located on a southeast-facing slope in the headwaters of a northeast-flowing stream, approximately 4 kilometres south of the east end of Budd Lake, about 199 kilometres north-northwest of the community of Germansen Landing.
Regionally the area is underlain by a north trending band of marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Upper Triassic Stuhini Group, which are bounded on either side by granodiorite, quartz monzonite and quartz diorite of the Giegerich pluton of the Early Jurassic Black Lake Intrusive Suite. The intrusions are in fault contact with undivided volcanic rocks of the Upper Triassic Takla Group and argillite, greywacke, wacke and conglomerate turbidites of the Neoproterozoic Swannell Formation (Ingenika Group) to the east and intruded volcanic rocks of the Lower Jurassic Toodoggone Formation (Hazelton Group) to the west.
Locally, bladed feldspar phyric mafic flows and trachytic andesite of the Stuhini Group have been weakly to intensely propylitically altered, containing carbonate and epidote in 10- to 20-metre-wide patches and zones containing disseminated to blebby secondary copper as grey chalcocite, neotocite and minor chalcopyrite. Structures within this alteration, striking 330 degrees, contain quartz veins with chalcopyrite and malachite up to 1.5 metres wide and are usually adjacent to a monzonite dike, which later occupied the reactivated structure.
In 2005, two rock samples (64305 and 36310) assayed 1.49 and 1.46 per cent copper with 5.8 and 14.7 grams per tonne silver over 0.08 and 0.20 metre, respectively, whereas a chip sample (64226) yielded 1.04 per cent copper, 12.6 grams per tonne silver and 0.105 gram per tonne gold over approximately 5.5 metres (Assessment Report 28042). Also at this time, a sample (53972) of quartz vein with massive pyrite, taken from a ridge approximately 1 kilometre to the south-southeast, assayed 0.245 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 28042).
Work History
The area has been historically explored in conjunction with the nearby Pine (094E 016) occurrence located 7 kilometres west of the Paula showing. Prospecting in 2005 by Stealth Minerals Ltd. on the Pine property defined a 1500 by 2000 metre copper anomaly hosted by a highly propylitically altered lower mafic flow sequence. A total of 50 rock chip and grab samples from outcrop confirmed the presence of significant and widespread copper mineralization consisting of disseminations and veins containing chalcocite, chalcopyrite and minor pyrite. In 2006, the area immediately north was prospected and sampled as the Budd 1-2 claims.
In 2017, Cazador Resources Ltd. completed a program of geological and geophysical review on the Paula property. Later that year, a 64.0-line kilometre airborne magnetic survey was completed. In 2019, Peter E. Walcott & Associates Limited undertook a 3D geophysical modelling of an historic heliborne magnetic survey over the Paula property for Cazador Resources Ltd. The project consisted of 3D magnetic modelling using both conventional magnetic modelling along with magnetic vector inversion over the area covered by the historic magnetic survey conducted in 2017. The 2019 modelling results identified several features of potential interesting, proximal to historic copper grades.
In 2021, Amarc Resources Ltd. completed a program of prospecting, geological mapping, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling, a 40.6 line-kilometre induced polarization survey, historical drillcore re-logging and nine diamond drill holes, totalling 4332.0 metres, on the area as part of the Joy project.
