The Spur East (GB 18-20) occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 1900 metres near the saddle of a northeast-southwest–trending ridge, approximately 4.1 kilometres southeast of Mount Gordonia.

The area is situated within a Mesozoic volcanic arc assemblage that lies along the eastern margin of the Intermontane Belt, a northwest-trending belt of Paleozoic to Neogene sediments, volcanics and intrusions bounded to the east by the Omineca Belt and to the west and southwest by the Sustut and Bowser basins.

Permian Asitka Group crystalline limestones are the oldest rocks exposed in the region. They are commonly in thrust contact with Upper Triassic Takla Group andesite flows and pyroclastic rocks. These Takla rocks have been intruded by plutons and other bodies of the mainly granodiorite to quartz monzonite Early Jurassic Black Lake Suite and are in turn unconformably overlain by or faulted against Lower Jurassic calc-alkaline volcanics of the Toodoggone Formation (Hazelton Group).

The dominant structures in the area are steeply dipping faults that define a prominent regional northwest structural fabric trending 140 to 170 degrees. In turn, high-angle, northeast-striking faults (approximately 060 degrees) appear to truncate and displace northwest-striking faults. Collectively these faults form a boundary for variably rotated and tilted blocks underlain by monoclinal strata.

The occurrence area is underlain by felsic to intermediate Toodoggone volcanics. An Early Jurassic granodiorite to quartz diorite stock lies immediately to the south and southwest. The volcanics are gently south-dipping and consist of dacitic porphyritic flows and lapilli and crystal lapilli tuffs (Assessment Report 19097). These have been mapped by Diakow as undivided Toodoggone volcanics consisting of welded lapilli tuff and pyroclastic breccia, rare accretionary lapilli tuff, porphyritic andesite and subordinate basalt lava flows, interspersed volcanic conglomerate and laminated siltstone and mudstone (Bulletin 86).

Locally, a silica-rich (cherty), epidote-altered sediment hosts 15 per cent fine-grained sphalerite. A short distance north of the previous area, a silicified zone hosts 70 per cent specularite, 3 per cent chalcopyrite and malachite. Narrow (up to 3 centimetres wide), quartz veins with chalcopyrite and pyrite hosted in mafic flows are also reported in the area.

In 1995, a grab sample (GB-20) of the mineralized and altered sediment yielded 9.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.192 per cent copper and 7.56 per cent zinc, whereas a nearby talus sample (DB-2) of massive magnetite-hematite with pyrite and malachite assayed 41.3 grams per tonne silver, 0.583 per cent copper and 0.147 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 24284).

Also at this time, a grab sample (GB-18) of massive specularite, taken to the north of the previous samples, assayed 0.66 gram per tonne gold, 3.2 grams per tonne silver, 0.313 per cent copper and 0.213 per cent zinc, whereas samples (GB-19) of narrow mineralized quartz veins from the area yielded up to 0.30 gram per tonne gold, 3.1 grams per tonne silver and 1.19 per cent copper (Assessment Report 24284).

In 2004, a float sample (185178) and a subcrop sample (185179) of quartz veining with pyrite, located approximately 600 metres to the east, assayed 4.19 and 18.43 grams per tonne gold, 7.3 and 30.3 grams per tonne silver with 0.127 and 0.100 per cent copper, respectively (Assessment Report 27638). Another quartz vein float sample (185999), taken approximately 1.6 kilometres to the south east, assayed 42.13 grams per tonne gold and 21.8 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 27638).

In 2005, a chip sample (84578) from a chloritic quartz vein with azurite, malachite and chalcopyrite, located approximately 250 metres to the southeast, yielded 0.720 gram per tonne gold, 11.6 grams per tonne silver, 0.702 per cent copper and 0.105 per cent zinc, whereas two nearby float samples (64644 and 64645) of quartz veining with pyrite and chalcopyrite assayed 7.650 and 7.030 grams per tonne gold, 6.6 and 21.8 grams per tonne silver with 0.257 and 0.986 per cent copper, respectively (Assessment Report 28039). Also at this time, a 0.9-metre chip sample (64643) from a quartz vein with no visible sulphides, located approximately 2.1 kilometres to the southeast, yielded 0.840 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 28039).

Work History

The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Falcon A1 and A2 (MINFILE 094E 185 and 184) occurrences and a complete exploration history can be found there.