The Chappelle Northeast occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 1880 metres on a southwest-facing slope, approximately 7.8 kilometres north of Black Lake.
The area lies within the Omineca-Cassiar Mountains at the southern end of the Toodoggone gold camp. It occurs 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. Takla volcanics have been intruded by Lower Jurassic granodiorite to quartz monzonite of the 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 Toodoggone Formation volcanic rocks of the upper volcanic cycle. These consist of a heterogeneous mixture of green, grey and mauve lapilli ash and lesser block tuff, with lesser interspersed ash flows and lava flows and interbedded epiclastics of the Attycelley member; partly welded, crystal-rich dacitic ash flows of the conformably overlying Saunders member and andesitic volcanic rocks of the Metsantan member.
Locally, iron-stained Toodoggone volcanic (feldspar porphyry(?), altered latite and andesite) rocks host variably sericite-epidote-chlorite-potassium feldspar–altered quartz veins and/or fracture fillings with minor magnetite, pyrite and chalcopyrite. The mineralized zone lies along the northwest-striking Saunders fault. Similar mineralization is reported to be exposed in a series of former trenches located approximately 550 metres to the northwest, whereas downslope to the southwest of the trenches a zone of galena-sphalerite mineralization with high silver values is reported.
Rock samples from the main zone are reported to have yielded from 0.150 to 0.220 gram per tonne gold and 2.6 to 3.0 grams per tonne silver, whereas a sample from a quartz vein assayed 0.625 gram per tonne gold (Property File – Carter, N. [undated]: Untested Zones - Multinational Chappelle Property - Toodoggone area).
In 1989, samples (FR-85 through -87) from former trenches on the main zone assayed from 0.26 to 0.51 gram per tonne gold, whereas float samples (PD-07) from the area yielded values of up to 0.82 gram per tonne gold and 12.8 grams per tonne silver (Property File - Delancy, P.R. [1989-10-01]: Final report on the 1989 exploration program Chappelle Property). Also at this time, a sample (PD-10) hosting sphalerite and galena, taken approximately 550 metres to the west-northwest, assayed 30.8 grams per tonne silver, 0.114 per cent lead and 0.656 per cent zinc (Property File - Delancy, P.R. [1989-10-01]: Final report on the 1989 exploration program Chappelle Property).
In 1990, a grab sample (SH-13) of tuff with disseminated pyrite, located approximately 950 metres to the west, assayed 0.14 gram per tonne gold, whereas float samples from a trenched area located approximately 500 metres to the northwest yielded values from 0.11 to 1.10 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 20401).
In 2003, float samples (133646 through 133648 and 132905 through 132907) from the main area yielded values from 0.12 to 0.91 gram per tonne gold with 0.3 to 8.5 grams per tonne silver, whereas a mineralized float sample (132622) from the west-northwest galena-sphalerite–bearing zone yielded 40.9 grams per tonne silver, 0.355 per cent copper, 0.276 per cent lead and 12.31 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 27442).
In 2004, a float sample (323526) of quartz with pyrite-magnetite veinlets, taken below the main zone, assayed 0.498 gram per tonne gold, whereas a float sample (323533) of epidote-altered latite tuff with pyrite, taken from the northwest trenches, yielded 1.12 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 27600).
In 2006, a sub-crop sample (6614) of quartz stockwork with goethite after pyrite, from the northwest trenched zone, yielded 0.425 gram per tonne gold and 2.3 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 28645).
Work History
The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Dave Price (MINFILE 094E 151), Baker (MINFILE 094E 026) and Golden Neighbour (MINFILE 094E 037) occurrences and a completed exploration history can be found there.
