The Akie North (North Lead) occurrence is located on a south-facing slope, west of the Bear Creek valley and north of the Akie River. The Akie (MINFILE 094F 031) developed prospect is located approximately 2.5 kilometres to the southeast.

Sulphide mineralization is developed within the Gunsteel Formation, an Upper Devonian sequence of graphitic shales overlying Silurian calcareous siltstones of the Road River Group. The Gunsteel is part of the Upper Devonian to Mississippian Earn Group. Mineralization is typically intercalated within the graphitic shales as fine grained, massive to well-bedded pyrite, sphalerite and galena with appreciable barite and carbonate. Remobilized sulphide mineralization occurs as veinlets in the surrounding lithologies.

The Kechika Trough is bounded to the west and east by carbonates and shallow water clastic rocks of the Cassiar and MacDonald platforms, respectively. The Kechika Trough hosts a sequence of upper Devonian to Mississippian basinal facies clastic sedimentary rocks that is a regional target for SEDEX type zinc-lead-silver deposits, such as the nearby Cardiac Creek (MINFILE 094F 031) deposit. The most favourable horizon at the Akie property is a stratiform barite-sulphide layer, hosted within Upper Devonian shales of the Gunsteel Formation. Mapping on the Akie property has identified a number of northwest-trending panels of Gunsteel Formation shales. These shales have been the target of exploration for SEDEX-type ore deposits since 1978.

Locally, drilling has identified a large sparsely mineralized system at the same stratigraphic horizon as the Akie-Cardiac Creek (MINFILE 094F 031) occurrence to the southeast, characterized by extremely thick intervals of thickly bedded pyrite with nodular barite with lead and zinc values. The mineralized system has been traced, by drilling, over a strike length of 750 metres and over a dip extent of 525 metres.

In 1996, a lone drill hole (A-96-24) intercepted 0.8 metre of massive pyrite-galena-sphalerite mineralization overlying a shale siltstone limestone breccia at the Gunsteel Formation-Road River Group contact. Overlying the massive sulphide zone is 45 metres of 5 to 12 per cent pyrite occurring as 2- to 5-centimetre-thick beds of laminar massive pyrite, including a 2.2-metre zone of 70 per cent massive laminar pyrite. The 0.8 metre massive sulphide zone yielded 11.6 per cent zinc, 9.05 per cent lead and 3.5 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 24703). Another drill hole (A-96-25), located 400 metres along strike to the south, intercepted 7.6 metres of interbedded shale and bedded barite.

In 2008, diamond drilling yielded up to 0.26 per cent zinc over 13.78 metres in hole A-08-62 and 0.67 per cent zinc over 26.15 metres, including 1.61 per cent zinc over 4.51 metres in hole A-08-63 (Assessment Report 31103).

In 2010, four diamond drill holes were completed and encountered markedly different geology than previous drilling suggesting that faulting separates the two sets of drill holes. Drill holes A-10-68 and A-10-76 intercepted thick (126.03 and 129.97 metres, respectively) sections of thickly bedded pyrite, nodular barite and weakly developed sphalerite bands interbedded with shale. This mineralisation also contained several rip-up clasts. This represents a thickening of mineralisation towards the northwest and away from previously identified mineralization. Both intervals are interpreted to represent proximal facies style of mineralisation. Drilling intercepts included 0.43 per cent zinc, 1.37 per cent barium and 3.5 grams per tonne silver over 7.0 metres in hole A-10-67, 1.47 per cent zinc over 2.02 metres in hole A-10-68 and 1.23 per cent zinc wit 0.22 per cent lead over 0.8 metre in hole A-10-70 (Assessment Report 32270).

In 2013, a single drill hole (A-13-104) was completed on the occurrence and intersected large sections of bedded pyrite with minor sphalerite located down-dip from known mineralization yielding from 0.13 per cent zinc and 2.2 grams per tonne silver over 176.47 meters to 0.37 per cent zinc with 1.9 grams per tonne silver over 12.73 metres (Assessment Report 34727).

In 2018, a single drill hole (A-18-148) on the North Lead Zone returned large intervals of anomalous mineralization (greater than 0.1 per cent zinc) associated with the upper zone however the main zone of mineralisation appears to have diminished, possibly influenced by a large thrust fault. Drilling intercepts included 28.42 metres of 0.10 per cent zinc from 299.03 to 327.45 metres; 45.31 metres of 0.13 per cent zinc from 350.17 to 395.48 metres; and 52.87 metres of 0.14 per cent zinc from 429.64 to 482.51 metres (Assessment Report 38008).

Work History

The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Akie (MINFILE 094F 031) occurrence and an extensive work history can be found there.