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File Created: 21-Nov-1986 by Larry Jones (LDJ)
Last Edit:  10-Aug-2020 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

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NMI 103I9 Cu9
Name M & K, HUB, PRICE, LEGATE CREEK, DROUIN, MAIN, TERRACE, M&K Mining Division Omineca
BCGS Map 103I070
Status Past Producer NTS Map 103I09E
Latitude 054º 39' 29'' UTM 09 (NAD 83)
Longitude 128º 05' 46'' Northing 6057116
Easting 558310
Commodities Copper, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Gold Deposit Types I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Tectonic Belt Intermontane Terrane Stikine, Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

The M&K occurrence is located in rugged mountainous terrain approximately 35 kilometres northeast of Terrace. Access to the property is gained by all-weather road (Highway16) northeastward from Terrace along the Skeena River valley, then along a forestry road about 20 kilometres southeastward up Legate Creek valley. The forestry road is in disrepair due to slides and bridge washouts (ca. 1990) resulting in access mainly by helicopter.

Andesite flows with interbedded volcanic breccia and tuff of the Jurassic Hazelton Group are intruded by diorite of the Cretaceous to Tertiary Legate Creek apophysis. The volcanics, which strike northeast and dip 30 degrees southeast, contain concordant mineralized zones up to 1.2 metres wide. Mineralization consists of an intergrowth of chalcopyrite, galena, bornite and sphalerite, with minor tetrahedrite, pyrite, specularite, malachite and azurite. A 20-centimetre sample from a sheared zone assayed 2.16 per cent copper, 17.1 grams per tonne silver and 0.7 gram per tonne gold, and a typical talus sample assayed 10.98 per cent copper, 26.51 per cent lead, 106.3 grams per tonne silver and trace gold (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 212).

Exploration work in 1990 resulted in the discovery of two parallel metal-bearing zones at the M&K showing. Metals have concentrated within sheared tuff and quartz veining at the top (Main zone) and bottom (Drouin zone) of a 10 metre thick volcanic tuff. The dark green-grey tuff bed is bounded on the upper and lower contacts by massive maroon andesite/basalt flows. Bedding and mineralized structural attitudes consistently strike between 048 and 065 degrees, mainly 050 degrees, and dip at 35-42 degrees southeast (Assessment Report 21105).

The upper Main zone was tunnelled in 1928 and 1929 for 61 metres with the first 24 metres following the Main zone quartz vein for the full main tunnel length. Two drifts were tunnelled off the main zone. One drift is 25 metres through unmineralized tuff to the northwest, and the other drift is 10.6 metres southeast along a mineralized quartz-bearing shear that dips 40 degrees southwest. Chip samples were collected across the main vein and zone within the main tunnel and spotty samples MS1 and MS2 were collected from the southeast drift. Samples were spaced between 1.5 and 2 metres apart throughout the main tunnel with a total of thirteen samples collected. The main vein is a 0.3 to 0.5 metre thick quartz vein heavily mineralized with pyrite and chalcopyrite. The wallrock adjacent to the quartz vein is highly sheared over about 0.3 metre on both the hangingwall and footwall sides of the vein and contains disseminated chalcopyrite plus common abundances of malachite and azurite mineralization. All samples across the Main zone quartz vein returned ore grade values with a representative sample Main Zone 6 containing 0.12 gram per tonne gold, 4.0 grams per tonne silver, 1.94 per cent copper, 0.16 per cent lead and 0.09 per cent zinc over a chip width of 1.22 metres (Assessment Report 21105).

The Drouin zone contains a heavily mineralized chalcopyrite-bearing quartz vein approximately 0.45 metre in thickness. Flanking the quartz vein is sheared dark grey-green tuff that is brecciated with sparse and heavily mineralized portions. Bornite, galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite commonly mineralize the sheared tuff resulting in numerous massive sulphide ore lenses. Chip samples across sulphide-rich sheared tuff are high in lead and copper values while samples across quartz veins tend to be higher in copper and gold with low lead values. Spatial and mineral relationships for the Drouin zone indicate that the Drouin zone was the source for the handpicked ore in 1915 to 1917. The Drouin zone is exposed through weathering along the mountain slope in talus and trenches over an area 80 metres wide by 90 metres long. The zone weathers out to the west and follows a creek bed to the east for 50 metres. The Drouin zone and overlying Main zone appear continuous to the northeast for an unknown extent.

The M&K showing was the site of considerable interest from 1915 to 1929 with numerous trenches and adits excavated to discover the source of high-grade ore mined from talus in 1917. From 1917 to 1921, 212 tonnes of ore was shipped from this property. From this ore, 145,033 grams of silver, 42,066 kilograms of copper and 34,144 kilograms of lead were recovered.

In 1928-29, Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company Ltd. (Cominco) optioned the M&K and trenched and drifted (60 metres) the showing in the failed attempt to discover the source for the shipped ore. However, Cominco allowed their option to lapse in 1929 at the onset of the Great Depression. No work was reported at the M&K until 1966 when Hub Mining and Exploration Ltd. completed a single diamond-drill hole which returned assays of 10.3 parts per million (ppm) silver and 11.1 per cent copper over three metres.

In 1988, limited exploration by Cedarmine Resources Inc. located the M&K showing at 1410 metres elevation and a few chip and grab samples were assayed from old trenches in the area. A 1990 exploration program was conducted to further examine the character of mineralization, locate all trenches and tunnels from the old workings and discover the source for the mined ore of 1917.

In 2004, the M&K showing was briefly visited on behalf of Argonaut Resources Inc. as part of their larger Zona May-Silver Basin property exploration program.

In the fall of 2008, Argonaut Exploration Inc. conducted exploration work on seven of the company's 37 mineral showings. A total of two exploration diamond-drill holes (08ARG-06 and 08ARG-07) were completed at the M&K showing. The exploration diamond drill program was designed to test the thickness and lateral continuity of the mineralized zone. The first vertical drillhole (08ARG-07) intersected brecciated bornite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite mineralization at a depth of 6.1 metres; immediately below the casing. The interval returned assays of 38 grams per tonne silver, 3 per cent copper, 0.9 per cent lead and 0.3 per cent zinc over an 8-metre interval. The second (minus 45 degree dip) drillhole tested the up-dip extent of the zone. Mineralization was intersected at a depth of 2.65 metres and returned assays of 45 grams per tonne silver, 5 per cent copper, 1 per cent lead and 1 per cent zinc over 3.22 metres. Gold values are present in both cores reaching a maximum of 0.59 gram per tonne gold over 0.50 metre in 08ARG-07 (Press Release – Argonaut Exploration Inc., January 26, 2009).

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1916-100,101; 1917-99,100; 1919-99,100; 1920-83,84; 1921-96,97; 1923-105; 1924-93; *1925-128,129; *1928-148,149; 1929-153; 1966-80; 1967-83; 1968-108
EMPR ASS RPT 18475, 19031, *21105, 26429, *27786
EMPR GEM 1969-83; 1970-193
EMPR MAP 69-1; 8
EMPR PF (Rpt. by A.P. Fawley, 1965 in Hub Mining & Exploration Ltd. Prospectus)
EMR MP CORPFILE (Sileurian Chieftan Mining Company, Limited; Hub Mining & Exploration Ltd.)
GSC MAP 278A; 1136A; 11-1956; 1385A
GSC MEM *212, pp. 21-23; 329, pp. 94,95
GSC P 36-20, pp. 32,33; 36-17
GSC SUM RPT *1925A, p. 111
PR REL Argonaut Exploration Inc., Jan.*26, 2009
Eardley-Wilmot, V.L. (1930): Silver Producing Mines in British Columbia, p. 163, June 1930, Unpub. Rpt., Ottawa
Dandy, L. (2012-03-01): Geological, Geochemical and Diamond Drilling Report on the Terrace Property

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