The Billy (Gold) occurrence is located is located at an elevation of approximately 420 metres on a southeast-facing slope, northwest of Bowbyes Creek and approximately 2.0 kilometres north of Bowbyes Lake.
The area is underlain by andesite, basalt, rhyolite and volcanic sandstone of the Mississippian Zymoetz Group (Mt. Attree volcanics) that have been intruded by Mississippian to Permian diorites, granodiorites, tonalites and gabbros. The previous units have, in turn, been intruded by tonalites and diorites of the Late Triassic Mount Clague Pluton.
The exploration targets are the ‘gold’ and ‘quartz-sericite’ zones. They lie on the same structurally controlled fracture zone, which strikes northeast and dips northwest. The gold zone contains 5 metres of pervasively silicified, epidotized, and brecciated rock with minor pyrite and trace galena. The quartz-sericite zone contains up to 70 metres of 10 to 20 per cent pyrite in a sericite schistose rock. The zones are separated by approximately 1 kilometre. Gold mineralization does not appear to extend along strike or down dip.
Work History
In 1986, Laramide Resources Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and geochemical (rock and heavy mineral) sampling on the area as the Billy 1-11 claims. Surface sampling of the gold zone yielded up to 5.18 grams per tonne gold, 32.9 grams per tonne silver, 0.7 per cent lead and 0.2 per cent zinc in grab samples and 2.4 grams per tonne gold over a 5-metre chip sample (Assessment Report 15528).
In 1987, BP Resources Canada, on the behalf of Laramide Resources, completed a further program of geological mapping, geochemical (rock silt and soil) sampling, an induced polarization survey and four diamond drill holes, totalling 210.9 metres, on the Billy claims. Surface sampling yielded up to 4.04 grams per tonne gold, 9.8 grams per tonne silver and 0.15 per cent lead over 2 metres, whereas drill intersections were less significant, with 0.27 gram per tonne over 2 metres (Assessment Report 16693).
In 2017 and 2018, Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. completed programs of soil and bark sampling and reverse-circulation drilling on the area as the Kitimat project.
