The Virginia K Fraction No. 3 showing is located about 700 metres southeast of the south end of Kimball Lake. Kimball Lake is a small lake which is part of American Creek located about 19 kilometres north of the confluence of the creek with the Bear River.
The Virginia K claims are on the eastern limb of the open, north plunging American Creek anticline. The American Creek fault trends along the valley. The claims are underlain by rocks of the Lower Jurassic Unuk River Formation (Hazelton Group) (Bulletin 58; 63). The rocks comprise lowermost black argillites, capped by a thin limestone, overlain by tuff and minor rhyolite. The predominantly argillic sequence is overlain by a thick sequence of purple, green and red fragmental rocks that include tuff, breccia, agglomerate and conglomerate with subordinate limestone and chert interlayers (Assessment Reports 8982, 15365).
Three types of mineralization occur on the Virginia K claims (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1932, page 59):
1. Replacement shear zone in argillite.
2. Veins between interbedded sandstone, sandy argillite and tuffs near the top of the predominantly sedimentary sequence.
3. Fracture zones consisting of quartz veins and veinlets in reticulated structures.
The Virginia K Fraction No. 3 showing is located near the central part of the Virginia K Fraction No. 3 claim (Lot 5817). Mineralization was discovered by Excelsior Prospecting in 1931. A short adit (No. 1 adit) and two opencuts (Nos. 1 and 2) were emplaced soon after the discovery. The adit follows the eastern contact of a north-northeast trending green felsic dike with argillite. The manganese-stained argillite contains minor quartz veining. The zone is mineralized with galena and sphalerite. Chip samples assayed up to 0.14 gram per tonne gold, 695 grams per tonne silver, 0.02 per cent copper, 1.41 per cent lead and 0.67 per cent zinc across 1.3 metres (Assessment Report 15145, page 5).
The showing is also referred to in early Minister of Mines Annual Reports and may correspond to the assumed northeastern portion of the No. 1 vein which trends southwest across the Virginia K No. 3 claim (Lot 5816).
Samples from the Nos. 1 and 2 cuts, immediately southwest of the adit, assayed up to 5.5 grams per tonne gold, 11,191 grams per tonne silver and 55.12 per cent lead across 1.1 metres (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1931, page 44).
In 1929, D. Kimball discovered mineralization in the area. That year the Virginia K., BLK, Bryant and Dundee (104A 074) claim groups were staked and the Excelsior Prospecting Syndicate was formed. The Virginia K. group was staked on the east side of the valley. The exact location of the other claim groups is not known, but they were apparently staked on the west side of the valley and may have extended to the south. Excelsior discovered several silver-lead-zinc occurrences on the Virginia K. claims in 1931 and continued intermittent exploration until 1938. In 1960, Newconex performed geological mapping and sampling on the claims (referred to in Assessment Reports 16842 and 18430); the results of this work are not known. In 1980, Komody Resources Ltd. (later renamed Fest Resources Corp.) conducted further geological work, resulting in the discovery of the Dino vein (104A 119) on the Virginia K No. 3 claim. In 1986, Square Gold Explorations Inc. (later renamed Glacier Resources Inc. and then Golden Glacier Resources Inc.) carried out geological mapping and sampling on part of the Virginia K. group (mainly the Virginia K No. 3 (104A 119) and Virginia K Fraction No. 3 claims). The following year, Carmac Resources performed geological mapping and sampling on part of the claim group (mainly the Virginia K No. 5 and Virginia K Extension No. 2 claims, (104A 117). In 1990, Northair Mines carried out talus sampling on the claims.
