The Eskay Rift showing is underlain by Lower Jurassic andesitic rocks of the Hazelton Group.
Whitish to dark gray, parallel laminated waterlain felsic(?) tuff and tuffaceous shale contain some pyrite-rich laminae along bedding. A grab sample (ER06-KM-05) assayed 0.29 per cent zone and 4.5 grams per tonne silver and 0.115 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 29412).
Another grab sample (ER06-DC-04) of extremely weathered reddish-brown fine-grained siltstone with semi-massive pyrite assayed 0.48 gram per tonne gold, 53.4 grams per tonne silver, 0.33 per cent zinc and 0.04 per cent copper (Assessment Report 29412).
A grab sample (ER06-DC-05) of weathered siltstone with abundant fine-grained pyrite parallel to bedding, and trace quartz yielded 0.75 gram per tonne gold, and 41.0 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 29412).
A new alteration zone was discovered in 2015 during a routine follow-up of anomalous samples taken during a regional reconnaissance conducted in 2006. In the last nine years, prior to 2015, the area had opened, being free from snow and ice for a distance of at least one kilometre north-south, and up to 800 metres east-west. The area is marked by prolific sericite alteration and exhibits strong shearing. Numerous quartz sericite schist subzones have been discovered and sampled with results pending (as of September 2015).
One of the subzones, traced for at least 150 metres and with an indeterminate length, is up to 10 to 15 metres wide and features quartz-pyrite mineralization. In some areas, pyrite forms up to 30 per cent of the rock and some samples from the zone have shown arsenopyrite and jarosite alteration. The subzone is bracketed by outcrops of limestone and a volcanic rock carrying abundant mariposite. The quartz sericite schist shows a vertical foliation and forms a series of hummocks where the silicification has been more intense and the rock less resistant to erosion.
Eight grab samples taken along a 150 metres traverse of the subzone averaged 0.81 gram per tonne gold equivalent (0.66 gram per tonne gold and 10.7 grams per tonnes silver at a 70:1 ratio; gold ranged from 0.04 to 1.82 grams per tonne and silver from 4.0 to 23.5 grams per tonne (Assessment Report 36107).
Work History
In 2006, Teuton Resources Ltd collected 57 rock samples on the Orion (104B 201), Big Gold (104B 675) and Eskay Rift properties, in the same region.
In 2015, Teuton Resources Corp.'s 2015 prospecting was reported to have led to the discovery of an extensive zone of alteration located on Teuton's Big Gold property (Teuton Resources Corp Press Release, September 23, 2015). The 2015 rock sampling program of Teuton Resources was a follow-up of 2006 work. Altogether, 2 float, samples and 86 rock samples were taken from the ER1 claim which contains the Eskay Rift prospect (Assessment Report 36107).
The Big Gold showing occurs 4.75 kilometres to the west of the Eskay Rift occurrence and was originally a smaller claim/property that did not encompass the area of the future Eskay Rift prospect. At some point after 2006 the Big Gold showing area was restaked by Teuton as the Mach claims with the Big Gold showing encompassed by the Mach 3 claim. By 2016, the Big Gold property was separate and adjacent to the east of the Big Mach 3 claim and consisted of the Big Gold 1-4 claims, the ER1 and 2 claims and Claim 53892. The ER1 claim contains the Eskay Rift prospect.
In 2016, Teuton Resources Corp. reported that they had completed drilling on the Big Gold but this appears to have meant their Big Gold property which by now did not contain the Big Gold showing. The first set of holes were drilled to test depth extensions of gold-bearing mineralization sampled on surface from an eight-metre-wide outcrop of quartz sericite schist. These holes encountered multiple subparallel zones mineralized with varying amounts of pyrite, the same sulphide identified on surface. One of these zones, approximately a 10-metre intersection (true width is presently unknown), also contains sphalerite, as well as occasional strands of chalcopyrite, two sulphides not seen on surface (Teuton Resources Corp Press Release, September 26, 2016).
