The East Bandit zone area is underlain by the contact of Pennsylvanian volcanic rocks of the Stikine Assemblage with Upper Triassic marine sediments and volcanic rocks of the Stuhine Group.
Property scale mapping by North American Metals Corp shows rocks in the East and Cliff zones to be ash and/or lapilli tuff of the Stikine Assemblage. Pervasive silica alteration is usually found within or proximal to intensely albitized zones and frequently contains disseminated fine-grained euhedral pyrite. This intense alteration results in a light grey, aphanitic to saccaroidal-textured rock with an indeterminable protolith.
The East zone contains a number of discrete bedding parallel, albite-silica alteration zones that vary in width from less than 1 metre to greater than 10 metres. Rock chip sampling in 1992 yielded very significant results in the East zone though much lower grade mineralization than what was obtained at the nearby Cliff zone. Several samples at the East zone gave gold values of 1.0 to 1.5 grams per tonne gold over lengths of 10.0 metres (Assessment Report 22646).
Chip sampling on the East Zone in 1994 yielded low grade but consistent gold values from albite-silica altered outcrops. Over widths of 4 to 10 metres values of 0.85 to 2.54 grams per tonne gold were obtained (Table 3, Assessment Report 23597). By comparison, these grades are better than those obtained from the Cliff Zone samples of similar material (having no copper mineralization) and are thought to be due to an increased proportion of pyritic pods and, locally, stronger silicification than noted in other similar zones on the property. At the end of 1994, the East zone was considered an attractive target as several outcrops remained untested and the geometry of exposed mineralization suggested considerable width to the zone, being greater than 10 metres over approximately 200 metres of strike length.
See Ram Reef (Bandit) (104K 086) for details of the Bandit East zone occurrence work history and related geology.