The Hidden Valley occurrence is located approximately 19 kilometres east of the south end of Deadwood Lake and 135 kilometres northeast of the community of Dease Lake.
The area is underlain by Cambrian-Ordovician Kechika Group limestones, dolomites and phyllites. The rocks are cut by numerous northwest- to northeast-trending faults, some of which are marked by reddish-weathering, brecciated rocks.
Mineralization consists of small amounts of massive chalcopyrite with pyrite and iron carbonate (ankerite) in lenticular quartz veins between slaty limestone and calcareous phyllite. The mineralized zone strikes northwest and dips 25 to 65 degrees southwest. A 12-metre width is exposed in a creek.
In 1969, trenching indicated that two blocks mineralized material may exist. The Block A zone contains approximately 1,936,880 tonnes grading 0.47 per cent copper over an average width of 9.54 metres, 1,561,520 tonnes grading 0.55 per cent copper over an average width of 10.11 metres or 549,540 tonnes grading 0.77 per cent copper over an average width of 8.55 metres, whereas the Block B zone contained 27,220 tonnes grading 0.53 per cent copper over an average width of 2.25 metres (Assessment Report 2302). Individual trench samples yielded up to 2.23 per cent copper over 6 metres in the trench no. 8 (Assessment Report 2302).
Work History
The first reference to the showing was in 1940, at which time it was referred to as the Burden group. The property was held by restaking from 1940 to 1951, at which time it was optioned to the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company (Cominco Ltd.), who carried out plane table mapping, trenching and sampling. The option was allowed to expire after one year and no work was done from that time although the property was held by restaking for three or four more years. The Eno group was staked in February 1969, by B. Horgan, who sold the claims to G.A. Armstrong, president of Kellex Mining Co. Ltd. In the same year, Kellex Mining conducted geological mapping, a geochemical soil survey and trenching.
