The Midway mine is located about 4 kilometres northwest of the town of Midway on the open grassy south facing slope of the Kettle River valley at 1100 metres elevation. Access to the property is via the Murray Gulch road, which is accessed by driving north from the sharp bend in Highway 3 at the former Kettle Valley railway crossing.
Underground development at the Midway mine consists of 75 metres of drifting on 3 levels with 15 metres of raise and a small amount of open stoping.
At the Midway mine Jurassic quartz feldspar porphyry sills and dikes, similar to the Lexington porphyry, intrude serpentinite. Commonly these intrusives are altered with saussuritized feldspars, pervasive clay and quartz-pyrite- sericite alteration, and less often, silicification. The very strong correlation between this alteration and the presence of the quartz-feldspar porphyry, not only at this location but elsewhere in the Greenwood camp, suggests that the emplacement of the intrusion was responsible for the alteration. Anomalous gold, silver, arsenic and antimony are common in strongly altered quartz-feldspar porphyry. At the Midway mine, steep massive sulphide shear zones, enriched in pyrite -arsenopyrite -galena - sphalerite and stibnite, are hosted within the altered intrusion.
Alteration of the serpentinite to listwanite is the earliest alteration event. This is presumed to be a result of a major southeast trending, north dipping thrust fault of pre-Jurassic age. A by-product of the listwanite alteration is the formation of quartz veins. Such white, crystalline quartz veins are common on the property but do not appear to be mineralized.
The Texas (082ESE119), Bruce (Lois) (082ESE198) and Picture Rock (082ESE242) were held under the same claims groups at various times in their developmental history especially in later years. An excellent common history of the Midway area was provided by Linda Caron in 2003 (Assessment Report 27158) and is reproduced in large part below.
In 1898, the first mention of claims in the vicinity of the Midway property is in 1898, when a 76 metre long tunnel is reported at the Bruce showings (on the former Bruce CG – L.918). Tunnelling was also completed by this date on the Potter Palmer, about 1 km to the west. Nineteen crown grants and mineral claims are shown on the old claim maps in the southeastern part of the property. Today, only two reverted crown grants (the Texas and Granada) remain.
In 1909, considerable surface work is reported to have been done on the Bruce claim, and 190 tonnes of ore at an unknown grade was mined. Numerous other old pits and workings, including those at the Texas, Granada, and Midway Mine are believed to have been completed by this time.
In 1956, Noranda completed geological mapping and sampling on the “Midway” property. An area of garnet skarn was identified in the western portion of the property, in the vicinity of the Texas and Granada reverted crown grants.
In 1960, Granby Mining Co. completed geological mapping and sampling on the “Midway” property and noted that limestone and skarn were thicker here than at Phoenix.
In 1966, Utah Construction and Mining Company carried out geological mapping, sampling and an IP survey on the western part of the “Midway” property. Six diamond drill holes were drilled and numerous intervals of skarn with sulphides were noted. There are no assays available for this
drilling.
From 1966 to 1968, Granby Mining Co. completed magnetometer and IP surveys over the eastern part of the “Midway” property and drilled six diamond drill holes to test IP anomalies.
In 1968, D. Moore completed underground development at the Midway Mine (on the Rainbow property) and mined 19 tonnes of ore.
In 1969, Texas Gulf Sulfur Co. staked claims covering the western part of the “Midway” property and identified structurally and stratigraphically controlled copper mineralization within rocks of the Brooklyn Formation. An IP survey was completed and two anomalous zones identified.
In 1972, Bonus Resources Ltd. completed a copper soil survey and a fluxgate magnetometer survey over the northern part of the “Midway” property.
In 1975, San Sarita Mining Co. Ltd. drilled two short X-ray holes on the “Midway” property. One hole was drilled north of the Granada claim and the second east of the Texas claim. Drill core was apparently not analyzed.
1978-83, Maymac Explorations Ltd. staked the “Midway” property, and completed soil sampling and VLF/EM surveys. This work was followed by drilling 15 diamond drill holes in the southeastern part of the property.
In 1983, Dentonia Resources and Kettle River Resources optioned claims from D. Moore covering the Midway Mine and Picture Rock Quarry and staked additional claims in the Rainbow portion of the property. Geological mapping, geochemistry and geophysics were completed.
In 1984, Kerr Addison Mines optioned the Rainbow property from Kettle River/Dentonia and completed geological mapping and geochemistry over a small portion of the claims.
In 1987-88, BP Resources Canada Ltd. optioned the Rainbow property and completed geological mapping, geochemistry, and geophysics over a portion of the property. BP also drilled 4 diamond drill holes in an attempt to test the Picture Rock Quarry epithermal system at depth.
In 1989-90, Minnova Inc. optioned the Rainbow property and completed heavy mineral sampling, geological mapping, rock and soil sampling. A large multi-element soil anomaly was identified immediately north and east of the Midway Mine. Trenching was completed near Dry Lake and in the area of anomalous soils near the Midway Mine. Diamond drilling (7 holes) was also completed in the vicinity of the Midway Mine.
In 1990-91, following the discovery of the Crown Jewel gold skarn in northern Washington, Battle Mountain (Canada) Inc. optioned the “Midway” property, to assess the gold skarn potential of the claims.
Battle Mountain completed a large exploration program consisting of soil and rock sampling, a ground magnetometer survey, geological mapping, and re-logging and sampling Maymac drill core. Several large areas of anomalous Au and Cu in soils (+As, Zn) were identified in the Texas, Potter Palmer, Granada and Bruce areas. A number of areas of anomalous Ni-Co-Cr in soils were also defined. Five diamond drill holes were completed in the Texas and Potter Palmer areas.
In 2001 Gold City Industries Ltd. acquired both the “Midway” and Rainbow properties and amalgamated these properties to form a larger Midway property. During 2001, Gold City completed a small exploration program consisting of rock geochemistry and limited vegetation, heavy mineral and silt sampling. Rock sampling yielded significant values in copper and gold in the Bruce and Texas area and gold and silver from the Midway Mine. A gold-mercury association was noted in the Texas and Bruce areas. One heavy mineral sample was collected from Murray Gulchon, the eastern portion of the property was high in gold and anomalous platinum.
In 2003, Gold City Industries Ltd. carried out a trenching and sampling program on their Midway gold property. Work focused on the Picture Rock Quarry area (082ESE242). In 2004, Gold City established three grids on the Midway property near the quarry totaling 15.2 kilometres and 704 soils samples were collected. Merit Mining Corp. (formerly Jantri Resources Inc.) exercised its option to acquire a 100 per cent interest in Gold City Industries Ltd.’s British Columbia assets, pursuant to an option agreement dated September 15, 2004.
In 2004, Gold City Industries Ltd. expanded the soil grids over the Picture Rock and Lone Boulder Hill areas. Multiple zones of anomalous gold with a max grade of 426 parts per billion were observed (Banas, A., Dufresne, M. (2013-11-25): Technical Report for the Greenwood Gold Project).
In 2005, Merit conducted an exploration program just west of the Midway Mine including trenching, prospecting, and sampling. One chip sample from trench MTR05-1 graded 1.3 grams per tonne gold (Banas, A., Dufresne, M. (2013-11-25): Technical Report for the Greenwood Gold Project).
In 2009, Grizzly Discoveries Inc. conducted an airborne EM and magnetic survey. The results showed a number of conductors and weak electromagnetic anomalies associated with the Midway Window and areas underlain by Eocene volcanic and sedimentary rocks.
In 2011, Infinity Minerals Corp. conducted a sampling program and detailed geochemical survey to confirm and extend historically identified mineralized zones. Mineralization at the Midway Mine and Picture Rock Quarry was confirmed. The mineralized zones were extended to areas where little previous work has been conducted to the east of the occurrences. Skarn mineralization in the southwest of the Rainbow property gave significant gold and copper values.
