The approximate centre of the Fontenoy Crown Grant is located at 1265 metres elevation on the southern slopes of Baldy Mountain. The occurrence is part of the historic Camp McKinney, located 9 kilometres north-northwest of Bridesville, British Columbia.
The Fontenoy group originally consisted of the following Crown and Reverted Crown-granted claims: Fontenoy (Lot 752), Vernon (Lot 759), Last Chance (Lot 751) and later included the Knight Rambler (Lot 3015) and Islander (Lot 1090).
The Fontenoy occurrence was first discovered in 1893. At this time a 24.4-metre inclined shaft was developed which intersected the Fontenoy vein in 1895. The vein had a strike of 315 degrees and a dip of 45 to 55 degrees to the northeast, different from the Cariboo/McKinney vein and other veins in the McKinney camp. Surface trenching also uncovered the Fontenoy vein. By 1899, two shafts were developed; the No. 1, 36.6 metres deep with 54.9 metres of drifting and the No. 2, 19.8 metres deep with 5.5 metres of drifting. Free gold was reported associated with vein quartz (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1899, page 603). The vein was abandoned and then in 1929 dewatered but no further work was reported. In 1933, the property was amalgamated with the Cariboo-Amelia (082ESW020) by Cariboo-McKinney Gold Mines. No further work was reported until 1987. In 1987, Bravo Resources Inc. carried out an exploration program consisting of electromagnetic and magnetometer geophysical surveys and a soil geochemical survey. Numerous pits, trenches and shafts were encountered during their exploration program.
The Camp McKinney area is underlain by a complex interlayered succession of metamorphosed sediments and volcanics of the Carboniferous to Permian Anarchist Group. The group consists mainly of metabasalt and andesite flows and tuffs, greenstone (locally calcareous), minor marble, altered and argillaceous quartzite (locally micaceous), greywacke, limestone and locally micaceous quartzite and calcareous and biotite schist.
Granite and granodiorite of the Middle Jurassic Nelson intrusions have intruded the Anarchist Group to the west and south as small stocks and plugs. Along the contacts of these intrusions the Anarchist rocks have been deformed and hydrothermally altered. Younger dikes of felsic and mafic composition intrude both stratified and granitic rocks and may have been associated with faults related to these granitic intrusions. Intense deformation and hydrothermal alteration comprising silicification and carbonatization is evident in the hostrocks. To the north are Cretaceous granites and granodiorites of the Okanagan batholith. Eocene Penticton Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks overlie locally sheared amphibolite and serpentinite bodies of the Anarchist Group to the east.
Complexly folded and faulted metasediments and metavolcanics have a regional northwest strike with moderate to steep northeast dips. Surface mapping has outlined a northwest plunging recumbent synform. The limbs dip moderately to steeply to the northeast. The major regional structural feature in the vicinity of the Fontenoy occurrence is a northeast trending fault zone 5 kilometres to the east. The fault follows Conkle Creek, Conkle Lake and Jolly Creek. Faulting in the Cariboo-Amelia (082ESW020) mine area is postmineral and widespread. Major east dipping, low angle thrust faults in the central portion of the mine have displaced the hangingwall to the northwest by about 122 metres. An east-dipping fault has also moved the hangingwall south by about 91 metres. The complexly faulted and folded rocks are predominantly north.
The primary hostrock of the Fontenoy vein is siliceous argillite of the Anarchist Group, striking northwest and dipping northeast. Several intercalated silicified greenstone beds are locally hosted in argillite. To the east of the occurrence, a major north-trending fault is expressed by a deep gully.
Mineralization is confined to a northwest striking quartz vein dipping 45 to 55 degrees northeast. The 1.5-metre vein is confined to a shear zone within the argillaceous quartzite and greenstone. Minerals within the vein include: sphalerite, galena, massive pyrite, and gold. Dump samples of the wallrock have been reported to contain graphitic slickensides, pyritization and some alteration.
Past production from the Fontenoy occurrence is uncertain and production records could have been combined with production from the Cariboo-Amelia occurrence (082ESW020).
