The Dayton occurrence is located on the former Dayton Fraction (Lot 1953) Crown grant. The occurrence is on the eastern slopes of Rice Creek, 3.5 kilometres northeast of the confluence of Rice Creek with McKinney Creek. Bridesville, British Columbia lies 5.5 kilometres to the southwest.
The oldest rocks in the vicinity of the Dayton occurrence belong to the Carboniferous to Permian Kobau and Anarchist groups. Amphibolite, greenstone, quartzite, chert, chlorite schist and minor marble comprise the Kobau Group and amphibolite, greenstone, quartz chlorite schist, quartz biotite schist and minor serpentinized peridotite comprise lithologies of the Anarchist Group. Eocene Penticton Group lithologies outcrop to the east while Middle Jurassic Nelson porphyritic granite, granodiorite and monzonite intrusions are found to the immediate north. Smaller plugs, dikes and sills of biotite granodiorite, quartz diorite and granite of Middle Jurassic to Cretaceous age intrude the Anarchist Group rocks. Greenschist regional metamorphism is common in Anarchist Group rocks. Contact metasomatism is also locally observed along the contact between Anarchist Group rocks and Middle Jurassic intrusions.
The Dayton occurrence is situated in greenstone metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Anarchist Group. To the north are Middle Jurassic and Cretaceous granites and granodiorites. Nelson granites occur to the southwest. Penticton Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks overlie locally sheared amphibolite and serpentinite bodies of the Anarchist Group to the immediate east. The northeast trending Rock Creek fault zone lies to the north. Minor east trending faulting has also occurred. Tight folds occur in Anarchist Group rocks along major faults. Mylonitic fabrics and lesser breccia are observed adjacent to predominant faults.
Mineralization at the Dayton occurrence consists of: (1) gold- bearing quartz veins hosted in shears associated with a rhyolite dike and (2) gold-copper skarn. The 0.9 to 1.2 metre wide shear zone has a variable strike and dip, and contains considerable amounts of ankerite. Abundant pyrite is disseminated throughout the greenstone in the vicinity. The rhyolite dike strikes north-northwest and is largely composed of oxidized iron sulphides. Mineralization includes pyrite, galena, sphalerite, native gold and chalcopyrite. The dike material is shattered, highly altered and is cut by a fault. The fault strikes southeast and is probably dipping southwest. The total displacement of the fault is unknown. Iron oxide within the dike is reportedly banded, 61 to 91.0 centimetres wide and high in native gold.
Mineral exploration in the area surrounding the Dayton occurrence began near the turn of the century. The Rock Creek Placer (082ESW026) occurrence was first discovered in 1850. Eight tonnes of hand-sorted ore is reported mined from the Dayton occurrence in 1916. Recovery included 93 grams of silver, 684 grams of gold and 68 kilograms of copper (BC METAL MM00843). Development of this property consisted of a 14-metre shaft and a 3-metre crosscut. It is reported that ore was never found in the shaft and the mineralized dike was never intersected. Faulting has most likely offset the dike (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1901, page 1153). Work in the early 1990s was conducted by Crownex Resources. Currently the property is under exploration by Winslow Gold Corp. and Northwind Ventures Ltd.
Exploration by Crownex Resources in 1990 included 154 rock geochemistry samples and percussion drilling in five holes totalling 231 metres. Several rock samples yielded good gold values. Sample 90CM-509R yielded 4.58 grams per tonne gold from a grab of gouge in argillite (Assessment Report 22565). A second grab of propylitically altered diorite with chalcopyrite, pyrite and copper oxides yielded 1.03 grams per tonne gold. Several reverse circulation-drill holes identified gold skarn and gold-enriched shear zone targets. The best assay result from the percussion-drill holes was from drillhole DC-9. The 10-metre interval from 30 to 40 metres yielded 3.35 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 22565). The hole was collared near the old 30-metre deep Dayton Fraction shaft.
Winslow Gold Corp. and Northwind Ventures Ltd. began an exploration program on the property in 1993. Three of four drillholes from their initial drill program intersected significant sulphides over 18 metres thickness at or near the contact between altered intrusions and metasediment-metavolcanics. Drillhole 93-DCP-7 intersected elevated gold over 56.39 metres (Gold City Mining Corp., Phoenix Gold Resources Inc. and Orion International Minerals Corp. (1996): Geological/Mineral Deposit Field Trip Report). Drillhole 93-DC2-8 intersected a structurally controlled garnet-epidote skarn. The best intersection from this drillhole yielded 13.44 grams per tonne gold over the 1.5-metre interval from 36.6 to 38.1 metres (Gold City Mining Corp., Phoenix Gold Resources Inc. and Orion International Minerals Corp., (1996): Geological/Mineral Deposit Field Trip Report).
In 1996, three drillholes were drilled to test strong coincident induced polarization and soil anomalies along fault structures. Over a 100 metres thickness of pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite and minor chalcopyrite mineralization was intersected in calcsilicate and skarn horizons in drillholes 96-1 and 96-2. Drillhole 96-3 intersected mineralized feldspar-rich dacite, on surface, and propylitized andesite and mafic volcanics at depth. Drillhole 96-1 yielded 0.34 gram per tonne gold over the 98.45-metre interval from 3.96 to 102.41 metres (Gold City Mining Corp., Phoenix Gold Resources Inc. and Orion International Minerals Corp. (1996): Geological/ Mineral Deposit Field Trip Report).
During 2008 through 2012, Grizzly Discoveries Inc. completed programs of geochemical (rock, stream sediment and soil) sampling, airborne and ground geophysical surveys and 58 diamond drill holes, totalling 10363 metres, on the Dayton area of the Greenwood Property.
In 2010, holes 10DA01 to 10DA06, located on a combined soil and induced polarization anomaly, encountered widespread sulphide mineralization, primarily pyrite and chalcopyrite, accompanied by intense alteration and silicification in a variety of rock types including, diorite, quartz-feldspar porphyry, volcanic breccias, hornfels, basalts and mudstones. Drilling highlights include 0.18 gram per tonne gold and 0.029 per cent copper over 96.0 metres, including 0.61 gram per tonne gold and 0.042 per cent coper over 8.1 metres in hole 10DA01 (Dufresne, M. (2013-11-25): Technical Report for the Greenwood Gold Project).
In 2011, a drill hole (11DA09) tested a coincident gold-in-soil anomaly and the Dayton East induced polarization anomaly yielding 0.25 gram per tonne gold and 0.07 per cent copper 117 metres, including 0.43 gram per tonne gold and 0.15 per cent copper over 51.0 metres from a unit of potassic altered basalt with significant breccia zones comprised of basalt and feldspar porphyry clasts with chloritization, silicification and up to 5 per cent pyrite and minor chalcopyrite (Dufresne, M. (2013-11-25): Technical Report for the Greenwood Gold Project).
