The Sailor occurrence is located at 1336 metres elevation on the southeastern slopes of Baldy Mountain, 600 metres southwest of the Cariboo-Amelia occurrence (082ESW020). The occurrence is part of the historic Camp McKinney, located 9 kilometres north-northwest of Bridesville, British Columbia.
The Sailor occurrence is located on the Sailor (Lot 766) and Sailor Fraction (Lot 2523) of the former Sailor Claim Group held by Sailor Consolidated Mining and Milling Co. (circa 1901). At this time the claim group consisted of the Minnie-Ha-Ha (Lot 680), Cariboo Fraction, Golden Crown Fraction (Lot 924), Sailor (Lot 766), Rover Fraction (Lot 769), Alice Fraction, Bellevue (Lot 1268), Bellevue Fraction (Lot 1652), Snowshoe (Lot 1269), Diamond (Lot 1455) and Toledo (Lot 1270) claims, most of which were Crown granted.
The Sailor occurrence lies in a complex sequence of volcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Carboniferous to Permian Anarchist Group. To the north are Cretaceous granitic and granodioritic rocks of the Okanagan batholith. Middle Jurassic granitic rocks of the Nelson intrusions occur to the southwest. Eocene Penticton Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks overlie locally sheared amphibolite and serpentinite bodies of the Anarchist Group to the east. For a more detailed description of the regional geology of the McKinney camp refer to the Cariboo-Amelia occurrence (082ESW020).
Development of the Sailor was via a 53-metre shaft with levels at 23, 30, and 46 metres, respectively. The shaft, sunk in 1899, is located on flat ground and is now caved. On the Sailor Fraction, development is through a shaft about 4.5 metres deep. It is also inaccessible.
Mineralization on the Sailor and Sailor fraction is hosted in quartz veins up to 1 metre wide with accessory calcite in veinlets and chloritic partings. Quartz-carbonate, sericite and chlorite alteration are closely associated with these veins. Galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and native gold comprise vein mineralogy and occur as fine grained disseminations comprising less than 1 per cent of the veins. Traces of arsenopyrite are reported associated with quartz-carbonate alteration surrounding the veins. Most quartz specimens with high grade gold and silver contain 1 to 2 per cent galena and sphalerite, and 2 to 5 per cent pyrite. Native gold occurs as fine specks in quartz (Assessment Report 17815). In the Sailor dump, there are considerable quantities of carbonate altered rock bearing mariposite and possibly annabergite. This contains anomalous quantities of nickel and chromium (Assessment Report 17815).
At the Sailor shaft, mineralization is confined to a 1 to 2 metre wide quartz vein which strikes 045 degrees. The wall rock consists of greenstone heavily altered to ankeritic carbonate, bright green chlorite and quartzite. On the lower level the vein is reportedly very broken up. Material taken from the dump indicates that minerals present consist of galena, sphalerite, pyrite some of which is shattered and veined with quartz, and rarely chalcopyrite. Grab sample 42974, taken during prospecting in 1987, of galena-bearing quartz from the Sailor dump assayed 15.10 grams per tonne gold and 34.0 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 15519). Sampling in 1988 yielded similar values. Sample CM8807 yielded 2.49 grams per tonne gold, 19.7 grams per tonne silver, 0.95 per cent lead and 0.16 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 17815).
On the Sailor Fraction, just north of the Sailor corner post and west of the Sailor shaft, a quartz mass 2.1 by 1.5 metres trends east. Here, sparse pyrite and rare chalcopyrite are the only mineralization indicated in dump samples. Flat lying faults have displaced the lower segment of the vein to the south. West of this massive quartz vein on a small creek, another vein is reported. It is about 21 metres in length, strikes 110 degrees and dips near vertical. The vein is up to 1.5 metres wide and consists of white-coarsely crystalline to bluish quartz containing pyrite and sparse chalcopyrite, near its eastern end. A sample of this material from a dump yielded 2.05 grams per tonne gold and 13.7 grams per tonne silver (Bulletin 6, page 18). A dump sample, taken during an exploration program by the Gold Hill Syndicate in 1986, from the best mineralized quartz yielded 8.9 grams per tonne gold and 27.4 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 16168).
A series of surface strippings, opencuts and trenches extend from the Sailor shaft for 61 metres along a strike of 112 degrees and then an additional 15 metres along a strike of 135 degrees. The vein is hosted in greenstone and varies from 1.2 to 1.8 metres wide along the northwestern section and 0.3 to 0.9 metres wide along the southeastern section.
