The Inyo-Ackworth past producer is located at about 1173 metres elevation on the eastern slopes of Cranberry Ridge, 3.75 kilometres northwest of Beaverdell, British Columbia.
The Inyo-Ackworth property originally consisted of Inyo, Inyo Fraction, Ackworth and Annex claims in 1916, owned by C.H. Kinzett, F.O. Evans and associates. In 1917, the claims were leased to Hennessey and Thadich and ore was shipped. No further work is recorded until 1924, when Dollar Mining Co. Ltd. optioned the property. Extensive new development work was conducted with one adit intersecting an extension of the vein. An ore shipment was reported made to the Trail smelter in 1925. Prairie Mining Co. Ltd. leased the property in 1926 but no work was reported. Inyo-Ackworth Mines Ltd. made an ore shipment in 1927. Braemar Mining Co. Ltd. acquired the property in 1930. Development work was carried out in 1930, 1931 and 1935. Braemar Mining Co. Ltd. lapsed in 1937. Boundary Exploration Ltd. staked ground covering the Inyo-Ackworth occurrence. Exploration work included trenching, reopening old adit and three diamond-drill holes. Since 1979 the property has been owned and explored by M. Morrison.
Locally, the Inyo occurrence is hosted by granodiorite of the Jurassic Westkettle batholith. The granodiorite is generally massive and fresh but is increasingly saussuritized near the shear zone hosting the Inyo occurrence.
The geology of Cranberry Ridge, immediately west of Beaverdell, is similar to that underlying Mount Wallace to the west. Granodiorite of the Westkettle batholith, grading to quartz diorite and diorite, underlies most of Cranberry Ridge. To the immediate north, the Westkettle batholith has intruded Permian Wallace Formation metavolcanics and metasediments, now present as roof pendants. Younger Eocene intrusions and dikes have intruded both Westkettle granodiorite and Wallace Formation rocks.
The granodiorite is cut by a strong shear zone that has been exposed by surface and underground workings at the Inyo occurrence. The average width of the shear zone is 2 metres and is well defined by a rusty fault gouge, vuggy quartz and manganese staining. The shear zone strikes 080 degrees and is exposed over 300 metres in the old workings. A vuggy quartz-calcite vein, 5 to 15 centimetres wide, carries pyrite, galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite and native silver mineralization. Strong sericitic alteration and kaolin are also associated with mineralization. There is some indication that high silver values are associated with galena near surface and gold values are associated with sphalerite at depth (Assessment Report 20922).
Several samples were taken in 1925. A sample of sorted lead ore from the main shaft yielded 3.43 grams per tonne gold, 274.28 grams per tonne silver, and 22 per cent lead (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1925, page 199). Another sample of sorted ore from a 21-metre open-cut yielded 17.14 grams per tonne gold, 274.28 grams per tonne silver, 4 per cent lead and 20 per cent zinc (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1925, page 199). Resampling of the old workings in 1979 yielded the following results: sample W5 from the lower dump adit yielded 4.11 grams per tonne gold and 78.17 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 7358); sample W7, from the upper opencut, yielded 0.72 gram per tonne gold and 10.78 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 7358).
Recorded production from the Inyo-Ackworth occurrence included 13 tonnes in 1918 and 1927. From this ore, 3639 grams of silver, 62 grams of gold, 1158 kilograms of lead and 1171 kilograms of zinc were recovered. Another 12.7 tonnes was reported shipped to the Trail smelter in 1925 (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1925, page 199).
In 1997, St. Elias Mines Ltd., drilled 9 holes totalling 590 metres on the Cranberry Ridge property. Earlier trench samples assayed up to 93.2 grams per tonne gold, 428 grams per tonne silver and 2.2 per cent copper (Exploration in BC 1997, page 49). Also in 1997 a selected grab sample from the workings assayed 2.36 grams per tonne gold and 113 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 34306).
During 2007 through 2009, Intigold Gold Mines Ltd. completed programs of rock and soil sampling and am airborne geophysical survey on the area as the Beaverdell property. In 2007 a ten centimetre wide chip sample was taken over a five centimetre wide galena vein from the workings and assayed 7.46 grams per tonne gold and greater than 200 ounces per tonne silver (Assessment Report 34306).
In 2014 a prospecting trip was made and GPS locations were obtained for the Inyo-Ackworth shaft, upper adit and lower adit.
