The Ailsa occurrence is situated on the north side of Ailsa Lake, approximately 35 kilometres southwest of Kimberley.
Regionally, the area is underlain by siltstones, quartzites and phyllites of the Proterozoic Upper Aldridge and Lower Creston formations (Purcell Supergroup), intruded by a small quartz monzonite stock, possibly Cretaceous. The Lower Creston Formation consists mainly of laminated to thickly bedded argillites and siltites with minor fine-grained quartz wackes. The rocks are waxy green to olive in colour with tan-weathering surfaces, wavy bedding and abundant mudcracks. Rocks of the Upper Aldridge, underlying an area to the east of the Ailsa showing, consist of a relatively homogeneous unit with occasional thin interbeds of light grey quartzite and laminated light and dark grey argillaceous quartzite. The intrusive stock consists of medium- to fine-grained massive biotite monzogranite. The sediments adjacent to the intrusion have been altered to produce concentric zones of biotite hornfels and siliceous siltstone. Mineralization in the form of molybdenite, scheelite, stibnite and galena occurs in a narrow zone near the contact of the intrusion.
Quartz veining is common in the Ailsa Lake stock, with some veins greater than 30 centimetres wide. The quartz veins are often mineralized with galena, sphalerite, bismuth, arsenopyrite and molybdenite. Vein sets crosscut each other at perpendicular angles and trend 330 and 240 degrees, respectively, with vertical dips. Shears are weakly anomalous in gold.
During exploration in the 1980s, Cominco Limited found several minor molybdenite and scheelite occurrences in the area.
Work History
In July 1976, Chevron Canada conducted an airborne scintillometer survey over the area around Ailsa and Mayo lakes as part of their Purcell regional uranium exploration project. A total of 11 fiducial points were measured but did not return any anomalous results.
Sometime prior to 1980, Cominco Limited staked the Ailsa claims immediately over and to the west of Ailsa Lake. In 1980, Cominco conducted an exploration program of detailed geological mapping and prospecting and soil sampling along contour lines. In total, 263 samples were collected and analyzed for molybdenum and tungsten. A broad anomalous zone (greater than 10 parts per million molybdenum and greater than 20 parts per million tungsten) was detected in soils overlying the quartz monzonite intrusion.
In 1992, Firesteel Resources Incorporated staked an area to the east and north of the Ailsa showing, extending from the north side of Meachen Creek to the northern tip of Whiteboar Lake and covering the Whopper (MINFILE 082FNE176) showing. The area was initially identified during a Cominco mapping program in 1990. Exploration was focused on a Sullivan-type lead-zinc target. The following year, Firesteel Resources conducted a contour soil geochemical survey and identified three weak to moderate lead-zinc soil anomalies. In 1997, Cominco Ltd. conducted a minor program of soil sampling on the area immediately northeast as the Mayo property.
In 2005, Sean Kennedy staked the Whopper claims to the south of Meachen Creek to cover an area of promising soil geochemistry results over a Cretaceous granitic stock previously outlined by Cominco. Kootenay Gold Incorporated later optioned the property and had Kennedy complete various rock and soil geochemistry and geological mapping programs. Rock samples (MAL-11 to -15) of mineralized quartz veins from the occurrence area yielded from trace to 0.135 per cent molybdenum, trace to 0.18 per cent bismuth, 1.5 to 23.6 grams per tonne silver, and a sample (MAL-5) of sericite-altered granite hosting disseminated pyrite and galena in quartz vein, taken from near the western shore of the lake, assayed 47.7 grams per tonne silver and greater than 0.01 per cent tungsten (Assessment Report 28323).
The following year, Sean and Mike Kennedy conducted a brief prospecting and rock geochemistry program on the property. In total, 16 rock samples were collected from three main features in an area around Ailsa and Mayo lakes. The features included shear zones, quartz veins and alteration within the Ailsa Lake stock and metamorphosed sediments adjacent to the intrusion. Results of the program identified a strong silver-bismuth-tungsten anomaly that appeared to be closely related to the intrusive event.
In 2007, Sean Kennedy conducted a rock and soil sampling program over the Whopper showing (MINFILE 082FNE176) to the northeast and discovered an approximately 1-kilometre long north- trending zone of copper-bearing iron oxide breccia. A rock sample (WP-66) from an oxidized quartz vein hosting galena, taken approximately 1.5 kilometres to the north, assayed 0.88 per cent lead and 20.3 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 30057).
In 2008 and 2010, Kootenay Gold Inc. conducted minor programs of prospecting and rock sampling and the area as the Ailsa Lake and Slocanny Granny properties. Fjordland Exploration Incorporated optioned the property later that year. In 2008, a select grab sample (WP08-07) of mineralized quartz vein assayed greater than 0.20 per cent bismuth and 12.7 grams per tonne silver, and a 1-metre chip sample (WP08-14) from a greisen zone in a quartz monzonite yielded 0.327 per cent tungsten (Assessment Report 31038).
In 2011, Fjordland Exploration completed a program of soil sampling on the South Slocanny Granny property. In 2013, Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. conducted a program of geological mapping and geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling on the surrounding area as part of the Hall Lake property.
