The Crown occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 1360 metres, near a south-flowing tributary of Cedar Creek and approximately 4 kilometres northwest of Ainsworth.

Regionally, the area is underlain by hornblende schists, limestone and banded quartzite of the Upper Mississippian to Permian Milford Formation and basaltic volcanic rocks of the Carboniferous to Permian Kaslo Group. Granodioritic intrusive rocks of the Middle Jurassic Nelson Batholith are exposed to the west.

The occurrence is located at the contact of grey and white limestone with dark-grey to black limey argillite. The area is mapped as rock of the Mississippian to Permian Milford Formation. The property was developed by two adits and a number of opencuts.

The No. 1 adit follows closely spaced branching faults that strike northwest and dip steeply southwest. Locally they carry white quartz and pyrite. The No. 2 adit follows the contact of argillite and limestone. Gossanous rock is exposed in the adit and trenches to the north. This gossan contains a few narrow calcite-siderite veins and locally minor pyrite, galena and sphalerite. The workings from which gossanous rock were collected are located 100 metres south of adit No. 2 (Bulletin 53).

In 4 years from 1962 to 1972, 139 tonnes of ore were shipped from the Crown property. From this ore, 158 377 grams of silver, 4477 kilograms of lead and 5961 kilograms of zinc were recovered.

Work History

The property was developed by two adits and a number of opencuts, likely dating to the late 1800s and/or early 1900s. In 1912, approximately 45 metres of underground development was reported.

In 1956, Highland-Bell Ltd. conducted a program of geological mapping on the area as the Big Bluff, Fred, Mar and Nick groups of claims.

In 1979, the area was held and explored by Ainsworth Resources Ltd. A dump sample from the adit portal is reported to have yielded 13.10 per cent lead, 8.56 per cent zinc and 247.3 grams per tonne silver (Property File – Ainsworth Resources Ltd. (1980-02-07): Prospectus: Ainsworth Resources Ltd.).

In 1996, a program of prospecting and geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling was conducted by George Addie on the area as the Silver Hoard property.

During 2007 through 2011, Goldcliff Resource Corp. completed programs of prospecting, geological mapping, geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling and an airborne geophysical survey on the regionally extensive Ainsworth Silver property.

During 2012 through 2014, David Wallach prospected and rock sampled the area as the Ainsworth property. In 2014, three rock samples (1444302 to 1444304), taken a short distance west of an adit and approximately 400 metres to the southeast of the Crown adits, yielded from 0.63 to greater than 1.00 per cent zinc, 0.06 to greater than 1.00 per cent lead and 20 to 274 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 35075).

In 2015, Goldcliff Resource Corp. conducted a program of prospecting, geological mapping, geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling and a 4.1 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey on the area as part of the Ainsworth Silver property. In 2016, David Wallach conducted a soil sampling program on the area as a part of the Ainsworth property. In 2019, Lee Lorenzen conducted a soil sampling program on the area as the Ainsworth Crown property.

In 2020 and 2021, Goldcliff Resource Corp. conducted a further program of geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling and a 508.0 line-kilometre airborne magnetic, electromagnetic and radiometric survey on the Ainsworth Silver property. In 2023, a 92.0 line-kilometre airborne magnetic survey was conducted on the area by Shane Smith.