The New Jerusalem occurrence is located at approximately 1020 metres elevation, south of Cedar Creek and approximately 2.2 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 main vein of the New Jerusalem is in a fine-grained hornblende schist of the Permian to Triassic Kaslo Group. It has a well-developed foliation dipping 20 to 25 degrees west. A lenticular quartz vein, which strikes 290 to 300 degrees and dips 75 degrees to the south, contains galena, sphalerite, minor chalcopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite. The vein is up to 1 metre thick with lenses and clusters of medium- to coarse-grained sulphides 15 to 20 centimetres thick. Vugs and comb structures are common. The vein is exposed on surface for approximately 100 metres and has been mined for half this length. Where exposed in the drift approximately 30 metres below surface, it is only 30 centimetres or so thick and poorly mineralized.
Work History
The original work on the New Jerusalem was done before 1900. This included surface stripping and underground stoping and an adit crosscut. In 1891, the claim was Crown granted. In 1895, 27 metres of underground development was completed. By 1898, a total of approximately 549 metres of tunnelling had been completed to a depth of approximately 152 metres. A raise from the crosscut to the surface workings was driven in 1937 and 1938.
Ore was mined from the raise in 1951 and 1952. Ore production is recorded for 1907 (17 tonnes) and 1952 (223 tonnes) totalling 240 tonnes. From this, 22 426 grams of silver, 249 grams of gold, 38 kilograms of cadmium, 16 226 kilograms of lead and 5674 kilograms of zinc were recovered.
In 1982 and 1983, Golden Knight Resources Inc. conducted programs of underground and surface geological mapping, rock sampling and ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys on the area immediately southwest as the Tiger and Lily (MINFILE 082FNE022) claims.
In 1985, Locke Goldsmith conducted a program of prospecting and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the New Jerusalem, Tiger and Lily claims. A chip sample from a pillar exposed at surface yielded 6.25 per cent lead, 1.70 per cent zinc and 53.5 grams per tonne silver over 1.0 metre (Assessment Report 14038).
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. In 2008, a mineralized quartz veined float sample (2740529) from the Cedar Creek canyon yielded 0.40 gram per tonne gold and 9.1 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 29641).
In 2012, David Wallach prospected and rock sampled the area as the Ainsworth property. 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 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.
