The Oxide occurrence is located on the divide between Oscar and Porcupine creeks. The main showings outcrop at the 1555-metre elevation just to the west of the north-south striking "Oxide Pass", about 1.2 kilometres east of the summit of Jubilee Mountain and 5.5 kilometres east southeast of Ymir.
The area is underlain by black argillite, slate and quartzite of the Lower(?) to Middle Ordovician Active Formation and Lower Cambrian quartzite, schist, argillite, slate and limestone. The Oxide fault separates Lower Cambrian metasediments on the west from Ordovician sediments to the east.
Mineralization is hosted by the Oxide fault which strikes 010 degrees with a dip of 75 to 80 degrees east. East of the fault are black argillites and limestones and on the west side are white and micaceous quartzites. The fault, marked by a wide zone of crushed and sheared rock, contains a muddy clay-like gouge about 45 centimetres thick.
The mineralized zone at the Oxide adit is highly oxidized and is exposed along strike for 458 metres. The width is variable but may be up to 9 metres wide. Drilling and underground development indicate the oxidized zone extends more than 180 metres in depth. The limonitic gossan contains hemimorphite and parahopeite as the major zinc minerals and a few nodules of galena and pyromorphite as the major lead minerals. Manganese, up to 23 per cent, and minor pyritic quartz, with low gold assays, is present locally.
The highest assay from samples taken in the adit in 1948 was 0.34 gram per tonne gold, 3.4 grams per tonne silver, 1.4 per cent lead and 15.7 per cent zinc (Bulletin 41).
The International adit, to the south, intersects a similar zone, up to 7.3 metres wide, which hosts lead and zinc in oxidized material.
Development work was done from two adits on the north side of Porcupine Creek at elevations of 1204 and 1356 metres.
Early work on the showings was done in two short adits; one located about 152 metres below the crest of the pass was driven 18 metres; details of this early work are lacking. The showings were rediscovered in 1943 by Ed. Haukedahl, of Ymir, and held for a number of years in association with A. Bremner and A. Phare, also of Ymir.
Leta Explorations Limited held an option on the property in 1944 and carried out about 183 metres of diamond drilling in 2 holes. International Mining Corporation (Canada) Limited, a subsidiary of International Mining Corporation acquired an option on the property in 1945. Considerable trenching was done on the Porcupine creek side of the pass and diamond drilling on one hole cut the oxidized zone 152 metres below the crest of the pass. Late in 1946 work began in extending the old 18-metre adit at a 1356-metre elevation. Part of the drift had to be abandoned due to swelling ground and from a point 47 metres from the portal drifting was continued about 9 metres in the foot-wall. By September 1947, when the option was terminated, the adit had been driven north 10 degrees east for 196 metres from the portal. Three crosscuts were driven to investigate the zone, one at 41 metres from the portal, one at 122 metres from the portal, and one at the face, 196 metres from the portal. The crosscut at the face was extended west for 23 metres and a hole was drilled down at minus 54 degrees, a distance of 115 metres, to pass through the zone which appeared to be about 5 metres wide. The company reported a total of 294 metres of drifting and crosscutting. At that horizon, about 152 metres below the pass, the zone still comprised oxidized material of sub-ore grade. In the early part of 1948 the owners drive a 24-metre adit just below the crest of the ridge on the north side of "Oxide Pass" to cut the oxide zone at an angle of about 30 degrees.
New Jersey Zinc Explorations Limited optioned the property in mid 1948, and subsequently purchased. Considerable exploratory drilling was done in the latter part of the year in an attempt to locate an unoxidized part of the zone. In 1950 a new adit ("0 x 4") was begun at the 1204-metre elevation, 152 metres below and 344 metres south 15 degrees east of the "International adit". At 122 metres from the portal running silt was encountered and work ceased. In 1952 a branch adit was begun at 89 metres from the portal and driven north for 30 metres to about 9 metres east of the caved heading. When work ceased in January 1954 the adit had been extended to a length of 266 metres.
In 1954 New Jersey Zinc Explorations Limited surrendered its charter and the property was transferred to New Jersey Zinc Exploration Company (Canada) Ltd. In 1962 the company carried out 204 metres of diamond drilling in 2 holes; an additional 140 metres in 2 holes was drilled in 1965.
The Oxide claim (15 units) was owned in 1976 by Jack Butla of Trail. A geochemical soil survey (195 samples) was carried out during the year.
Cominco Ltd. conducted geological mapping and geochemical sampling on the Oxide property in 1998. Indo Metals Ltd. acquired the property from Cominco Ltd. in 1999.
In 2000, a trenching program on the 47 claim Oxide Property was carried out under contract by Redhawk Resources Inc. for ZincOx Resources plc who held the property in 2000 under terms of a multi-level option agreement. The trenches were dug along strike of the known high-grade zinc oxide prospects on the fault. The zinc oxide mineralization found in the course of this trenching program was largely in smaller low-grade zones.
Trenches OP-2000-06 and OP-2000-01 were excavated 40 metres and 60 metres to the south and uphill, respectively, of Cominco Trench #1. Trench OP-2000-06 exposed a 15 metre wide zone of red rusty gossan, the central section of this gossan returned 5.32 per cent zinc across 7.3 metres. Trench OP-2000-01 exposed a 8.2 metre wide zone of similar material which returned 1.5 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 26475).
