The Society Girl occurrence is located on a ridge separating Farrell and Glencairn creeks, approximately 2.0 kilometres east of Moyie Lake.
The area is underlain by quartzites and argillites of the Helikian Middle Aldridge Formation (Purcell Supergroup) and is contained within an east-west fracture zone, dipping 70 degrees south, which strikes across the axial plane of a large regional northeast plunging anticline. The Society Girl occurs at or near the boundary (on the east) with Creston formation quartzite, argillite and siltstone.
Locally, the northwest-striking vein occurrence is hosted by Helikian Middle and Upper Aldridge formations (Purcell Supergroup) argillites and quartzites. Aldridge strata strikes north and dips approximately 25 degrees east. The vein traverses the eastern limb of a northeast plunging anticlinal structure and is closely associated with the St. Eugene (082GSW025), Aurora (082GSW023), and Guindon (082GSW027) occurrences to the west.
The main vein is from 2 to 5 centimetres wide, strikes 300 degrees and dips 60 degrees south. The vein tends to be narrow within thin-bedded, argillaceous quartzites and widens in thicker, more massive quartzites. The vein is highly oxidized to a depth of approximately 10 to 15 metres from the surface and the oxidized ore is composed of massive and well-crystallized cerussite and pyromorphite embedded in a matrix of clays and limonite. Minor traces of malachite and azurite were recorded. Below the oxidized zone the vein consists of galena and sphalerite with little or no quartz gangue.
The vein appears to be controlled by an older fault/fracture system and mineralization is restricted to the vein and within a few decimetres of the vein along cross fractures. Some small scale folding near the vein is recorded but as at the St. Eugene mine no major offset has been documented. The oxidized zone is a rare occurrence in the East Kootenays.
In 2007, diamond drilling yielded significant intercepts of (Assessment Report 29290):
_________________________________________________________________Drillhole No. From To Length Silver Lead Zinc (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (%) (%) SG-06-1 165.00 165.50 0.50 8.0 1.32 0.42 SG-06-2 181.45 182.50 1.05 55.5 5.99 18.60 _________________________________________________________________ |
Work History
During 1900 through 1922, the Society Girl vein structure was developed by two adits and a small open cut at the surface. Historical records indicate that approximately 1450 tonnes of ore were mined, averaging 23 per cent lead, 0.6 per cent zinc, and 205 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 29290). Nine kilograms of ore from this deposit were sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1900.
During 1948 through 1952, an additional approximately 2200 tonnes of ore was mined by underhand mining below the earlier stoping (Assessment Report 34440). No assays of this material were reported.
Production from 1900 to 1952 totalled 2984 tonnes resulting in 432,052 grams of silver, 499,655 kilograms of lead, and 23,914 kilograms of zinc (BC METAL MM00542).
In 1947, Saint Eugene Mining completed a program of geological mapping and a 10-line-kilometre ground magnetic survey on the area as the Moyie property. In 1990, Cominco completed a 16.5-line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey on the area. The following year a soil sampling program was completed on the area immediately south as the Cherry claims. In 2006 and 2007, Saint Eugene Mining completed 697 line-kilometres of airborne combined magnetic and electromagnetic surveys and 17 diamond drill holes, totalling 3774.1 metres, were completed to test the Society Girl structure at depth. In 2011 and 2013, Kootenay Silver completed programs of geological mapping, rock sampling, a 500-line-kilometre airborne magnetic survey and a 500-line-kilometre seismic survey on the area as the Silver Fox property.
In 2013, Trenaman Mining Services released a preliminary mineral resource estimate of 164,900 tonnes yielding 5.65 per cent combined lead-zinc within five discrete resource blocks. Within these blocks three higher grade cores are estimated to total 60,000 tonnes averaging 12 to 15 per cent combined lead-zinc (Assessment Report 34440). Four samples were collected on the ridge southeast of Society Girl on the Silver Fox property of Kootenay Silver Inc (Assessment Report 34695).
In 2018, a program consisting of geological mapping/prospecting and pXRF soil sampling was completed along the basal member of the Middle Creston Formation for approximately 17 kilometres from Barkshanty Creek south to the headwaters of Tepee Creek (Assessment Report 38925). The Silver Fox claim group of Kootenay Silver Inc. covered the area from Moyie Lake southeast to the U.S. border, some 30 kilometres. The Barkshanty geological work area covered Society Girl (082GSW030) and Golden Burp (082GSW085) with St. Eugene (082GSW025) and North Zone (082GSW086) being a little further west though part of the Silver Fox property. New copper mineralization was documented in various localities of the “Barkshanty” map area, and two holes were drilled on the property just over 3 kilometres east-southeast of the village of Moyie. The first hole was abandoned at 135 meters due to a rig breakdown. A second shallower hole was drilled from the same location and ended at 500 meters depth. The purpose of the program was to test the basal member of the Middle Creston Formation for stratabound copper-silver mineralization.
In 2021, Kootenay Resources Inc. contracted Salt Spring Imaging, Ltd. to record and analyse magnetotelluric data on the Moyie anticline (Assessment Report 40348).
Refer to Golden Burp (082GSW085) for related geological and work history details.
