The Bend North Road Zone is located at an elevation of approximately 1060 metres on a southwest-facing slope overlooking Columbia Reach on the east side of Kinbasket Lake, approximately 3.1 kilometres northwest of the mouth of Cummins River. The Bend 1 Canyon Zone occurrence (MINFILE083D 001) is located approximately 2.85 kilometres to the southeast.

Regionally, a sequence of quartzites, carbonates and pelites from the Hadrynian Miette Group through the Lower Cambrian Gog Group through to the Middle Cambrian Chancellor Group make up the rocks of the Southern Park Ranges in this area. For a more comprehensive description of the regional geology refer to the Bend 1 Canyon Zone prospect (MINFILE 083D 001).

The Bend North Road Zone is one of several stratiform exhalative massive sulphide showings occurring along a west-northwest–trending zone, almost 330 metres long and approximately 60 metres wide. Stratiform mineralization at the Bend North Road Zone consists of a lower zone, and an upper zone on a west-facing dip slope. Both zones occur in the Tsar Creek Formation of the Middle Cambrian Chancellor Group. Many layers are tightly folded with axial planes striking southeast and dipping steeply southwest.

At the upper zone mineralization is composed of fine-grained sphalerite, galena, pyrite and pyrrhotite in manganiferous chocolate-weathering dolomite. Massive chlorite is developed at the base and massive sulphide blebs are associated with silicification in tension cracks. Surface exposure outlines a tabular body 300 by 150 by 2 metres. This mineralization may be correlative with that of the Bend 1 Canyon Zone.

The lower zone mineralization consists of disseminated sphalerite, galena, pyrite and pyrrhotite in silicified manganiferous dolomite, 6 metres thick. Mineralization is overlain by a garnet mica schist and underlain by a thin silicified quartzite.

In 1981, material sampled from the upper zone averaged 3 per cent zinc and 1 per cent lead, whereas sampled rock from the lower zone yielded an average grade of 6 per cent zinc, 2 per cent lead and 27 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 9994).

In 1985, two holes, totalling 211.85 metres, were drilled immediately southwest of the Bend North Road Zone. Drillhole MGM-1 intersected quartzite with occasional high silica intervals with secondary interstitial carbonate and infrequent thin chocolate brown dolomitic horizons. The hole was essentially barren except for trace amounts of galena in fracture fillings. A sample taken at 35.08 metres assayed 0.27 gram per tonne gold, 2.0 grams per tonne silver and 0.15 per cent zinc over 0.05 metre (Assessment Report 15251). Drillhole MGM-2 intersected predominantly garnet muscovite pelite, increasing in coarseness and staurolite content with depth. Trace amounts of galena were noted in a white quartzite layer and within a dolomitic breccia (Assessment Report 15251).

In 1991, sampling of 5- to 25-centimetre wide, bedding-parallel bands of massive pyrite with minor galena and sphalerite from historical trench 3 yielded up to 0.55 per cent zinc, 0.12 per cent lead and 2.4 grams per tonne silver, whereas a sample of galena and sphalerite occurring mainly as lenses and laminations associated with minor narrow quartz veinlets in historical trench 1 yielded 0.61 per cent zinc, 0.20 per cent lead and 7 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 22064).

In 1992, a drillhole (TK-92-06), located to the east of Three Mile Creek and approximately 1.3 kilometres east-southeast of the plotted location of the occurrence, tested the strike extension and continuity of the occurrence to the nearby Bend Canyon Zone (MINFILE 083D 001) and yielded 3.13 per cent zinc, 1.14 per cent lead and 26.7 grams per tonne silver over 0.54 metre (193.16 to 193.70 metres downhole) from a mineralized band of massive pyrrhotite-pyrite and minor sphalerite-galena associated with a 30-centimetre wide quartz band (Assessment Report 22637). Also at this time, a sample (81708) from a 15-centimetre wide, fine-grained, sphalerite-pyrrhotite band at the dolomite-siliceous schist contact exposed in a new trench in the main occurrence area yielded 7.06 per cent zinc, 2.39 per cent lead and 23.2 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 22637).

In 2016, drillhole CMR16-01, located several hundred metres northwest of the plotted location of the occurrence, yielded 1.41 per cent zinc over 0.3 metre (59.8 to 60.1 metres downhole) and 2.16 per cent zinc, 0.30 per cent lead with 3.8 grams per tonne silver over 0.2 metre (372.7 to 372.9 metres downhole; Assessment Report 36408).

In 2023, two rock samples (Bend-01 and -02) from the main zone yielded 4.31 and 6.95 per cent zinc, 0.67 and 0.32 per cent lead with 14.0 and 19.1 grams per tonne silver, respectively (Assessment Report 41481).

Work History

The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Bend 1 Canyon Zone (MINFILE 083D 001) occurrence and a complete exploration history can be found there.