The Beano occurrences are located in the northern headwaters of Bingo (Beano) Creek, at elevations of approximately 710 and 820 metres and approximately 2.3 kilometres northeast of the community of Zeballos.

Regionally, the area is underlain by Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group basaltic to rhyolitic volcanic rocks. Conformably underlying the Bonanza volcanic rocks are limestones and limy clastics of the Triassic to Lower Jurassic Parson Bay Formation (Bonanza and Vancouver groups) and Upper Triassic Quatsino Formation (Vancouver Group), and tholeiitic basalts of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation (Vancouver Group). Dioritic to granodioritic plutons of the Zeballos intrusion phase of the Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite have intruded all older rocks. The Zeballos stock, a quartz diorite phase of the Eocene to Oligocene Mount Washington Plutonic Suite, is spatially related to gold-quartz veining in the area. Bedded rocks are predominantly northwest striking, southwest dipping, and anticlinally folded about a northwest axis.

Locally, white dacite and andesite tuffs of the Bonanza Group are interbedded with a 10-metre-wide band of limestone near a small Eocene stock. The limestone has been actinolite-altered and contains pyrrhotite plus or minus chalcopyrite.

Three styles of mineralization are recognized: 1) zones of quartz-calcite-pyrrhotite stringers; 2) disseminated pyrrhotite and 3) lenses of massive pyrrhotite measuring to 0.3 by 1.2 metres, as en echelon replacement of limestone along fractures with associated actinolite and minor chalcopyrite. Native gold, up to 50 microns in size and averaging 20 microns, has been identified in polished sections, where it has replaced pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, and is associated with an un-identified white mineral (tetradymite?).

There are two sets of workings. The lower one, in the Bingo (Beano) Creek canyon at an elevation of 710 metres, has two short adits, ranging from 2.0 to 2.5 metres in length, and two small opencuts, exposing an area of 25 metres. The upper showing, above the creek canyon wall at elevation 800 metres, was explored by four opencuts. The mineralization has been traced over a strike length of 125 metres, a vertical range of approximately 80 metres and widths up to 7 metres. The mineralized zone is reported to pinch to the southeast and at depth.

In 1938, samples of massive pyrrhotite in the area have assayed up to 321.7 grams per tonne gold and 6.8 grams per tonne silver over narrow widths (Bulletin 27 p.138).

In 1939, grab samples taken across 5.1 metres of an opencut are reported to have averaged 62.6 grams per tonne gold, with a weighted average of all samples yielding 21.2 grams per tonne gold (Property File - H.G. Lynch [1939-04-27]: Letter Re: Preliminary Examination of the Beano property).

In 1941, channel samples (No.3) yielded up to 98.5 grams per tonne gold over 3.38 metres from opencut No. 1 (Property File - E. Crowe [1941-07-15]: Report on the Beano Group of Mining Claims).

In 1946, sampling of a lower opencut yielded 154.6 grams per tonne gold over 2.7 metres (Property File - E. Crowe [1941-07-15]: Report on the Beano Group of Mining Claims; W.A. Lammers [1946-07-04]: Report - Beano Group).

In 1972, samples are reported to have averaged 20.5 grams per tonne gold over 8.7 metres (Property File - J.D. Mason [1973-09-10]: New Taku Mines Ltd. - 1972 Annual Report). Other chip samples taken at this time yielded 148.8 grams per tonne gold over 1.8 metres (sample 1854) from the No. 1 opencut, 48.6 grams per tonne gold over 0.6 metre of massive pyrrhotite (sample 1862) from the north adit and 46.5 grams per tonne gold over 1.8 metres (sample 1863) from the north face of the south adit (Property File - New Taku Mines Ltd. [1972-08-22]: Sample Descriptions, Assays and Sketch Map - Beano).

In 1981, a chip sample (ZEB-4) from the No. 4 cut, located at an elevation of 796 metres, assayed 83.4 grams per tonne gold and 0.23 per cent copper, whereas a sample (ZEB-3) from an ore stockpile assayed 67.7 grams per tonne gold and 0.11 per cent copper (Assessment Report 9981).

In 1983, shallow diamond drilling near the No. 3 and 4 cuts yielded intercepts of 13.6 grams per tonne gold over 3.2 metres in hole DD3, 19.7 grams per tonne gold over 2.6 metres in hole DD4, 14.3 grams per tonne gold over 1.9 metres in hole DD5 and 21.7 grams per tonne gold over 1.0 metre in hole DD6 (Assessment Report 12573).

In 1989, chip sampling yielded up to 47.3 grams per tonne gold over 7.5 metres, including 70.8 grams per tonne gold over 5.0 metres from a zone exposed along the creek canyon, whereas nine samples from the No. 5 and 6 trenches averaged 53.1 grams per tonne gold and sampling of the No. 4 trench yielded 17.7 grams per tonne gold over 2.7 metres (Assessment Report 19677).

Other rock samples taken at this time, including sample BC-630, located approximately 300 metres downslope and to the south-southeast of the main trenched zone and from the southeastern (mapped) extent of the same limestone host unit as the main Beano zone, yielded 1.02 grams per tonne gold and 0.381 per cent copper (Assessment Report 19677). Another rock sample (BC-757) taken from an area of andesitic volcanics exposed along a logging road approximately 1.1 kilometres to the south of the main Beano zone and at an elevation of approximately 340 metres, yielded 3.3 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 19677). No description of the samples was provided.

Between 1948 and 1949, 21 tonnes of high-grade ore were shipped producing 3297 grams of gold, 1400 grams of silver and 33 kilograms of copper.

Work History

The area has been explored since the 1930s, and the Beano claims were originally staked in 1936 and 1937. Development work was conducted by Victory Mining Co. during 1939 through 1949 and included ore bunkers, a 900-metre-long aerial tram, two tunnels and several opencuts. Minor production occurred in the late 1940s.

In 1973, Canadian Superior Exploration Ltd. soil sampled the area immediately northwest as the Zeb claims. The following year a program of geological mapping and rock and soil sampling was completed on the Zeb and Banko Claims.

In 1981, Billiken Resources Ltd. conducted a program of sampling and metallurgical testing. In 1983, Billiken Resources Ltd. completed six short diamond drill holes, totalling 21.9 metres. The following year a ground electromagnetic survey was completed on the Beano 2 claim. In 1989, a further program of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping, trenching and a 1.7 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey was completed.

During 2011 through 2017, and in 2019, North Bay Resources Inc. completed programs of prospecting and rock and silt sampling on the area. This work was centred on the anomalous B zone located on a ridge separating Bingo and Hidden Valley creeks to the southeast. Sampling of the Bonanza Group rocks returned slightly anomalous copper values but no significant gold values. A new prospecting adit that opens a few quartz-calcite veins was discovered within the Tagore Mine area.