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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  24-Jan-2022 by Del Ferguson (DF)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name BLUE BIRD, BLASTER, ELITE Mining Division Alberni
BCGS Map 092F013
Status Showing NTS Map 092F03W
Latitude 049º 11' 01'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 125º 25' 08'' Northing 5450684
Easting 323735
Commodities Gold, Silver, Copper, Zinc Deposit Types I06 : Cu+/-Ag quartz veins
Tectonic Belt Insular Terrane Wrangell
Capsule Geology

The Blue Bird occurrence is located on the south side of Olympic Creek, an easterly flowing, tributary of the Kennedy River, approximately 1.5 kilometres west of Highway 4, and 28 kilometres northeast of Ucluelet, B.C.

Karmutsen Formation volcanics of the Upper Triassic Vancouver Group are intruded by the Early to Middle Jurassic Island Intrusions consisting of granodiorite to quartz diorite. The Karmutsen rocks consist of andesitic to basaltic flows, tuffs and volcaniclastics. West-northwest trending fault/shear zones of Tertiary age cut the rocks.

Quartz veins, mineralized with chalcopyrite, pyrite and arsenopyrite, occur in a shear zone which is up to 12 metres wide. The shear zone lies within the volcanics. A grab sample of a mineralized vein of the Blue Bird showings assayed 2.06 grams per tonne gold, 34.3 grams per tonne silver and 0.7 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report, 1923).

The Elite vein is reported to occur at this location striking 060 degrees and dipping 60 degrees to the northeast. The 35 to 75 centimetre wide quartz-sulphide vein has been traced semi-continuously for 50 metres. The Elite vein appears to occur in a hanging wall splay of the Julius Creek shear zone. Massive to weakly brecciated andesitic volcanics host the vein. Pervasive chlorite with lesser silicification, limonite and bleaching form a halo of 40 centimetres adjacent to the vein. Some pyrite was noted within the halo. Mineralization, occurring primarily as pods, seams and fracture coatings, consists predominantly of pyrite and pyrrhotite. Arsenopyrite and sphalerite are also observed. Of 10 samples taken the best assay obtained was 53.69 grams per tonne gold and 80.91 grams per tonne silver across 60 centimetres. The lowest assay was 2.95 grams per tonne gold and 12.34 grams per tonne silver across 70 centimetres (Henneberry, 1987).

In 1986, K. Gourley staked the Blaster claim and completed a prospecting program and a geochemical silt survey the following year. From 1987 to 1988, Nationwide Gold Mines and Golden Spinnaker Minerals optioned the property and completed programs of trenching, VLF-EM surveys and diamond drilling. In 1988, bulk sampling and fourteen diamond drill holes, totalling 819 metres, were completed on the Elite 1 vein and nearby Rachel vein. In 1989, bulk sampling of surface exposures at the Elite 1 vein returned an average of 68.2 grams per tonne gold and diamond drilling returned up to 9.4 grams per tonne gold over 0.32 metre. In 1991, Kancana Ventures optioned the property. From 1993 to 1995, the property was returned to and later prospected by K. Gourley. The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Olympic occurrence (MINFILE 092F 046). In 1995, sampling of the Elite veins assayed up to 11 grams per tonne gold, 28.5 grams per tonne silver and 37 parts per million tellurium over 0.10 metre (Assessment Report 25493).

In 2017 a prospecting and soil/rock sampling program was completed over an area of unknown mineralization on the Gold Queen property, some 1.5 kilometres east of the Blue Bird occurrence, on the east side of Highway 4. The owner, J. Bakus, reports that the rock samples displayed quartz veins up to three centimetres wide and quartz veins with some mineralization. No geochemical analysis was completed for the samples.

Bibliography
EMPR AR *1923-246
EMPR BULL 55
EMPR EXPL 1987-C140
EMPR FIELDWORK 1988, pp. 61-74
EMPR PF (*Henneberry, R.T. (1987): Economic Potential of the Kennedy River Gold Camp, Vancouver Island, British Columbia; New Releases, International Coast Minerals Corp.: Nov.10, 1987, *June 20, 1988 (see 92F 044, Bear file for these reports))
GSC MAP 17-1968; 1386A
GSC OF 463
GSC P 68-50; 72-44
GCNL *#38, 1989
Carson, D.J.T. (1968): Metallogenic Study of Vancouver Island with Emphasis on the Relationships of Mineral Deposits to Plutonic Rocks, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Carleton University
Hudson, R. (1997): A Field Guide to Gold, Gemstone & Mineral Sites of British Columbia, Vol. 1: Vancouver Island, p. 143

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