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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  17-Jan-2022 by Del Ferguson (DF)

Summary Help Help

NMI 092F4 Au1
Name GOLD FLAKE, TRANQUIL GOLD, MAY, EDMAR, TOFINO Mining Division Alberni
BCGS Map 092F022
Status Past Producer NTS Map 092F04E
Latitude 049º 14' 40'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 125º 41' 23'' Northing 5458112
Easting 304242
Commodities Gold, Silver Deposit Types I06 : Cu+/-Ag quartz veins
Tectonic Belt Insular Terrane Wrangell
Capsule Geology

The Gold Flake occurrence is located on the western side of Tranquil Creek at an elevation of approximately 800 metres. The Fandora (MINFILE 092F 041) occurrence is located approximately 1 kilometre to the northeast of Gold Flake mine, which is a southwest extension of the Fandora vein system.

The Fandora vein system is hosted by andesites and basalts of the Nitinat Formation. The volcanics have been altered to greenstone by Jurassic plutonism including a coarse gabbrodiorite, several stages of feldspar porphyry dykes and sills and andesitic dykes. These intrusive rocks are known locally as the Island intrusions. Where the intrusives are in contact with Nitinat units widespread honfelsation is common.

The Gold Flake occurrence is comprised of a quartz carbonate vein which parallels an andesite dike that strikes approximately 070 degrees and dips between 49 to 53 degrees north. The vein is 5.7 to 7.5 centimetres wide and has been traced for about 25 metres.

Gold assays range from 5.49 to 442.68 grams per tonne (1:240 scale, Map of the Gold Flake Working). In 1940, 45 tonnes of ore was shipped from this property and produced 809 grams of gold.

In 2006, Doublestar Resources completed a program of metallurgical, rock, soil and silt sampling. In 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2016, Selkirk Metal Corp. completed programs of silt and soil sampling on their Fandora Property, extending the soil grids southwest from the Fandora, beyond the Gold Flake adit and into the upper reaches of Virge Creek, which drains into Warn Bay. The 2016 program may have closed off the southwest extent of the Fandora vein system within the Virge Creek basin. This corresponds with a change in bedrock lithology to granodiorite and diorite. The geochemical data has demonstrated that the Fandora vein system is comprised of three southwest by northeast structural trends up to 3 kilometres in strike length. The trends include: (1) the Fandora trend, (2) the B-trend and (3) the Leviatian trend.

Selkirk Minerals Corp.'s 2016 sampling of quartz vein material from the Gold Flake dump and within the gully immediately down slope returned values up to 68.1 grams per tonne Au and 11.4 grams per tonne Ag. The 4 mineralized samples collected averaged 30.4 grams per tonne Au and 4.8 grams per tonne Ag. High grade Au-bearing samples from the Gold Flake workings were from a quartz vein up to 8 cm wide with epidote alteration, up to 2 per cent disseminated pyrite and trace arsenopyrite hosted in andesite volcanics (Assessment Report 36437).

The 2017 program included denser (10 metre interval) soil sampling in the vicinity of the Gold Flake adit. Continuous anomalies along four lines in this area ranged from 50 to 1,124.6 ppb. Rock chip samples collected from the Goldflake showing and the adjacent areas returned significantly high concentrations of Au. Two samples collected from the Goldflake vein exposure returned Au values of 9.3 grams per tonne and 157.4 grams per tonne (Assessment Report 37432).

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1940-27; *1946-183, 186, 187; 1947-182; 1949-221; 1957-69; 1958-59; 1963-109; 1964-166
EMPR ASS RPT 26139, 29325, 31379, 32456, 34610, *35040, *36437, *37432
EMPR PF (Map of the Gold Flake Working, 1:240 scale; Various maps and reports, see Fandora - 092F 041)
GSC MAP 17-1968; 1386A
GSC OF 9, 61, 463
GSC P 66-1; 68-50; 72-44; 80-16
GSC SUM RPT 1920A
Carson, D.J.T., (1968): Metallogenic Study of Vancouver Island with Emphasis on the Relationship of Plutonic Rocks and Mineral Deposits, Ph.D. Thesis, Carleton University
Isachsen, C., (1984): Geology, Geochemistry and Geochronology of the Westcoast Crystalline Complex and Related Rocks, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, M.Sc. Thesis, University of British Columbia

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