The Kola occurrence is located south of an easterly flowing tributary of Cous Creek, approximately 8.8 kilometres west of the creek mouth. The Kola is approximately 12 kilometres southwest of Port Alberni.
The area is underlain by andesite and andesite-dacite volcanic flows of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation, Vancouver Group. The structures trend north and are expressed by shear zones exposed along a road cut. A section of the road has been trenched exposing the mineralized zone for 300 metres with the main section exposed for about 110 metres.
At least five zones of mineralization are evident, consisting mainly of massive pods and lenses of pyrite and chalcopyrite associated with shears in andesite. The following is a description of the zones going north:
(1) North trending siliceous shear zones with quartz carbonate stringers, ankerite veinlets and disseminated sulphides. A 0.3-metre wide unfractured siliceous "vein" occurs at the base of the zone.
(2) Thirty-six metres north of zone 1, a northwest trending zone of massive chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcopyrite-pyrite pods with occasional fragments of andesite, cemented together with quartz- carbonate in a matrix of volcanic debris, occurs. The zone is up to 0.6 metre wide.
(3) Forty-five metres at 013 degrees from zone 2, is a heavily limonitized zone.
(4) Thirty-six metres at 013 degrees from zone 3, a zone of dark and light limonitic breccia occurs.
(5) Ninety metres along the road from zone 4, is a shear zone striking 035 degrees and dipping 70 degrees west. The zone, locally carbonatized, is 3 metres wide and contains massive sulphide pods over 1 metre in width. This zone is known as the main zone. A grab sample of the zone contained 7.27 per cent copper, 22.97 grams per tonne silver and 2.81 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 15658).
(6) Seventy-six metres north along the road, outcrops exhibiting epidote and carbonate alteration on fracture planes occur. The zone contains limonite, magnetite and occasional blebs of pyrite.
Later exploration work, in the 2000’s, describes the MC1, MC2 and MC3 zones which comprise three or more sub-parallel, banded, brecciated and sheared veins and/or vein stockwork zones instead of a single, narrow, replacement copper skarn zone. The sulphides in the MC1, MC2 and MC3 zones are comprised mainly of pyrite and chalcopyrite with minor pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite and/or tetrahedrite/tennantite. The host rock for the zones consists of pervasively silicified, tuffaceous to massive, intermediate to mafic volcanics which may be either part of the upper-most Karmutsen Formation or part of the lower-most Parsons Bay Formation. These are intruded by approximately 10 per cent, thin (less than 5-metre thick) feldspar porphyry dikes and/or sills of the Jurassic Island plutonic suite.
The MC1 zone is interpreted as a 15-to-50-degree west dipping, narrow (0.3 to 4.0 metre thick) banded and brecciated quartz-calcite-chlorite-actinolite-sulphide vein, with a strike length of at least 100 metres. It is open and untested down-dip and along strike both to the north and the south.
The MC2 zone is interpreted as a steeply west-dipping to vertically-dipping, 10 to 15-metre thick, sheared, banded and brecciated quartz-calcite-sericite-chlorite-actinolite-sulphide vein stockwork zone with a strike length of at least 75 metres. It is open and untested down-dip and along strike both to the north and the south.
The MC3 zone is interpreted as a west-dipping, narrow (1 to 1.5-metre thick) banded and brecciated, quartz-calcite-epidote-chlorite-sulphide stringer zone with a strike length of at least 90 metres. It is open and untested down-dip and along strike both to the north and the south.
Four other zones of mineralization, identified in 2006 and referred to as the East, North, South and Northwest zones, are located approximately 750 metres east, 500 metres north, 400 metres southeast and 1000 metres north-northwest of the MC/Kola zone, respectively. The East and North zones are exposed in separate road cuts at an elevation of 400 metres and 225 metres lower in elevation than the MC/Kola zone, while the Northwest zone is located at an elevation of 450 metres.
Th East zone comprises a sheared, 0.25-metre thick, skarn horizon striking 070 degrees and dipping 50 degrees southeast. Mineralization consists of primarily pyrite with minor chalcopyrite and rare bornite, with a 1-metre thick, sub-parallel epidotic skarn footwall zone.
The North zone comprises two sub-parallel zones (possibly reverse fault-repeated exposures of the same zone) each 0.5 metre thick and 1.5 metres apart, of brecciated and banded, epidotic and/or chloritic skarn mineralization oriented at a strike of 210 degrees and dipping 40 to 50 degrees to the northwest. Mineralization consists primarily of pyrite and/or magnetite with 2 to 10 per cent chalcopyrite. The North zone is roughly on strike with the MC/Kola zone and could in fact be the strike extension of the same zone.
The South zone comprises quartz-calcite-sulphide mineralization in tuffaceous volcanics and a coarse grained felsic intrusive hosting disseminated sulphides.
The Northwest zone comprises a 1-metre-thick outcrop of sheared, altered and sulphidic tuffaceous volcanics. The geochemical signature of this zone is quite different from anything else yet seen on the Macktush property, and may represent volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralization, possibly hosted in the Upper Triassic Parson Bay Formation.
Work History
In 1980 through 1983, Pacific Seadrift Resources completed programs of airborne and ground geophysical surveys, geological mapping, minor trenching and geochemical sampling on the area. A sample across 4.5 metres assayed 7.8 per cent copper, 124.2 grams per tonne silver and 6.5 grams per tonne gold over 0.6 metres (Assessment Report 10288).
In 1985 and 1986, Amstar Venture Corporation completed programs of geochemical sampling and diamond drilling, consisting of 22 holes for 1307.9 metres. The main zone was found to be limited to 10 metres along strike with values and widths decreasing substantially along strike. The main zone is continuous to a depth of 40 metres and remains open. Drill hole 86-3, at 40 metres, contained a 1.21 metre section which assayed 3.01 per cent copper, 37.03 grams per tonne silver and 2.56 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 15658). A 272.7-kilogram bulk sample of mineralized material assayed 4.73 per cent copper, 93.3 grams per tonne silver and 2.5 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 15658).
In 1996 through 2006, SYMC Resources Limited completed programs of prospecting, trenching, geochemical sampling and diamond drilling on the area as the MC claim group, part of their Dauntless (Macktush) property.
In 2006, sampling of the MC1 zone yielded up to 1.74 per cent copper, 0.904 gram per tonne gold and 26.4 grams per tonne silver over 2.2 metres (samples 312720 and 312722), while drilling yielded up to 1.01 per cent copper, 0.692 gram per tonne gold and 24.0 grams per tonne silver over 0.3 metres in hole MC-06-02 (Houle, J. (2007-01-26): Technical Report for the 2006 Diamond Drilling Program and the 2006 Prospecting Program on the Macktush Property). Drilling on the MC2 zone yielded up to 0.164 per cent copper, 0.194 gram per tonne gold and 2.05 gram per tonne silver over 16.6 metres, including 1.38 per cent copper, 1.19 grams per tonne gold and 15.3 grams per tonne silver over 0.6 metres in hole MC-06-01 (Houle, J. (2007-01-26): Technical Report for the 2006 Diamond Drilling Program and the 2006 Prospecting Program on the Macktush Property).
Also at this time, chip sampling (312747) of the East zone yielded values of up to 0.111 per cent copper, 0.68 gram per tonne gold and 35.67 per cent iron over 0.25 metres, while two select grab samples (343712 and 343879) yielded values of up to 2.355 per cent copper, 5 grams per tonne silver and 0.424 gram per tonne gold (Houle, J. (2007-01-26): Technical Report for the 2006 Diamond Drilling Program and the 2006 Prospecting Program on the Macktush Property). Two chip samples (312742 and 3112746) from the North zone yielded up to 0.373 per cent copper, 17.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.68 gram per tonne gold and 32.2 per cent iron (Houle, J. (2007-01-26): Technical Report for the 2006 Diamond Drilling Program and the 2006 Prospecting Program on the Macktush Property). Two select grab samples (343912 and 343915) of probably outcrop from the South zone yielded up to 0.083 per cent copper and 0.155 gram per tonne gold, while a float boulder sample (343778) assayed 2.831 per cent copper and 3.8 grams per tonne silver (Houle, J. (2007-01-26): Technical Report for the 2006 Diamond Drilling Program and the 2006 Prospecting Program on the Macktush Property). A select grab sample from the Northwest zone yielded 0.044 per cent copper, 0.15 per cent lead, 0.63 per cent zinc, 0.006 per cent cadmium and 0.002 per cent mercury (Houle, J. (2007-01-26): Technical Report for the 2006 Diamond Drilling Program and the 2006 Prospecting Program on the Macktush Property).
An indicated mineral inventory estimate for the MC1-3 zones was released in 2007:
----------------------------------------------------Vein/Zone Tonnes Gold Silver Copper (grams per tonne) (grams per tonne) (per cent) MC1 21,851 0.26 6.9 0.43 MC2 138,499 0.33 5.2 0.47 MC3 17,618 0.38 1.0 0.05 MC1-3 177,967 0.32 5.0 0.16 (Assessment Report 28989) --------------------------------------------------- |
In 2009 through 2011, G4G Resources completed programs of geological mapping and rock and soil sampling on the area as the Macktush Copper property.
During 2012 through 2014, Nahminto Resources completed exploration programs including limited prospecting, rock sampling, geological mapping and a satellite remote sensing survey and analysis on the Macktush group. A sample from a 0.1-metre-thick skarn zone in the MC1-3 area yielded 9.5 per cent copper, 90 grams per tonne silver and 6.6 grams per tonne gold (Houle, J. (2015-07-30): 2015 Technical Report on the Macktush Property). A similar prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling program was conducted on areas of the Macktush property for World Organics Inc. in 2015.
In 2019, A. Kikauka conducted soil and rock sampling mostly within a 100 metre radius of the Kola MC Main Zone. One outcrop sample of pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite mineralization in andesite volcanic rocks (19KOLA-2) returned values of 6.4 grams per tonne Au, 64.7 grams per tonne Ag, 7.3 per cent Cu and anomalous Zn and Co (Assessment Report 38521).
