The Stroberg occurrence is located approximately 2 kilometres southwest of Davies Mountain near the southwestern shore of Texada Island.
Regionally, the area is underlain by undivided sedimentary rocks of the Mississippian to Lower Permian Nanoose Complex (Buttle Lake Group), limestone, marble and calcareous sedimentary rocks of the Middle to Upper Triassic Quatsino Formation (Vancouver Group) and basaltic volcanics of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation (Vancouver Group). The sedimentary and volcanic rocks have been intruded by granodioritic rocks of the Early to Middle Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite.
The occurrence lies in a sequence of pillow basalt breccias and amygdaloidal and porphyritic basalt flows of the Karmutsen Formation with areas of massive limestone. Northeast-trending shear zones cut the lithologies with diorite dikes often paralleling the shears and locally occurring in them.
A northwest-trending mineralized zone, apparently stratigraphically controlled, has been investigated by shallow shafts, numerous opencuts and trenches. Exposed in the zone are pyrite, bornite, minor chalcopyrite, sphalerite and trace galena mineralization in amygdules and fracture-fillings in basalt. Malachite is occasionally present as thin coatings on mineralized outcrops. Calcite, chlorite and epidote also occur as amygdule fillings. Minor bornite and chalcopyrite area also evident in shear zones in highly chloritized basalt. Quartz-calcite veins locally occur in the shear zones and host minor bornite mineralization.
In 1925, a grab sample of sorted ore from the historical Edith shaft assayed 8.7 per cent copper and 34.28 grams per tonne silver, whereas dump samples from the Bullion shaft averaged 3.2 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1925).
In 1926, two samples from the Kate claim averaged 1.0 per cent copper and 1.5 per cent zinc, and samples from the Delora claim yielded values of up to 7.0 per cent copper, 3.0 per cent zinc and 68.4 grams per tonne silver (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1926).
In 1944, a grab sample of sorted ore from the Bullion claim assayed 2.3 per cent copper, whereas four outcrop samples from the Delora claim yielded from 0.4 to 1.9 per cent copper (Property File – Wilson, R. (1944-11-01) - Stromberg Group, Texada Island, Ridgeway R. Wilson and Associates). Zinc values were also reported to be comparable with the copper values; however, no sphalerite was noted in the samples.
Work History
In 1918, the group of claims was owned by William Stromberg and contained seven claims, known as the Edith, Kate, Deloro, Hill, Ethel, Boulion and Big Bluff. A crosscut adit was reported to be under development at this time.
In 1925, development is reported to have included a 18.3-metre deep shaft near the shoreline on the Edith claim and four shallow shafts, up to 4.3-metre deep, connected by opencuts on the Bullion claim. In 1928, Tidewater Copper Company (British Metals) held an option on the Stromberg property. The following year, the Central Copper Company optioned the property and completed a lone diamond drill hole.
In 1944, the Stromberg group was examined by R. Wilson and Associates.
In 1961, Texada Mines is reported to have completed two or three diamond drillholes on the occurrence area. In 1968, the area was staked as the Seel 1-18 claims by Kitimat Copper Co. Ltd. and a limited amount of trenching, and 45.7 metres of percussion drilling was completed in 30 holes. In 1969, Cambrian Explorations Ltd. completed a soil sampling program on the area as the Seel and AB claims.
In 1977, Aaron Mining Limited conducted a program of geological mapping, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and a 7.0 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey on the area as the Texisle claims. In 1980, Aaron Mining Limited conducted a further program of rock and soil sampling on the claims.
