The June occurrence consists of minor copper mineralization in part of the historical Aspen Grove copper camp, between Merritt and Princeton, where exploration dates to the turn of the twentieth century. The occurrence is centred 400 metres west of Quilchena Creek, 3.2 kilometres east of Highway 5A and 6 kilometres northeast of the community of Aspen Grove.
The June occurrence is hosted in the Upper Triassic Nicola Group, which regionally consists of alkalic and calc-alkalic volcanics and intrusions of island arc origin, and which is the principal component of the Quesnel terrane in southern British Columbia (Geological Survey of Canada Maps 41-1989, 1713A). This belt has been of major economic interest because of its potential for porphyry copper-gold mineralization.
The occurrence is one of many in the Aspen Grove area. It lies in the Central Belt or facies of the Nicola Group (after Preto, Bulletin 69). This belt of rocks mainly consists of subaerial and submarine, red or purple to green augite plagioclase porphyritic andesitic and basaltic flows, volcanic breccia and tuff, and minor argillites and limestone. The volcanics are intruded by bodies of comagmatic Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic diorite to monzonite. The area is characterized by long-lived, primarily north-striking faults and related fracturing, which originally controlled intrusion emplacement. East-striking faults are subordinate, and commonly offset intrusive contacts.
Outcrop exposure of the Nicola Group is sparse in the area around the June occurrence, being mostly visible in trenches. Bedrock consists of green basaltic to andesitic volcanic flows and tuff (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1966; Geology, Exploration and Mining in B.C. 1973). Propylitic alteration is widespread, with chlorite and local patches of epidote skarn alteration containing secondary clinopyroxene (probably diopside) and garnet (Geology, Exploration and Mining in B.C. 1970, 1973). Potassium feldspar alteration and limonite or ankerite due to oxidation are also present.
Two prominent fracture sets are evident. One set of fractures and shears strikes east and dips steeply north; a second set of fractures strikes north and dips steeply east. Numerous quartz veins and veinlets strike west.
Trenching has outlined a zone of sulphide mineralization stretching 700 metres northeastward towards Quilchena Creek. In the more northerly exposures pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and malachite occur as sparse disseminations in the volcanics and as fracture fillings and coarse blebs in some quartz veinlets. Magnetite is widespread. To the southwest, epidote skarn zones host up to 0.5 per cent chalcopyrite, and shear zones in diorite contain up to 1 per cent malachite near zones of carbonate alteration. Farther southwest, pyrrhotite and pyrite, with traces of chalcopyrite and malachite, form massive segregations in cherty sediments and fine-grained tuffs.
In 1981, a percussion drill hole near the north end of the zone graded 0.07 per cent copper over 91 metres (Assessment Report 9386, page 16). Rock sampling over the rest of the zone yielded metal values of up to 0.0415 per cent copper, 0.105 gram per tonne gold and 1.9 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Reports 9386 and 13714).
In 1984, a chip sample taken in the vicinity of the drillhole assayed 0.085 gram per tonne gold and 2.5 grams per tonne silver over 175 metres (Assessment Report 13714, Drawing No. 2, sample 695).
In 2013, a chip sample (H215910) from a roadcut exposing hornfelsed and skarnified carbonate-rich volcanics, located to the northeast of the occurrence, yielded 0.380 per cent copper, 0.005 per cent molybdenum and 2.7 grams per tonne silver over 20 metres (Assessment Report 34661).
Work History
In 1966, Chataway Exploration Co. Ltd. completed a soil sampling program on the area as the Adit, Creek, CU and Ski group of claims.
In 1975, Newconex Canadian Exploration Ltd. completed a program of prospecting and an 8.0 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey on the area as the Quil claims. Extensive trenching is reported to have been completed on the area by this time. In 1979, Cominco Ltd. completed a 26.0 line-kilometre ground magnetic and induced polarization survey on the area as the Snowflake and Tule claim groups of the Grove property.
Snowflake Mining Company Ltd. examined the occurrence area in 1981. In 1983, Laramide Resources Ltd. completed an induced polarization survey on the area. The following year, a program of geological mapping, rock sampling and ground magnetic and induced polarization surveys were completed. In 1986, Lornex Mining Corp. Ltd. completed an induced polarization survey and six diamond drillholes, totalling 576.7 metres, on the Snowflake property.
In 2001, the Douglas Lake Cattle Co. staked the area as the Blue Jay 1-7 claims and the following year completed a limited program of geological mapping and rock sampling. The claims were re-staked in 2005 and 2006 by R. Billingsley, G. Richards and G. Diakow. In 2007, Etna Resources Inc. completed a 366 line-kilometre airborne geophysical survey on the area as the Aspen Grove property. In 2008, Christopher James Gold Corp. completed a 1113.5 line-kilometre airborne magnetic-radiometric survey on the Big Kidd property. In 2009, a further program of geological mapping, soil sampling and 48.8 line-kilometres of ground magnetic and induced polarization surveys were completed on the Aspen Grove property.
In 2013, New Chris Minerals Ltd. completed a program of rock and soil sampling on the area as the Aspen Grove property on behalf of Richard Billingsley. The following year, a photogeological structural (lineament) analysis was completed on the area. In 2017, Cazador Explorations Ltd. completed a 145.0 line-kilometre airborne magnetic survey on the property.
