At the Reliance occurrence, the mineralization occurs in northeast striking, steeply northwest dipping shear zones in green and purple volcanics and cherts of the Mississippian to Jurassic Bridge River Complex (Group). The old Reliance adit at 1100 metres elevation on Lot 7657, exposes a 2-metre wide oxidized shear zone in purple volcanics; an opencut above the adit contains 2.5 to 5-centimetre wide stibnite stringers in a calcite gangue. The Fergusson adit at 1023 metres elevation on Lot 7657, strikes east-northeast in sheared greenstone and contains a 15-centimetre wide stibnite vein in calcite and quartz with finely disseminated sulphides. A fault (also mineralized) cuts the shear after which the stibnite runs out in stringers. A 4-tonne shipment of the "richest" antimony ore is believed to have been made from the Fergusson adit in 1915, grading $10.40 gold. It is reported to have come from where a narrow tongue of diorite porphyry briefly follows the fault. The Turner adit (830 metres elevation on Lot 7659) strikes southeast following a 1.5-metre wide shear in silicified and pyritized green and purple volcanics containing stibnite veinlets and disseminated sulphides. The River adit (663 metres elevation on Lot 7660) is a crosscut to the Turner adit.

The Camp zone, located west of the Reliance workings, was first identified in 1987 during trail construction. Drilling, in 1996, on the zone is reported to have intersected zones silicified, carbonate and clay altered zones hosting quartz veining with black sulphides and mariposite.

The Reliance gold property mineralization occurs as intermediate temperature gold-silver epithermal-mesothermal quartz-carbonate-pyrite stibnite-arsenopyrite-fieibergite veins within replacement ankeritic alteration related to one or more major shear zones.

Work History

The property consists of 19 reverted Crown-granted mineral claims and fractions including the Nemo, Omen and Eros claim groups. Its history was noted by Caimes (1943): "The Reliance is one of the older properties and has been known from the beginning as an antimony prospect. The original group of four claims was staked in 1910 by Mr. F. A Brewer, who relocated the property in 1915. By September 1915, it is reported, four tons of ore had been bagged for shipment, and the richest carried up to 1/2 ounce in gold a ton (17 grams per tonne gold).

In 1917 there was a shipment of hand-cobbed gold-bearing stibnite but no further records are available for this period. The property was reorganized by Reliance Gold Mines Limited in 1933 and development work continued until 1937. This included underground work on several adits and installation of a compressor plant. The mine workings comprised the old Reliance adit (elevation 1100 m) on the Nemo 7 Crown-granted claim; the Fergusson adit (elevation 1023 m) also on Nemo 7; the Turner adit (elevation 830 m) on Omen 1; the River adit (elevation 663 m) on Omen 2; and the Senator (MINFILE 092JNE136) adit (elevation. about 790 m) on Nemo 1. Short intervals of heavy stibnite mineralization in narrow quartz veins were encountered in the adits.

In 1971, Tri-Con Exploration Survey Limited carried out geotechnical surveys for T.V.I. Mining Limited outlining several electromagnetic conductors coincident with a prominent southeast -trending arsenic-antimony geochemical anomaly near the Senator workings on the west part of the property. Sampling of the Turner adit yielded 6.5 grams per tonne gold over a true width of 0.7 metres, while sampling near the Reliance adit of a north trending stibnite quartz shear vein assayed 19.9 grams per tonne gold over a true width of 0.2 metres (Lindinger, J.E. (2009-04-21): Technical Report of Exploration Activities on the Reliance Gold Property).

Menika Mining in 1984 acquired the Reliance gold property by option agreement from Karl Otting of Lillooet. Five 1985 diamond drill holes were reported on by L. Sookochoff in "Diamond Drill Report for Menika Mining", dated February 10,1986. A “discovery” hole, drilled in 1986, was drilled to a depth of 119 metres. During 1987, an extensive drilling program comprising 8,476 metres of drilling in 53 diamond drill holes was carried out. The 1988 program consisted of 3294 metres of drilling in 23 diamond drill holes. The locations of only a few of these drill holes are known to Menika Mining. There was a lapse in exploration activity until 1996 when another program consisting of 13 drill holes was carried out.

In 2003, Menika Mining Ltd conducted limited surface sampling on the Reliance property with encouraging results. They followed up in 2004 with three diamond drill holes with encouraging results, such as 33.5 metres grading 7.54 grams per tonne gold (Exploration and Mining in BC 2004, page 59).

In 2005 and 2006, Menika Mining Limited conducted MMI soil geochemistry surveys on the area. In 2008, a program of diamond drilling was performed on the property.