The White Pine occurrence is located immediately south of Shoal Bay on the northeast coast of East Thurlow Island. The occurrence consists of the White Pine (Lot 234) and Electric (Lot 317) Crown grants, Union (Lot 1633) and Stump Ranch (Lot 1635) reverted Crown grants and five claims.
The area is underlain by fine- to coarse-grained quartz diorite to granodiorite of the Jurassic to Cretaceous Coast Plutonic Complex. Veins, stringers, pods and lenses of white opaque quartz are common throughout the area. The structures range from less than 1 centimetre to several metres in width and are commonly barren except for very local pyrite disseminations.
The White Pine vein is emplaced along an east to northeast -trending shear system, which extends for up to 25 kilometres from Loughborough Inlet to Sonora Island. This shear zone is up to 61 metres wide and follows an irregular metavolcanic-intrusive contact. Sulphide-bearing quartz veins occur within silicified zones of this shear structure. The vein dips from 65 to 70 degrees north with an average width of 1.5 metres and an inferred strike length of 580 metres. Mineralization in the vein consists of pyrite and locally chalcopyrite and molybdenite.
Selected samples containing up to 37.708 grams per tonne gold have been reported for Shaft No. 2 (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1934, page F10).
In 1987, a sample taken across 1 metre of a sulphide-bearing quartz vein on the back of Adit No. 1 assayed 2.31 grams per tonne gold, 5.4 grams per tonne silver, 0.0589 per cent molybdenum, 12.20 per cent iron and 0.0018 per cent bismuth (Assessment Report 17274).
In early 1988, a diamond drill hole (ET-87-2) intersected a 0.3 metre intersection from the hanging-wall of a 0.8 metre zone of siliceous granodiorite that assayed 0.58 gram per tonne gold and 3.2 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 17274). Another drill hole (ET-87-10) intersected a bull white quartz vein between 32.5 and 35.0 metres. The vein contains 3 to 5 per cent blebs and disseminations of pyrite and small crenulated stringers of molybdenite and pyrite with chlorite and fuchsite between 33.5 and 33.8 metres. A second vein was intersected between 35.45 and 35.55 metres depth, containing 30 per cent pyrite and 3 per cent chalcopyrite. The highest gold value obtained was 0.81 gram per tonne; the highest silver value 3.6 grams per tonne and copper value 0.30 per cent (Assessment Report 17274).
The White Pine claim was first reported in 1896. Exploration was intermittent through to 1934. By this time, massive quartz veins were explored by an open-cut, 7.92 metre (No. 1) shaft, 50 metre (No. 1) tunnel and 22.5 metre (No. 2) shaft. An additional 28.96 metres were drifted along the Nos. 2 and 3 adits in 1934.
In early 1987, Verdstone Gold completed a program of soil sampling and a 5.1 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey on the area as the Bick 1 to 4 claims. Later the same year and into early 1988, Rea Gold, on behalf of Verdstone, completed a program of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping, 21 line-kilometres of combined ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys and 13 diamond drill holes, totalling 1162.97 metres.
