The VB occurrence is located in rugged terrain east of Siva Mountain, approximately 7 kilometres southwest of Middle Lake and 42 kilometres southwest of the community of Tatla Lake. The occurrence lies within diverse intrusive rocks of the Klinaklini pluton of the Jurassic to Paleogene Coast Plutonic Complex, nears its northeastern margin (Geological Survey of Canada Open File 1163).
The main granodiorite pluton has been assigned to the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene Bendor suite. Small granodiorite stocks underlying the VB, A & E and PW prospects are assigned to the Eocene Mission Ridge suite. Older components of the intrusion in the area include biotite schists, amphibolitic gneisses, gneissic diorite and coarse-grained biotite granodiorite. These are post-dated by small irregular bodies of Cretaceous- Paleogene quartz monzonite porphyry, and numerous dikes of variable composition and texture, such as quartz-feldspar porphyry, porphyritic quartz felsite, aplite, trachyte and, less commonly, lamprophyre.
Locally, the area is underlain by northeast-trending porphyritic intrusives, predominantly biotite granodiorite and quartz monzonite porphyry. These rocks contain roughly 10 per cent pervasive pyrite, which has oxidized to produce a conspicuous gossan. Molybdenite occurs in quartz veins, up to 3 centimetres thick, and as thin coatings in fractures, and locally as fine, disseminated grains. Molybdenite also occurs as fine, disseminated grains in oxidized granodiorite and quartz-feldspar porphyry dikes; molybdenite outside the main gossanous area is rare. In addition to molybdenite, very small quantities of chalcopyrite (up to 5 per cent in some quartz veins), bornite and malachite occur locally, and some weathered surfaces have ferrimolybdite. The main mineralized zone has been traced over an area of approximately 450 by 180 metres.
Molybdenite content is proportional to the density of fractures, which is locally intense. There are two main sets of fractures: One set dips steeply and strikes northeast to southeast, and the other set strikes northwest and dips moderately to the southwest. Dike emplacement, mostly trending northeast, is related to the fracturing.
Apart from the pyritization and its oxidation, sericitic and propylitic alteration are reported. Evidence of other alteration is present in float, including chloritization, clay alteration of feldspars, silicification and secondary biotite and magnetite.
Oxidized pyritic and mineralized rocks of similar composition extend intermittently for 3 kilometres to the southwest, into the area covered by the A & E (MINFILE 092N 032) occurrence.
Two deep exploratory boreholes were drilled in 1980 Canadian Nickel Co. Ltd. Borehole 1 was collared in dioritic rocks (Assessment Report 8115). The borehole penetrated a heterogeneous intrusive assemblage of biotite tonalite and biotite-hornblende-quartz diorite and associated screens of country rock cut by swarms of fine grained, grey, granodiorite dikes and fewer, leucocratic felsite dikes. The core was generally pyritic, showing 3 to 13 fracture-fillings per metre, typically as tight pyrite plus/minus chlorite plus/minus epidote fracture coatings or drusy quartz plus pyrite plus/minus chlorite plus/minus epidote veinlets. Very minor amounts of molybdenite were observed. Borehole 2 was collared in granodiorite to the immediate north of a small tarn. The borehole remained in granodiorite porphyry for the entire length of 514.2 metres encountering sporadic, very low grade, molybdenite mineralization along subvertical to moderately inclined quartz veinlets, which rarely exceeded three veinlets per metre. Alteration was erratic throughout the hole.
WORK HISTORY
In 1970, Pacific Petroleum Ltd. conducted detailed mapping at 1:12000 scale and 1:4000 scale on their V.B, claims. In 1970, chip and grab samples from trenches on a quartz monzonite body, the most favourable hostrock for molybdenite mineralization, were reported to contain between 0.007 and 0.15 per cent molybdenite, with an estimated average grade of 0.03 per cent molybdenite (Assessment Report 2942). A total of 18 rock samples were reported on. Mapping on the V.B. Claim Group outlined a low-grade molybdenite deposit about 457 metres long and 183 metres wide, grading an estimated average of 0.03 per cent MoS2 (Assessment Report 2942).
In 1973, a surface program was conducted on the A & E prospect by Cities Services Mineral Corporation. The program consisted of the collection of 152 rock, silt and soil samples, though “soil” samples consisted mainly of decomposed local rock material. 90 per cent of the samples were reported to be rock. The results of the geochemical survey indicate a high copper-molybdenum concentration around the area of the original copper showing. The anomalous values in rocks reached a high of 0.021 per cent copper and 0.002 per cent molybdenum while the soils reach highs of 352 parts per million copper and 96 parts per million molybdenum: a selected sample was assayed at 1.85 per cent molybdenum (Assessment Report 4809).
In 1974, the BC Department of Mines described physical exploration work carried out on the VB prospect by Canex Placer Ltd. It was reported that 33.2 metres of trenching and 33.2 metres of underground work was completed. Writers of Assessment Report 33519 stated that no further information on the work was found but also reported that, “It appears that the former KG 11, 15 and Bear 1 Fraction claims were immediately adjacent the present-day (2012) Walrus property, to the northeast”. In 1974, sampling of nine trenches yielded from 0.009 to 0.081 per cent molybdenum with an average of 0.029 per cent molybdenum (Property File - Canex Placer Ltd. [1974-08-27]: Letter Re: Examination KG Claims - Tatla Lake Area).
In 1974, Cities Services Mineral Corporation conducted a surface geological and geochemical program on the A & E prospect (within the A & E claim claim group) consisting of the collection of 120 rock samples, 110 talus samples, 8 soil samples and 1 float sample. This 1974 work program delineated a talus geochemical anomaly, generally coincident with the rock, soil and silt sample anomaly reported in 1973. A coincident copper-molybdenum geochemical anomaly on talus samples with a core shaped like a half-circle, about 305 metres in diameter, has copper values greater than 500 parts million, molybdenum values greater than 300 parts per million and very minor silver values, is surrounded by a weak zinc halo with values greater than 150 parts per million (Assessment Report 5501). This anomaly is coincident with the area of greatest fracturing (more than 15 fractures per square foot), a zone of moderate silicification, and coincident biotite-magnetite anomalous areas. This core zone was within a larger 850 metre by 600 metre talus geochemical anomaly defined by a copper cut-off of 200 parts per million copper.
In 1979, the Esperanza Explorations Ltd. staked the Sand property. A prospecting program confirmed the presence of low-grade mineralization at the A & E and VB prospects (Assessment Report 8115). This survey also identified molybdenum mineralization southeast of the core A & E Zone, at a lower elevation within the upper Sand Creek drainage.
In 1980, property evaluation of the Sand claims involved 1:5,000 scale geological mapping and exploratory drilling by Canadian Nickel Co. Ltd. (Asessment Report 8345). Two exploratory boreholes were drilled to depths of 431.3 and 514.2 metres for a total of 945.5 metres but no significant molybdenum mineralization was encountered. Surface mapping over an area of some 3 by 9 kilometres indicated a number of scattered but low grade molybdenite occurrences. A total of 37 geochemical sediment samples were collected and 20 rock specimens were selected for petrographic description and geochemical analysis.
In 1980, the Keno Source Claim was staked to cover lapsing claims that had belonged to Cities Services Exploration. The area surrounding Keno Source (VB prospect) was staked by Esperanza Explorations as the Sand Claims. Prospecting work was completed by John Mirko and A. de Quadros on August 23rd and 24th, 1980 and by John Deighton of Utah Mines Ltd. on August 25th, 26th and 27th, 1981. It was reported that traverses through adjoining areas (on the Keno 1-4 claims to the south and on the area of the Sand claims to the northwest) indicated that the molybdenite-bearing quartz-veins trend toward the Keno Source claim. The authors suggested that “Keno Source” claim covers the centre of a large deep-seated molybdenum-copper hydrothermal system (Asessment Report 9484).
In 2011, The authors’ 2010 work program described in Assessment Report 31946 included a single stream sample taken from the Sand Creek drainage. Stream sediment sample #21004 was taken approximately 1 kilometre downstream of the 2012 work area, and returned 60 parts per million copper and 9 parts per million molybdenum. Chromium (114 parts per million) was also enriched at this sample site (Assessment Report 31946).
The 2012 work program of Paul Hoogendoorn and Peter Palikot consisted of the collection of 8 stream silt samples at 7 station sites along and within the central portion of Sand Creek between the 1417 and 1333 metres elevation, over about 560 metres. They collected 8 stream silt samples from 8 small, unnamed tributaries of Sand Creek, in the northern half of the Sand Creek drainage. These tributary streams drain a gossaneous ridge rising to approximately 1 kilometre (local relief) and running approximately 1.5 kilometres eastward from the VB Zone. Silt sample results indicated enrichment to 151 parts per million copper and 18 part per million molybdenum. Two “anomalous” gold results were reported 8 parts per billion and 10 parts per billion (Assessment Report 33519).
