The Argo occurrence is one of a group of gold-silver showings which occur in a small area 10 kilometres west of the south end of Tatlayako Lake. Other showings in this group are covered by the Langara (092N 036) and Standard (092N 037) occurrences. Gold was discovered in 1911, although the area was not explored properly until the mid-1930's, and again in 1987 and 1988.
Mineralization along the Cloud Drifter trend and throughout the roughly 500 square kilometre Goldrange project/property is closely associated with, and largely hosted by, a complex of quartz diorite and diorite intrusions of the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene Bendor suite, emplaced into sandstone of the Lower Cretaceous Cloud Drifter Formation. The area consists of overlap assemblage occurring between the northeastern margin of the Coast Plutonic Complex and the Tchaikazan fault to the northeast and is characterized by a complex belt of folds and imbricated, gently southwest-dipping thrust sheets. Mineralization occurs within quartz-diorite, andesite, and sandstones.
The area of economic interest covers several square kilometres immediately south of a creek which flows east-northeast into Ottarasko Creek. The northern part of this area is underlain by a quartz diorite intrusions of the Bendor Suite. To the south of the intrusion are Lower Cretaceous siltstone, sandstone, greywacke and conglomerate of the Cloud Drifter Formation. These rocks contain isoclinal minor folds locally; bedding is obscure and rather irregular. The area also contains numerous, small mafic dikes.
The contact between the intrusion and the sedimentary rocks is irregular due to dyke-like projections and small stocks of quartz diorite, but generally it trends east-northeast for at least 3 kilometres. The adjacent sedimentary rocks have been strongly altered and hornfelsed by the intrusion for a width of 200 to 300 metres, and it is this zone that contains the most important mineral showings.
The hornfelsed and altered zone is characterized by silicification, pyritization and quartz veining. Fine pyrite and arsenopyrite are pervasive in trace amounts; chalcopyrite is less common. Locally oxidation has produced conspicuous limonitic zones. Quartz veins occupy fractures that cut both the quartz diorite and the sedimentary rocks. The veins are generally between 5 and 10 centimetres thick but may be up to 1.5 metres thick; some display epithermal textures. Some veins trend subparallel to the quartz diorite contact but these are much less mineralized than those that trend between northwest and north-northeast, which may be strongly mineralized with arsenopyrite and pyrite, with minor chalcopyrite and rare malachite.
The Argo occurrence is centred on a series of oxidized outcrops of silicified sandstone and argillite, containing disseminated sulphides, at the quartz diorite contact on the original Argo Crown-granted claim Lot 1177. Strong pyrite and arsenopyrite in quartz veins are accompanied locally by chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite and pyrrhotite. Typical samples from this area contained or averaged between 1.5 and 8 grams per tonne gold and between 3.5 and 34 grams per tonne silver, and up to 0.43 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1935; Assessment Reports 16959, 17980).
In 2020, Kingfisher Metals Corp. conducted work alongng the Cloud Drifter Trend included prospecting that resulted in 312 rock samples that yielding an average grade of 6.26 grams per tonne gold and soil sampling which produced an extensive soil geochemical anomaly with 50 samples over 1 gram per tonne gold. Additionally, a property-wide LiDAR survey was completed to aid in mapping the structural geology on the district-scale project. High-resolution (50 metre line spacing) airborne magnetics and radiometrics were completed over the Cloud Drifter Trend. Backpack drilling (49.97 metres over 15 shallow holes) was completed at the Argo and Upper Cloud Drifter zones as well as at the Standard and Langara zones. A rock sample from the Argo graded 23.4 grams per tonne gold (Press Release, Kingfisher Metals, April 14th, 2021 (Figure 2)).
Refer to Cloud Drifter (new MINFILE in 2021) and Langara (092N 036) for common geological and work history details.
