The Mount Skinner occurrence comprises gold and copper mineralization, 5 kilometres north of the northern end of Tatlayoko Lake. Work has been done in this area intermittently since the early 1900's.
The occurrence is located 5 kilometres southwest of the northwest-striking Yalakom fault, in part of the Cadwallader Terrane. The area is dominated by a quartz diorite to diorite (and/or tonalite) intrusion of the Upper Triassic Cadwallader plutonic suite. The intrusion is hosted by Lower to Middle Jurassic sedimentary rocks of the Ladner Group to the south and west, partly in fault contact (Geological Survey of Canada Open File 1163). To the north of the intrusion are Upper Triassic coarse clastic sedimentary rocks of the Tyaughton Group. A fault bound sliver of the Upper Triassic coarse clastic sedimentary rocks occurs immediately west of the Mount Skinner occurrence and east of the Ladner Group rocks.
Most of the Skinner property is underlain by the quartz diorite intrusion (Assessment Report 21396). Numerous mafic, intermediate and felsic dykes, up to 3 metres thick, intrude the quartz diorite. Sporadic chlorite-epidote alteration is present in the intrusion. Andesitic flows and tuff occur locally but it is not clear what unit these volcanics are related to.
The Skinner occurrence is centred on a mesothermal quartz vein in the intrusion called the Victoria vein (Assessment Report 21396). The length of the vein is undetermined but is at least 130 metres long, of which 110 metres has been exposed by hand trenching. The vein pinches and swells and appears to be fault controlled; the lineament is discernible on aerial photographs. The vein is up to 1.4 metres in thickness, and strikes between 050 and 070 degrees, dipping at least 70 degrees northwest. The host quartz diorite is moderately silicified and chloritized adjacent to the vein, and some argillic alteration is present.
The Victoria vein contains up to 5 per cent pyrite, with a trace of chalcopyrite, locally associated with malachite on fracture surfaces. Fractures are common and are rich in limonite and also hematite. Native gold occurs on some fracture surfaces, or within vuggy cavities, and as fine disseminations; visible gold was found in two places in the vein, 75 metres apart. Sericite is commonly associated with the quartz.
The length-averaged (110 metres) grade of the vein is 29.6 grams per tonne gold, over a 1.0 metre average width, or 20 grams per tonne gold diluted to a 1.5 metre width (George Cross News Letter, June 1991). The best value from surface chip sampling (presumed assay) of the Victoria vein is 58 grams per tonne gold over 1.4 metres (Property File - Berniolles, L.M., 1991). The best drill intersection is 62.4 grams per tonne gold over 1 metre at a depth of 32 metres (Property File - Berniolles, L.M., 1991). The host diorite has been assayed at up to 4.1 grams per tonne gold (Vancouver Stockwatch 1991).
A 0.25-metre-thick quartz vein, a possible extension of the Victoria vein 400 metres along strike to the east-northeast, assayed 14 grams per tonne gold over its width (Assessment Report 21396).
Current indicated reserves are 11,800 tonnes of 16 grams per tonne gold (Property File - Berniolles, L.M., 1991).
Elsewhere on the property, rock and soil geochemical values are generally low, although one sample of a fractured, silicified and propylitically-altered dike with 1 per cent malachite was analysed at 2 per cent copper (Assessment Report 21396).
The results of the 1992 drill program of International Northair Mines Ltd. show that while the Victoria Vein contains significant gold intersections its size appears to be limited. A 172-tonne bulk sample from the Victoria vein yielded 11,351 grams of gold (Northern Miner - June 6, 1994). Results fiom the 1994 drilling and underground exploration program of the Victoria Vein have shown that the deposit appears to be epithermal in nature and that the ore becomes poddy beneath the pre-existing open cut. Both drilling and underground development have shown that the structure is consistent, but that the ore bearing quartz and is itself discontinuous. A small amount of ore occurs in the drift and perhaps in a section of the open cut.
WORK HISTORY
The property was discovered in 1990 and drilled in 1991 by Northair Mines.
In June 1990, during a regional exploration program conducted by Tchaikazan Exploration Services Ltd. under contract
to Ottarasko Mines Ltd., a gold-quartz vein (the Victoria vein) was located along a northeast trending break in the diorite
intrusive. A small amount of hand trenching performed during the summer of 1990 exposed the vein over a strike length of 106 metres, and sampling gave several high-grade gold values across the vein, the best assay being 135.67 grams per tonne gold across 65 centimetre (Assessment Report 22007).
In 1991, Ottarasko Mines (in parallel with Northair) conducted a program of prospecting, stream sediment survey, I
soil survey, rock geochemistry and hand trenching on the remaining 81 units of the property. The entire claim group, covering approximately 20 square kilometres was prospected in detail for a total of 189 man/days. A total of 199 soil samples, 21 stream sediments and 81 rock samples were sent for multielement analysis. As part of its 1991 exploration program International Northair drilled six BQTK sized diamond drill holes totalling 249.9 metres in length on the Victoria vein. The drilling revealed the zone to feather out to the east while to the west it out crops in the cliffs. Overall, the zone appears to plunge to the west. The best drill intersection graded 62.4 grams per tonne over 1.0 metres (Assessment Report 23572).
A 142.7 tonne bulk sample was extracted in 1992 fiom which 8,355 grams of gold were recovered (as reported in Assessment Report 23572). It was further recorded that 172-tonne bulk sample from the Victoria vein yielded 11,351 grams of gold (Northern Miner - June 6, 1994). Work by Cheni Gold Mines Inc. in 1994 involved the drilling of nine BQ holes on the Victoria vein, for a total of 679.18 meters, and drifting and raising on the structure fiom underground. Only a limited amount of high-grade material was encountered underground and the drill results which intersected the vein beneath the mine workings were all subeconomic. While the structure itself is consistent, the gold bearing quartz proved to be discontinuous.
In 2019, owner/operator Francois Berniolles prospected, mapped and collected 24 rock samples (Assessment Report 38550).
