The Vidette gold mine is located at the north end of Vidette Lake, in the Deadman River Valley. The area is approximately 50 (air) kilometres north of Savona and is accessible on a good quality gravel road that leads north from the Trans-Canada Highway approximately 7.4 kilometres west of Savona. Crown-granted Lots 4744 and 4740 were forfeited in May, 1992.

The Vidette Lake area is underlain by mafic volcanic rocks of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group exposed in a window eroded through flat-lying Miocene sedimentary rocks and plateau basalts of the Chilcotin Group. The uppermost Chilcotin Group strata form an extensive layer of plateau basalts of the Chasm Formation, underlain by volcanic ash and fluviatile and lacustrine sedimentary strata of the Deadman River Formation, which occupy a northwest-trending Miocene channel. The Nicola rocks are intruded by biotite-hornblende granodiorite plugs that are possibly related to the Triassic to Jurassic Thuya Batholith. Nicola rocks are generally augite andesites commonly altered to chlorite-rich or calcareous greenstones; however, contact metamorphism has developed garnet-diopside-actinolite skarn or tactite adjacent to the intrusive rocks.

The Vidette mine features several narrow north-northwest–striking quartz-calcite veins that dip between 45 and 70 degrees northeast (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 179). The veins average slightly less than 30 centimetres in width; however, where they were economic they averaged 38 centimetres in width. Mineralization consists of quartz, calcite and pyrite with lesser chalcopyrite, minor tellurides and trace galena, tetrahedrite and specularite. Gold occurs as the native metal or in tellurides and is reportedly associated with calcite and chalcopyrite. The veins are commonly ribboned with graphite seams. Wallrocks are heavily altered to ankeritic carbonate and pyrite.

Five vein systems have been developed at the mine: the Tenford, Bluff, Broken Ridge, 70 and Dexheimer. The strongest, the Tenford, was followed for 275 metres on the first level and made ore over a length of 150 metres (Assessment Report 11731).

In 1936, sampling of the veins is reported to have yielded up to 124.1 grams per tonne gold over 2.1 metres length and 29.5 centimetres width (Property File - Booker Gold Explorations Ltd. [1987-08-08]: Geological and geophysical report on the Vidette property).

In 1939, sample rejects yielded up to 86.9 grams per tonne gold (Property File - A.F. Killin [1939-04-24]: A Mineralographic Examination of some Ores from British Columbia Mines).

In 1987, diamond drilling of a geochemical anomaly, identified in 1982, intercepted an 18-metre shear zone consisting of schist and porphyritic volcanics hosting a 0.6-metre quartz vein and disseminated sulphides that yielded values up to 2.9 grams per tonne gold (Property File - Menika Mining Ltd. [1987-09-15]: News Clipping - Menika Mining Ltd. - Vidette Group).

In 2008, two grab samples (813256 and 813257) from a shaft on the Tenford vein yielded 12.3 and 25.5 grams per tonne gold with 17.6 and 13.9 grams per tonne silver over 0.25 and 0.30 metre, respectively (Dickson, E. (2009-03-18): Summary Report on The Vidette Lake Property).

In 1984, probable reserves remaining in the old workings in the Bluff and Dexheimer veins were estimated to total 10 160 tonnes grading 19.1 grams per tonne gold and 29.8 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 13453).

During 1933 through 1940, the mine milled a total of 48 980 tonnes of ore, recovering 1449 kilograms of silver, 929 kilograms of gold, 43 825 kilograms of copper and 161 kilograms of lead.

Work History

The veins were known to prospectors as early as 1898; however, active development did not take place until 1931. The mine was put into production in 1933, following 335 metres of underground exploration and development,. Between 1933 and May 1939, underground development and exploration included 199 metres of three compartment inclined shaft, 289 metres of winzes, 4984 metres of drifts and crosscuts and 1478 metres of raises (Assessment Report 11731). The Dexheimer vein, located at the southwest side of the lake, was originally explored by two short adits. In 1939 and 1940, a tunnel was driven under the lake from the main workings and a small amount of drifting and raising was done on the zone.

In 1983, Consolidated Paymaster Resources Limited completed three NQ diamond drill holes, totalling 1017 metres. In 1984, Tugold Resources Incorporated completed a program of geophysical surveying (magnetometer and VLF-EM), soil geochemical surveying (203 samples) and geological evaluation. In 1986, Booker Gold Explorations completed a program of ground geophysical surveys, prospecting and geological mapping on the area. In 1987, Menika Mining completed two diamond drill holes on a previously identified geochemical anomaly. In 1995, Discovery Consultants completed a program of soil geochemical surveying (35 samples), heavy mineral stream sediment analyses (3 samples) and lithogeochemistry (11 samples).