The Golden Loon (High Grade Zone), also called the Golden Loon 1 or GL-1 occurrence, is located approximately 750 metres south of Dum Lake and 6 kilometres west of Little Fort.
The area is underlain by dioritic intrusive rocks of the Triassic to Jurassic Dum Lake Intrusive Complex, which consists of a mafic portion composed of diorite, gabbro, microdiorite and intrusion breccia and an ultramafic portion composed of dunite, wehrlite, pyroxenite and serpentine. The Dum Lake Intrusive Complex is believed to be an Alaskan-type intrusive complex (Fieldwork 2000). It is in contact with granodioritic rocks of the Triassic to Jurassic Thuya Batholith on the west. On its eastern side the Dum Lake intrusive rocks intrude siltstone, argillite, chert and limestone of the late Paleozoic Harper Ranch Group and mafic volcanic rocks, related volcaniclastic rocks, clastic sediment, chert and limestones of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group.
Locally, a quartz vein system, up to 1.5 metres wide, hosts scattered pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena mineralization. The vein strikes north and dips 50 degrees west. The vein quartz is milky white in colour, and wallrocks are silicified, chloritized and cut by carbonate veinlets. The vein has been traced on surface for approximately 60 metres.
A second vein, or a possible continuation of the first, referred to as the North vein, is exposed by a trench (no.10) approximately 400 metres to the north. The vein varies from 0.1 to 0.4 metres wide and trends north.
Another area of mineralization, described as an alteration zone exposed in subcrop, is located approximately 1.5 kilometres to the southwest.
Samples are reported to have yielded up to 119.7 grams per tonne gold, 619 grams per tonne gold and 4.2 per cent lead (Property File - W. Kovacevic [1996-01-01]: Fact Sheet - Golden Loon).
In 1990, trench samples from the main (trenches 1-7) zone are reported to have yielded an average of 6 grams per tonne gold over 1.5 metres with values up to 22.3 grams per tonne gold, 162 grams per tonne silver, 1.29 per cent lead and 0.16 per cent copper over 0.6 metre, whereas samples from the propylitic alteration zone, up to 5 metres from the vein, yielded up to 0.4 gram per tonne gold (Property File - Corona Corp. [1990-12-24]: Geological, Geochemical and Geophysical Report on the Golden Loon Claim Group). Sampling of the second or North vein in trench 10 yielded up to 5.6 grams per tonne gold, 75.6 grams per tonne silver and 0.8 per cent lead (Property File - Corona Corp. [1990-12-24]: Geological, Geochemical and Geophysical Report on the Golden Loon Claim Group).
Also in 1990, a sample from trench 25, located a short distance west, assayed 7.08 grams per tonne gold (Property File - W. Kovacevic [1996-01-01]: Fact Sheet - Golden Loon).
In 1995, subcrop samples from the alteration zone, located to the southwest, yielded up to 3.11 grams per tonne gold, 122.2 grams per tonne silver and 1.96 per cent lead (Property File - W. Kovacevic [1996-01-01]: Fact Sheet - Golden Loon).
In 1997, drilling beneath the structure provided disappointing results, the highest assay being 3.28 grams per tonne gold and 13.7 grams per tonne silver across 20 centimetres, whereas sampling of the northern vein yielded values up to 5.6 grams per tonne gold and 75.6 grams per tonne silver over 10 centimetres (Assessment Report 25431).
The earliest record of prospecting in the area dates from the 1920s, when placer gold was recovered from the Eakin Creek (MINFILE 092P 055). In 1967, Noranda Exploration Company completed a soil sampling survey over the Kira claims after obtaining anomalous results in a reconnaissance stream sediment sampling program. The program outlined zones of anomalous copper and nickel. In 1973, Rio Tinto Canadian Exploration Limited completed another soil geochemical sampling program on the Dum Claim Group, outlining copper, zinc and lead anomalies west of Dum Lake. Teck Corporation reportedly staked the Minerva Group in 1980 on the west side of the Golden Loon property and undertook a magnetometer survey and a soil geochemical survey, obtaining several silver anomalies.
In 1984, The Golden Loon Claims were staked by Barnes Creek Minerals and a prospecting program was undertaken. In 1985, additional prospecting was undertaken and magnetometer, VLF-EM and soil geochemical surveys were completed. In 1987, Mineta Resources completed a program that included soil geochemical surveys (548 samples), line cutting (34.6 kilometres), lithogeochemistry (18 samples) and stream sediment geochemical sampling (70 samples), locating some high-grade float boulders and outlining some gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies. In 1988, Mineta completed 78.2 kilometres of line-cutting and 61.0 kilometres of VLF-EM and magnetometer surveying, and collected 1571 soil geochemical samples. In 1989, Mineta completed 25.0 kilometres of VLF-EM and magnetometer surveying, as well as soil geochemical (556 samples) and lithogeochemical (20 samples) surveys.
In 1990, the property was optioned to Corona Corporation and an extensive program of prospecting, geological mapping, soil geochemical sampling (637 samples), geophysical surveys (25 kilometres of magnetometer and VLF-EM), trenching and diamond drilling (691 metres in 7 holes) was carried out. In 1992, Placer Dome Limited optioned the property, focusing on the porphyry copper-gold potential of the western portion of the property, and completed 20.0 kilometres of grid preparation, geological mapping and soil geochemical surveying (1083 samples). In 1996, Meteor Minerals Incorporated completed a program of geochemical soil sampling to test the potential of the enzyme leach technique in tracing mineralized zones in areas of extensive overburden. In 1997, Meteor completed a three-hole (393 metres) diamond drill program on the Golden Loon High Grade Zone. In 1999, Tilava Mining Corporation completed a program of lithogeochemical sampling (150 samples) on ultramafic rocks on the property and detected significant platinum values. In 2000, the property was optioned by Case Gold Mines Limited and VLF-EM, magnetometer, induced polarization and soil geochemical (119 samples) surveys were completed.
