The Tep 1 occurrence is located approximately 110 kilometres east of Williams Lake and is exposed along a logging roadcut, south of the eastern end of Horsefly Lake at an elevation of approximately 913 metres. The showing occurs along the same trend of the geologically similar Frasergold deposit (MINFILE 093A 150), which is located approximately 20 kilometres south-southeast of the Tep 1.
Regionally, the area is underlain by mudstone, siltstone, shale and fine clastic sedimentary rocks of the Middle to Upper Triassic Nicola Group and Triassic Slocan Group. To the east serpentinite ultramafic rocks of the Upper Paleozoic Crooked amphibolite and metasedimentary rocks of the Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic Snowshoe Group are exposed.
Locally, the area is underlain mainly by basal black phyllite with minor interbedded limestone and quartzite of the Slocan Group. These rocks form the upright northeast limb of the major northwest-trending Eureka syncline. Locally, the rocks form asymmetric drag folds that contain metamorphically derived quartz (‘sweats’) in the hinges. For more detailed regional and local geology descriptions see the Frasergold (MINFILE 093A 150) occurrence.
Mineralization is associated with the ‘knotted’ or porphyroblastic black phyllite unit, which occurs in a 200- to 300-metre wide zone within the phyllite sequence. Gold mineralization typically occurs near the base of the knotted phyllite. The quartz sweats strike at 130 degrees (±10 degrees) and dip 30 degrees to vertically west. These host gold mineralization (rarely visible) and quartz-carbonate material. The mineralized zone is characterized by a high percentage of boudinaged quartz veins with minor pyrite, limonite, and iron carbonate (siderite) hosted in a graphitic and locally sheared phyllite within a more massive-type porphyroblastic phyllite. The mineralized zone has been traced by drilling over a strike length of 238 metres. Sample assays of the mineralization are highly variable, which has been attributed to a ‘nugget effect’ in the gold mineralization.
In 1987, a 25-centimetre channel sample (E27032) of a boudinaged quartz vein taken from a phyllite exposure on the Tep 1 claim assayed 2.23 grams per tonne gold, 36.4 grams per tonne silver, 1.292 per cent lead and 0.105 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 19961, Property File - Armada Gold and Minerals Ltd. Prospectus May 1988).
In 1988, chip and channel sampling of trench No. 8 on the Tep 1 claim averaged 3.8 grams per tonne gold over 13 metres, including 33.69 grams per tonne gold over 2 metres (Assessment Report 18471). Subsequent check samples yielded an average of 1.50 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 19497). Diamond drilling, near the No. 8 trench, yielded intercepts including 3.25 grams per tonne gold over 1.5 metres in hole 88-1; 1.88 grams per tonne gold over 1.5 metres in hole 88-3 and 1.50 grams per tonne gold over 0.9 metre in hole 88-4 (Assessment Report 18471).
In 1989, drilling on the Tep 1 claim yielded intercepts including assays varying (from three separate analyses) from 0.68 to 3.42 grams per tonne gold and 0.07 to 5.85 grams per tonne gold over two separate 1.5-metre long sections in hole 89-6 and 2.77 to 9.37 grams per tonne gold over 0.75 metre in hole 89-7 (Assessment Report 19497).
In 2016, a rock sample (TMR-13) assayed 0.39 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 36274).
In 1982, Dennison Mines Ltd. soil sampled the area of the Forks 1-4 claims. In 1983, Ripple Resources Ltd. conducted a program of soil sampling and a lone drillhole on the area of the Forks 3-4 claims. In 1984, Homestake Canada Inc. completed a program of geological mapping and rock, silt and soil sampling on the Archie claim, located immediately southwest.
In 1987, Armada Gold and Minerals Ltd. conducted a program of rock, soil and silt sampling and regional mapping of the Forks, AR and TEP claim groups. This work defined several discontinuous soil anomalies plus located indications of gold mineralization on the Tep-1 claim. The following year, a program of extensive trenching, further detailed geological mapping and five diamond drill holes, totalling 918 metres, was completed.
In 1989, Arrowfield Resources Ltd. and Armada Gold and Minerals Ltd. completed four diamond drill holes, totalling 616 metres, to test the extension of the previously identified mineralized zone.
During 2010 through 2012, Bullion Gold Corp. completed programs of soil sampling, a 45.5 line-kilometre induced polarization survey and 1874.0 line-kilometres of airborne geophysical surveyingon the area as part of the Cariboo Goldfields and Horsefly properties. In 2016, a program of rock sampling was completed.
