A diamond drill hole returned a 57-metre intersection that assayed 2.54 per cent copper, 1.15 grams per tonne gold and 17.4 grams per tonne silver (Northern Miner, September 30, 2003).

The Northeast or Wishbone (093A 164) zone, discovered by Imperial Metals Corporation is likely British Columbia’s most significant mineral discovery in 2003. The zone occurs on the company’s mineral claims that are contiguous with its Mount Polley (093A 008) mine lease. It is about 1.5 km from the partly mined Bell pit, and less than three kilometres from the 20,000 tonne per day mill. Trenching and tightly spaced diamond drilling (4,324 metres in 21 diamond-drill holes) outlined a northwest striking zone with a minimum length of 325 metres, an apparent width of 100 metres, and a down dip extension of more than 200 metres. All but three of the twenty-one holes drilled intersected impressive intervals of well-mineralized hydrothermal breccia. A diamond drill hole returned a 57-metre intersection that assayed 2.54 per cent copper, 1.15 grams per tonne gold and 17.4 grams per tonne silver (Northern Miner, September 30, 2003).

Intensely potassic-altered, ‘crackled’ to brecciated, K-feldspar altered monzonite and plagioclase porphyry, phases of the Early Jurassic Polley stock, comprise the zone. Chalcopyrite is the main sulphide phase, but bornite is locally abundant, a feature that distinguishes the Northeast zone from the other known deposits at Mount Polley. Magnetite is uncommon and, unlike the Cariboo and Bell deposits, the Northeast zone does not have a magnetic geophysical signature. Biotite is the dominant alteration mineral followed by sporadic actinolite.

Work in 2004 identified a structurally offset extension of the deposit and lengthened the overall northwest strike of the zone to more than 500 metres. In August, 2004, Imperial released a mineral reserve (NI 43-101 compliant) for the Northeast zone of 6.2 million tonnes grading 0.978 per cent copper, 0.324 grams per tonne gold and 6.978 grams per tonne silver (Exploration and Mining in BC 2004, page 46,47). Late in 2004, Imperial announced that it will reopen the Mount Polley mine in the first quarter of 2005. The Northeast zone, which will be called the Wight Pit when developed, is an integral part of the mine restart.

In 2005, the largest exploration program in the Cariboo was conducted by Imperial Metals Corporation on and adjacent to its Mount Polley mining lease. By mid-year close to 40,000 metres of diamond drilling had been completed. It further appraised the Northeast and Southeast zones and tested the Pond showing. Drilling at the Northeast zone evaluated a possible northwest extension, called the 92 zone, and tested for the continuity of deep, high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralization, called the Green zone. The Green zone occupies a position below the present mine plan for the Wight pit. Earlier drilling intersected the Green zone over a strike length of 270 metres and yielded some impressive mineralization including a 25.1 metre interval that averaged 4.43 per cent copper, 1.28 grams per tonne gold and 26.9 grams per tonne silver (Exploration and Mining in BC 2005, pages 41-43).

The the Northeast zone, a highgrade ‘end member’ of the alkalic porphyry copper-gold system at Mount Polley, is now in production as the Wight pit. See Mount Polley Mine (093A 008) for further details.