The Nickel Plate (Ruby Adit) occurrence is located on a west-northwest slope of Chikamin Mountain, approximately 3.5 south-south east of Zinc Bay on the Nechako Reservoir. In 1935, the Minister of Mines Annual Report lists the Garner (Ruby Adit, Nickel Plate) occurrence as producing 2041 grams of silver, 535.2 kilograms of lead and 73 kilograms of zinc from 0.907 tonne of ore (Assessment Report 33439).

The Nickel Plate area is underlain by undivided sedimentary rocks of the Middle Jurassic Smithers Formation (Hazelton Group) and calc-alkaline volcanic rocks of the Lower Jurassic Telkwa Formation (Hazelton Group). Mt. Ney volcanic rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Skeena Group are in contact to the immediate west of the Hazelton rocks. These have been intruded by intrusive rocks of the Eocene Coast Plutonic Complex(?) to the southeast.

Locally, a quartz vein occurs in tuffs that probably belong to the Hazelton Group. The vein, which has an attitude of 135 degrees/ 90 degrees, can be traced for about 610 metres and carries mineralization consisting of galena, sphalerite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and possibly tetrahedrite. The greatest observed width of the vein is 68 centimetres.

The Ruby Adit with portal at 1625 metres elevation follows the vein for a length of 36.0 metres. The 1935 Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Annual Report lists the occurrence as a property that shipped ore but the amount was minimal.

In 1924, select galena-rich samples assayed up to 1.5 grams per tonne gold, 633 grams per tonne silver and 21.11 per cent lead (Assessment Report 33439).

In 1939, a chip sample, taken from 36 metres into the adit, assayed 2.5 grams per tonne gold, 453 grams per tonne silver, 0.9 per cent copper, 7.4 per cent lead and 8.7 per cent zinc across 0.3 metre (Assessment Report 33439).

In 1990, grab samples from a rubble pile near the Ruby Adit assayed up to 8.1 per cent zinc, 8.1 per cent lead, 1.44 per cent copper, 890 grams per tonne silver and 1.77 grams per tonne gold (Samples 9415 and 9414; Assessment Report 20146).

In 2011, a sample of dump material assayed 4.9 grams per tonne gold, 999 grams per tonne silver, 2.9 per cent copper, 11.2 per cent lead and 15.3 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 33439). A second adit was developed 300 metre south of the Ruby Adit to investigate a 0.4 to 0.5 metre wide segment of the vein that was mineralized by mostly galena with lesser pyrite. In 1924, select grab samples assayed up to 1.2 grams per tonne gold, 3630 grams per tonne silver and 53.41 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 33439).

The Nickel Plate prospect was revisited in 2012 by Guardsmen Resources Inc in order to trace the vein system to the north and hopefully locate additional workings that were reported in the literature (Assessment Report 334099). A lower, caved adit with a small dump was identified approximately 220 metres northwest of the upper adit (Ruby adit) that was located in 2011 (Assessment Report 33439). The lower adit occurs at UTM coordinates 627432E, 5919339N and at an approximate elevation of 1540 metre. The lower adit is in line with the upper adit and other surface workings further to the southeast that expose the sub-vertical vein along its 140 degree trend. The vein is not exposed at the lower adit. However, dump material includes many pieces of narrow (1 to 7 centimetres) quartz vein that contain trace amounts of pyrite and galena, with common rusty-brown iron oxide and black manganese oxide coatings. The host rock is a rusty weathering, weakly pyritic, pale grey-green tuffaceous siltstone to crystal tuff. A sample was collected from the dump. The narrow width of the vein and its poor grades indicate that the strength of Nickel Plate vein system has diminished significantly at this location.

Work History

In 1915, on the Cariboo Group, Michelson & Harrison conducted prospecting along the south shore of Whitesail Lake and development of underground workings was completed.

In 1918, on the Silver Tip, A.C. Garde and Associates and Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company (Cominco) conducted prospecting and discovered new showings. The property was optioned to Cominco

In 1919, at the Chikamin Adit and Roosevelt, Cominco completed development of 18 metre drift on the Chikamin Adit.

In 1919, on the Ruby Adit and Nickel Plate, Cominco (?) development of a 39 metre drift was done on the Ruby adit along with two short drifts and numerous trenches.

In 1922, on the Silver Tip, W.H. Harrison & Sons completed some cross-cuts and additional drifting of the Chikamin Adit.

In 1926, on the Sunset Group, W.H. Harrison & Sons discovered a new mineralized shear zone near shoreline of Whitesail Lake.

In the 1930s, on the Garner and the Roosevelt, A. and O. Harrison hand-cobbed and shipped ore; limited production was recorded in 1935

In 1945, on the Mentor, C.V. Harrison staked claims and conducted prospecting.

In 1945, on the Roosevelt, Privateer Mines Limited completed 3 diamond drillholes totaling 150 metres.

In 1945, on the Dad's Special, A. Ritz and Privateer Mines Limited staked 4 mineral claims and completed one diamond-drillhole totalling 41 metres.

In 1945, on the Rainy No. 1 and Gold Coin, Privateer Mines Limited conducted some development work on the California adit and several open cuts were completed.

In 1955, on the Chikamin Group, Privateer Mines Limited conducted trenching and sampling.

In 1965, on the Ace 1-28 claim group and Deuce 1-4 claim, Omineca Sixty Four Syndicate completed geological mapping and prospecting. Their work on the Ace claims identified a syenite intrusion and a granitic intrusive breccia with a prominent pyritic alteration envelope. Beyond the alteration envelope, zones of magnetite-chalcopyrite-bornite skarn mineralization and zones of disseminated hematite, pyrite and chalcopyrite mineralization in agglomerates, limy tuffs and andesites were discovered. The syndicate’s work on the Deuce property outlined skarn mineralization.

In 1966, on the Ace, Deuce and Trey, Cominco conducted geological mapping a geochemical sampling and completed two X-Ray drillholes totalling 70 metres.

In 1989, on the Midnight property and XK2620, Equity Silver Mines Ltd and Guardsmen Resources Inc conducted claim staking activities.

In 1989, on the Midnight property, Equity Silver Mines Ltd conducted geological mapping and rock, soil and silt sampling on the western part of the property that covered the Roosevelt and Nickel Plate prospects. Rock chip sampling of shear zones exposed well downstream from the Roosevelt adit area encountered one well-mineralized quartz vein. Equity Silver also undertook a stream sediment, soil and rock geochemical sampling program in the vicinity of a silica-pyrite alteration zone identified in 1988 (Paper 1988-1)that roughly coincided with the Ace and Chikamin Group prospects in the eastern part of the property. Bulk silt sampling in four creeks detected weakly anomalous concentrations of copper-antimony, gold-copper or gold-lead in three of the drainages; soil between the drainages detected weakly anomalous metal values generally below the 1160 metre elevation; and rock chip sampling of the gossanous, silica-pyrite altered outcrops observed in all four drainages did not detect any significant metal values.

In 1990, on the Midnight property, Equity Silver Mines Ltd conducted a 22.6 line-kilometre IP survey over the Roosevelt and Dad's Special areas. The survey outlined three anomalous chargeability highs, the largest of which is coincident with a resistivity low, anomalous geochemical results, and a shear zone containing mineralization (Walcott, 1991).

In 1991, on the Midnight, Equity Silver Mines Ltd drilled 12 diamond-drillholes totalling 1365.4 metres in the area of Roosevelt prospect. The drilling failed to intersect bulk tonnage grades, but successfully intersected numerous narrow, widely-spaced polymetallic veins.

In 1993, on the XK2620, Guardsmen Resources Inc conducted a 6.8 line-kilometre VLF-EM and magnetometer geophysical survey.

In 1999, on the XK2620, Guardsmen Resources Inc completed geological mapping, VLF-EM & magnetometer survey and rock & soil geochemistry sampling over Roosevelt and Dad's Special areas. The work outlined several linear, northerly trending multi-parameter anomalies characterized by strong VLF-EM responses and lead-zinc +/- silver +/- arsenic soil geochemical anomalies that are in part coinciding.

In 2006, Guardsmen optioned the Zincamp (XK2620), property to Christopher James Gold Corp which conducted a limited prospecting and geochemical sampling program.

In 2011, on the Silver Bay, Jet Gold Corp completed prospecting, geochemical sampling and conducted an airborne geophysical survey. Three of the six recorded mineral prospects were located, examined and sampled. At the Roosevelt prospect, samples of banded quartz-galena-sphalerite-arsenopyrite-pyrite-chalcopyrite vein mineralization graded up to 17.3 parts per million Au, 1570 parts per million Ag, 7880 parts per million Cu, greater than 20.0 per cent Pb and greater than 30 per cent Zn. At the Nickel Plate prospect, samples of semi-massive sulphide mineralization collected from the dump outside the Ruby adit graded up to 4.9 parts per million Au, 999 parts per million Ag, 29000 parts per million Cu, 11.2 per cent Pb and 15.3 per cent Zn. At the Ace prospect, a large area of recessive-weathering granitic breccia and pyrite-silica altered intermediate volcanic rocks are exposed in a deeply incised drainage in the eastern part of the property. Some of the altered rocks sampled were weakly anomalous in silver, copper, lead and zinc. A preliminary examination of the geophysical data, conducted by GeoSci Data Analysis Ltd, concluded that there are several geophysical responses that appear to be mapping the underlying geology, and identified numerous geophysical features that may be delineating unmapped geological structures of significance. The geophysical survey covered

In 2012, Guardsmen Resources Ltd conducted a one-day reconnaissance prospecting program intended to locate several of the other reported mineral occurrences on the property. Three of the prospects (Rainy (093E 027), Deuce (093E 034), and Nickel Plate) were located, and a total of 11 rock samples (2 from Rainy, 7 from Deuce and 2 from Nickel Plate) were collected.