The Whiting Creek prospect, Ridge zone is underlain by volcanic rock of the Lower Jurassic Telkwa Formation (Hazelton Group). Stocks of the Late Cretaceoeous Bulkley Plutonic Suite intrude the strata. The largest intrusive body is the Whiting hornblende-biotite granodiorite stock. Other stock consists of feldspar porphyry and quartz diorite.
The Whiting Creek Ridge zone area is characterized by several intrusions into Hazelton Group fragmental rocks which have been biotite hornfelsed.
At the Ridge zone, molybdenite in veinlets and quartz stockworks with or without pyrite and chalcopyrite occurs within a pervasively altered quartz porphyry plug of Late Cretaceous age and in adjacent hornfelsed Hazelton Group rocks just north of the Whiting stock. Low grade copper mineralization also occurs in a moderate to pervasive sericitic (phyllic) altered porphyritic hornblende-biotite granodiorite that cuts the quartz porphyry plug. The highest grade zones in the quartz porphyry are characterized by pervasive quartz flooding and development of banded quartz-molybdenite veins and closely spaced vein stockworks.
Most of the andesite on the property has been subjected to some amount of homfelsing caused by one of the many intrusions. The hornfels is usually dark brown to black, fine grained and contains secondary biotite and magnetite. Potassium feldspar and biotite alteration are common at the Rusty and Creek zones. Biotite occurs as replacements of mafic minerals while potassium feldspar forms envelopes around quartz and sulphide veins. Sericite alteration is common with secondary quartz in the molybdenite-rich quartz aplite porphyry as patchy to pervasive replacement of feldspars. Sericite alteration also occurs at the Creek zone replacing in envelopes around quartz and sulphide veins. Widespread propylitic alteration occurs in the volcanics as epidote, calcite and chlorite
The Ridge stockwork molybdenum zone has been the location of considerable diamond drill activity in previous surveys. The zone has been traced by diamond drilling and trenching discontinuously over a strike length of approximately 800 metres on the ridge that forms the divide between Rusty Creek, Whiting Creek and Comb Creek to the northeast.
Indicated reserves are 123.5 million tonnes grading 0.062 per cent copper and 0.025 per cent molybdenum (Bulletin 75, page 57). Grade given was 0.043 per cent MoS2; conversion to Mo using the factor 1.6681.
WORK HISTORY
Portions of the Whiting Creek property were staked in the early part of the 20th century, and explored for precious metals. Kennco Explorations (Western) Ltd. staked the Rusty Creek drainage in 1962, and actively explored the property. The property was subsequently optioned to Quintana Minerals Corporation in 1972, SMCD Mining Ltd. in 1980 and 1981 and New Canamin Resources in 1992.
The first recorded work in the area was in 1913 with the discovery of placer gold in Sibola Creek. Exploration of the drainages on Sibola Peak resulted in the discovery of precious and base metal veins in Whiting Creek. Kid Price, a mining pioneer in the central interior of British Columbia, reportedly worked placer and lode claims in the Whiting Creek drainage. Kennco Explorations (Western) Ltd. while following up stream sediment sample staked portions of the area in 1962, and followed up with geochemical, geophysical and diamond drill programs which led to the discovery of the Ridge Zone. In 1972, Quintana Minerals drilled a single hole to 457 metres in the upper reaches of the Ridge zone. In 1980-81, SMDC followed up with geochemical, geophysical, mapping, percussion drilling and diamond drilling programs. The work was carried out over all four known zones of mineralization - Rusty, Ridge, Creek and Sweeney, SMD dropped the option after the 1981 work program. This work led to the statement of a drill-inferred resource of 123.5 million tonnes at 0.062 per cent Cu and 0.043 per cent MoS2 (0.025 per cent molybdenum) including 40 million tonnes at 0.17 per cent Cu and 0.10 per cent MoS2 (0.06 per cent molybdenum) (Cann and Smit, 1995 (in CIM Special Volume 46)). These resource estimates were made before the implementation of National Instrument 43-101 regarding the reporting of mineral resources, and may not be compliant with that standard.
The property remained idle until Kennecott drilled two diamond drill holes at the Creek zone in 1991. Only one of these holes penetrated the overburden.
New Canamin Resources acquired the properly in 1992 and completed a soil survey in 1994 consisting of 155 samples (Assessment Report 24064). Huckleberry Mines Ltd. is thesuccessor to New Canamin. Sampling was completed in the vicinity of the Rusty zone (093E 049) occurrence and in the area of the northern extension of the Ridge zone, drilled in 2008.
In 1998, Huckleberry Mines Limited cut and surveyed a total of 15.1 kilometres of grid lines and completed 15.1 kilometers of Induced Polarization (IP) geophysics at the Creek zone.
In 2000 Huckleberry Mines Limited drilled 545.1 metres in 4 NQ diamond-drill holes (Assessment Report 26443). Diamond drilling in 2000 at Whiting Creek successfully extended the northern edge of known mineralization at the Creek zone by 400 metre. The zone now measures 700 metres (north-south) by 300 metre significantly, drill hole WCOO-03 intersected the highest grades of consistent copper/molybdenum (east-west) and mineralization may be continuous with the Ridge zone 700 metres to the north. Mineralization remains open to the north-northeast and the copper grades are improving in this direction.
In 2002, Huckleberry Mines Limited completed 2 contour soil lines, one silt line, and several rock samples, for a total of 40 samples (Assessment Report 27002). Sample locations were selected based on proximity to mineralization identified in the 2000 Creek Zone drilling.
In 2004, geophysical lines were laid out to extend geophysical coverage north from the Creek Zone through the Ridge Zone Huckleberry Mines Limited (Assessment Report 27613). A total of 13.1 line kilometres of gridline was cut and chained and an Induced Polarization geophysical survey was completed over the 13.1 line kilometers of gridline and 154 soil samples were collected.
In 2008, Huckleberry Mines Limited completed seven drillholes totalling of 2,028.43 metres of BTW diamond drilling. The program was focussed a molybdenum in soil anomaly just to the northwest of the Ridge zone and has been called the Moly Creek zone or the large amount of molybdenite-bearing stockwork quartz veining outcropping in the creek bed. The five holes drilled in the Moly Creek zone returned good values in molybdenum but weaker than anticipated copper values. The last hole of the 2008 program, WC-08-07, was drilled in the southwestern portion of the Creek Zone and yield copper values but almost no molybdenum values.