The Dina showing is located about 33 kilometres southeast of Houston.
The property is underlain by steeply dipping volcanics and sediments of the Upper Cretaceous Goosly Lake Formation (Kasalka Group) and the Lower Cretaceous Skeena Group. Mineralization consists of pyrite, tetrahedrite and chalcopyrite disseminated in lapilli tuff and breccia and also concentrated along bedding planes in argillite.
Three of four diamond 1970 drillholes on an IP target intersected a pyritic and graphitic argillite which was the cause of the I.P. anomaly. The argillite is at least 150 metres in thickness and in places contains up to 15 per cent pyrite which occurs heavily disseminated in slightly calcareous beds up to 1 centimetre in thickness. The fourth and final diamond intersected significant amount of drill hole completed in 1970 copper-silver mineralization. The hole from bedrock from bedrock at 39.6 metres to 60.9 metres contained 0.23 per cent copper and 20.23 grams per tonne silver in a sequence of dacite ash and dust tuffs (Assessment Report 9075).
Work History
The Dina area claims were staked by Dorita Silver Mines Ltd in 1969 and were subsequently optioned to Silver Standard Mines Limited. In 1970 Silver Standard carried out a programme of geochemical surveys, induced polarization surveys and diamond drilling on the subject claims. The fourth and final diamond drillhole completed in 1970 intersected significant copper-silver mineralization. Silver Standard exercised its right to purchase under the option agreement, but no further work was performed after 1970, and all but eight of the claims were allowed to lapse.
In February 1980, the Dina 1-3 claims, totalling 44 units were staked by Silver Standard, who then optioned the complete claim block to Mutual Resources Limited. Six diamond drill holes totalling 932.6 metres were completed (Assessment Report 9075). Mutual drilled near an old drill pad that they reported as being "almost certainly" 1970 drill hole 70-4. The split core from DDH 70-4 was resampled and assayed with disappointing results. In general, the sequence intersected in the 1980 drilling had a low sulphide content, and pyrite occurred to the virtual exclusion of all other sulphides. Chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite were seen only rarely, and occurred with pyrite along fracture planes in dust tuffs. The mineralized interval in DDH 70-4 was traced 35 metres down-dip in DDH 80-1, but the length of the mineralized intersection had decreased from 21.35 metres to 9.15 metres and the grade had changed from 0.23 per cent copper and 20.23 grams per tonne silver to less than 0.01 per cent and 24.7 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 9075).
In 2012, ZTEM aeromagnetic surveying completed on behalf of Finlay Minerals covered the Dina (093L 313) and Goosly Lake titanium showing (093L 263).
In 2013, the exploration program of Finlay Minerals Ltd on their Silver Hope property consisted in part of ground checking five airborne ZTEM resistivity lows (Anomalies 1 to 5) and four other areas of interest (Anomaly A to D). Finlay visited the reported location of the Dina MINFILE occurrence which lies a short distance northeast of the Anomaly B area. No outcrop, mineralized float or evidence of past human activity was found, largely due to thick second growth vegetation. Rocks found in overburden and in streams indicate that most of Anomaly B is certainly underlain by Paleocene volcanics, although smaller areas with the Cretaceous rocks may also be present.
Refer to Gaul (093L 256) for further geological and work history details of the Silver Hope property which the Dina was part of.
