The Kaza Copper prospect is located on a small hill on the east side of Lion Creek, 6 kilometres south of Kaza Lake, about 115 kilometres northeast of Hazelton. There is some confusion between these showings and the Fred deposit (094D 032) located 10 kilometres to the north.
The property is underlain by the Lower Jurassic Telkwa Formation of the Hazelton Group which consists of basalt and andesite flows, breccias and tuffs and an overlying sedimentary unit consisting of siltstones, sandstones and chert pebble conglomerates. Limestone lenses and pods occur between some of the flows. Steeply dipping, north trending felsic dikes of the Eocene Kastberg Intrusions are common in the area of the showings.
Mineralization consists of skarn and replacement-style copper-gold-silver showings occurring as horizons or pods commonly associated with north-northwest trending felsic dikes, apparently related to the Eocene Kastberg plutonic suite. Two major trends of skarn mineralization have been identified, the north-northwest trending Main Trend, with individual skarn horizons exposed over a 500 metre strike length, and the more east trending Hornblendite zone.
Work History
The earliest records on the Kaza occurrence area date from 1967, when the Fire claim block was controlled by R.M. Tait. That year, pyritic gossanous zones with intermittent chalcopyrite up to 30 metres wide and with a minimum strike length of 300 metres were identified. In 1968, Mr. Tait conducted further exploration, including geological mapping and a ten-hole, 660 metre diamond drilling program.
Surface chip sampling results obtained from the claims in 1967 reportedly included 0.88 per cent copper, 15.43 grams per tonne gold and 12.7 grams per tonne silver over 4.0 metres. Subsequent diamond drilling in 1968 reportedly intersected 1.17 per cent copper, 14.4 grams per tonne gold and 120.0 grams per tonne silver over 1.2 metres from DDH 9 from the Main Trend; and 0.80 per cent copper, 1.7 grams per tonne gold over 7.5 metres from the Hornblendite zone (Assessment Report 36373).
In 1973, Dynasty Explorations Ltd. conducted soil sampling and magnetometer surveys across the mineralized area. The soil survey revealed a broad copper anomaly 1160 metres long by 460 metres wide covering the main mineralized area. The magnetometer survey revealed erratic magnetic highs corresponding with narrow magnetite horizons. Dynasty also analyzed six rock samples taken from the best exposures of skarn-style mineralization in the main mineralized trench. Dynasty also conducted regional copper geochemical sampling traverses along Lion Creek, Kaza Creek and several tributaries.
In 1980, Dome Exploration (Canada) Ltd. conducted soil geochemical surveying outside of the main mineralized trend and determined that no significant anomalies were identified. Dome also conducted chip sampling along the main mineralized trend and identified the importance of hornblendite zones as potentially auriferous. However, Dome concluded that there was likely insufficient tonnage to warrant further exploration.
In June 1983, Asarco Exploration Company of Canada Ltd. staked a 20-unit Blue claim across the Main Trend, and obtained numerous samples for petrographic analysis.
In August, 1985, Mr. R.M. Tait staked the Log 1-4 claims covering the Main Trend.
In 1996, Everest Mines and Minerals Ltd. obtained five 10-kilogram, minus-20 mesh stream sediment samples. Three returned anomalous gold values: 97 parts per billion from a creek draining the northern portion of the Main Trend; 144 parts per billion from a creek to the south; and 428 parts per billion from a creek to the west. Everest Mines also mapped the known showings in detail, divided the Main Trend into the Main, South and North showings, and obtained 29 rock chip/channel samples showing the presence of pyrite-chalcopyrite +/- malachite +/- magnetite. The Main and South showings are located along the same topographic lineament covering a distance of 370 metres. The North showing was described as three gossanous, pod-like bodies up to 20 metres in diameter. Also in 1996, I.S. Thompson of the firm of Derry, Mitchener, Booth and Wahl collected four composite grab and one grab sample from the Kaza showings. In August 1996, Everest Mines entered into an option agreement with Mr. R.M. Tait on the thirteen claims then comprising the Kaza property.
In 1997, Everest Mines conducted soil geochemical, ground magnetometer and induced polarization (IP) chargeability and resistivity surveys, as well as an intensive mechanical trenching program. A total of 381 soil samples were obtained at 25-metre sample intervals and identified strongly anomalous coincident copper and gold values along the Main Trend. The survey also identified numerous copper anomalies, commonly but not exclusively coincident with anomalous gold zones. The induced polarization survey revealed five anomalous zones, interpreted to represent sulphide-rich zones. Two of these anomalies are coincident with the Main Trend, the third occurs parallel to this along the extent of the grid, the fourth occurs to the west, and the fifth underlies the northeastern portion of the grid. The trenching program targeted the strongest geochemical anomalies along the Main Trend and exposed a massive sulphide zone up to 23 metres wide with an inferred strike length of 450 metres. The best results were obtained in trench K-T-7, returning a value of 1.70 grams per tonne gold and 7958 parts per million (0.79 per cent) copper across 7.5 metres (Assessment Report 36373).
In 2002, Northern Hemisphere entered into an option agreement to acquire both the Kaza and Northstar properties. Northern Hemisphere conducted surface exploration programs in 2003, including line cutting, induced polarization and surface magnetometer geophysical surveying, systematic soil sampling and geological mapping across cut grids, and rock geochemical sampling throughout the property. These led to identification of the Hornblendite zone in the Kaza project area.
In 2004, Northern Hemisphere conducted exploration-style diamond drilling within the previously identified zones within the Northstar and Kaza project areas. Five holes were drilled within each project area. Drilling at the Kaza project area failed to intersect economically viable zones, although numerous sub-economic zones were encountered. The best values were: 0.085 per cent copper and 1.0 gram per tonne silver across 22.6 metres in DDH KZ-04-01, and 0.045 per cent copper with 0.5 gram per tonne silver across 56.2 metres from DDH KZ-04-05 (Assessment Report 27818).
In 2012, an MMI (mobile metal ion) soil sampling survey was carried out by Blind Creek Resources within the Kaza Northstar property. The MMI sampling amounted to 400 samples along ten northeast-trending lines for a total survey length of 9750 metres. The survey grid was located about 1 kilometre to the north-northwest of the Kaza Copper prospect. Copper anomalies defined four areas of interest.
In 2015, owner/operator M.J. Miller-Tait collected eight rock chip geochemical samples from the southern portion of the Main trend. A 300-metre northwest-southeast sampling transect was completed along the eastern edge of the Main trend. Six samples were taken at 50-metre intervals on the transect and an additional two grab samples were collected from a north-south–oriented trench at the South showing. Results from the 2015 Kaza rock chip sampling found moderately anomalous copper-gold-silver mineralization along the southern portion of the Main trend. Samples along the eastern edge of the Main trend showed 0.95 per cent copper, 1.16 grams per tonne gold and 11.7 grams per tonne silver over 50 metres at the Main showing; 0.05 per cent copper, 1.43 grams per tonne gold and 1.9 grams per tonne silver over 50 metres between the Main and South showings and 1.49 per cent copper, 0.64 gram per tonne gold and 23.1 grams per tonne silver in a 15-metre sample across the South showing (Assessment Report 35881).
In November 2015, the Kaza Lake copper property was acquired by Gold Fountain resources.
In 2016, owner/operator M.J. Miller-Tait completed a short soil geochemical sampling program on the Kaza property targeting extensions of the Main Trend to the south and the Hornblendite zone to the east. Results confirmed moderately anomalous copper-gold-silver mineralization 100 metres south of the South showing and drillhole KZ-04-05 at the southern end of the Main Trend. Towards the eastern edge of the property, weakly anomalous copper-silver mineralization was identified 500 metres east-southeast of the North showing and drillhole KZ-04-04 that is interpreted to represent an extension of the Hornblendite zone. A narrow gold-bearing structure is interpreted to lie between these two zones (Assessment Report 36373).
During June 2016, the new owner, Gold Fountain Resources, conducted field prospecting and geochemical sampling work on the Kaza claims. An outcrop with copper mineralization was found at the centre of the claim. Copper content of a grab specimen GK-C-182-2 from the outcrop was 2.03 per cent (Assessment Report 36479).
In the summer of 2018, Commander Resources Ltd. completed an exploration program on its Henry Lee property. Work consisted of mapping and geochemical rock and soil sampling. Soils were collected from three 200-metre–spaced lines north of the historical soil sampling grid. A total of 1 silt, 10 rock and 73 soil samples were collected over five days of fieldwork. The soil sampling extended the extents of the historical anomalous copper-molybdenum in soils to the northwest by approximately 400 metres (Assessment Report 37994).
