The Germansen River North Occurrence is located approximately 2.5 kilometres from the mouth of Germansen River. It is located near the old Germansen townsite and occurs on the west side of the Germansen River, straddling Plughat Creek. The main road passes within 30 metres of the pits and approximately 50 metres to the west, a serviceable airfield is found. This occurrence is restricted to the pits where mining is still active.

Today, there are only two large pits. The active one lies on the north side of Plughat Creek and the inactive one lies to the south of the creek. In the southern pit, there is an adit at the southern end which is believed to be part of the Sunset occurrence (093N 026).

The auriferous gravels are approximately 4.5 metres thick and lie on rock benches which are 15 metres above the river. The gold is concentrated near the bedrock which in this area is represented by phyllites, argillites and felsic tuffs belonging to the Mississippian to Lower Permian Cooper Ridge Group.

The overburden at this occurrence varies from approximately 30 to 42 metres in thickness. The glacial overburden consists of boulder clay, silt and gravel.

Prior to 1950, reported gold production for the entire Germansen River varies from 515,851 grams (Bulletin 28, page 43) to 750,776 grams (Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 252, page 145). See Germansen River South (093N 055).

WORK HISTORY

Placer gold was discovered on the Germansen River in 1870 and the northwest trending part of the river has been worked almost continuously since then by individuals, and at times by companies. The Caledonia General Mining Association, Limited Liability, of Victoria, purchased 640 acres of placer ground on the river in about 1897. The St. Anthony Exploration Company, of Santa Barbara, California, bought 8 leases on the river from the Omineca Consolidated Company Ltd. in 1899. Some 158.5 metres of prospecting tunnels were run and a 27.43 metre deep shaft was sunk. The company abandoned the leases in 1902. The Royal Standard Investment Company, of Vancouver, prospected leases on the river in 1913.

Germansen Placers Limited was organized in April 1931 to carry out a hydraulic operation on a section of the river about 7 miles above its mouth. Hydraulicing was done on rock benches on either side of the river during 1932 and 1933. A new company, Germansen Placers Limited, was organized in February 1934 to continue the placer operations on this section of the river; the company name was changed in April 1934 to Germansen Mines, Limited. The company carried on intermittent hydraulic operations until 1943; the water supply was obtained by ditch and flume from the south fork of the Germansen River. In 1953 the company optioned the ground to K.H. Armstrong, of Seattle. The company charter was surrendered in June 1956. Mrs. R.M. Tait carried out a drag line and sluice box operation on this section of the river in 1959 and 1960.

Germansen Ventures, Limited, a subsidiary of Ventures Exploration Company (East Africa), Limited, was organized in September 1937 to acquire 12 leases on the lower end of the Germansen River and on Plughat Creek. Construction of a 15 mile ditch and flume from Germansen Lake to the workings had begun late in 1936. Two main pits were worked, and for several years about 1,000,000 yards of gravel were moved each season. Operations were suspended in July 1942 and the company charter was surrendered the following year. Subsequent operations in these pits were carried on by G.H. Loper from 1946 to 1952, by A. Pendle & associates from 1954 to 1956, and by Gene Jack from 1959 to 1961. Lincoln Gold Placers, Ltd., operated a monitor on Little Lost Creek, a tributary of the Germansen River, in 1948.

Grizzly Gold Mines Ltd. of Penticton, operated a dredge on the river in 1966. During the 1988 summer field season, a large operation in the northern pit operated 24 hours a day.

In 2010, fifteen of the 16 placer tenures are 100 per cent owned by W.A.M. Claim Service Inc. and have been optioned to Westwing Enterprises Ltd. A seismic survey was conducted consisting of five separate seismic traverses all surveyed on benches along the west side of the Germansen River. In the vicinity of the Germansen River North area, a total of 2970 lineal metres of seismic refraction survey was carried out on 25 separate seismic spreads. Based on the seismic refraction data, the paleo-channel may be eroded to the northeast, with the termination point between seismic lines SL-1 and SL-2.