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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  26-May-2021 by George Owsiacki (GO)

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NMI 094C5 Au1
Name GRANITE BASIN, HALQUINN, RED DYKE, LAY, SUSIE, HEIDI, LC, GRANITE Mining Division Omineca
BCGS Map 094C041
Status Prospect NTS Map 094C05W
Latitude 056º 28' 35'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 125º 51' 45'' Northing 6262775
Easting 323703
Commodities Copper, Gold, Silver Deposit Types L04 : Porphyry Cu +/- Mo +/- Au
Tectonic Belt Intermontane Terrane Quesnel, Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

The Granite Basin occurrence is located 7 kilometres northwest of the west end of Aiken Lake, approximately 110 kilometres northwest of the community of Germansen Landing.

The Granite Basin showings consist of broad pyritic bands in Upper Triassic Takla Group (Plughat Mountain Formation) andesitic volcanic rocks and intercalated sedimentary rocks, which are intruded by hypabyssal bodies related to the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Hogem Plutonic Suite. The main Takla lithology is porphyritic andesite with hornblende and feldspar phenocrysts (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 274, page 217). Beds of tuff, argillite and impure limestone are intercalated with the andesite. The layered rocks are cut by hypabyssal bodies of greenish grey hornblende-phyric diorite porphyry which are similar to the andesitic volcanic rocks. These rocks are in turn cut by sill-like grey to buff coloured feldspar porphyritic diorite with some hornblende phenocrysts. Dikes of feldspar porphyry up to 30 metres in width are the youngest rock type. The feldspar porphyritic diorite is generally heavily pyritized. While the andesite and diorite porphyry are less pyritized, they commonly contain considerable pyrite where they are in contact with the feldspar porphyritic diorite.

Four concordant pyritic zones are present between 1545 and 1800 metres elevation on the east end of the precipitous south wall of a cirque. The zones range up to 60 metres in width and 120 metres in length before disappearing under overburden. The area is moderately weathered and in addition to pyrite and chalcopyrite, bornite and tetrahedrite may be present.

Assays reportedly reach up to 11.4 grams per tonne gold over 9 metres (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 274, page 218). In 1953, the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada completed two adits (113.7 metres), an upper and a lower, to test two of the mineralized zones. In 1963, Medallion Gold Mining Corporation optioned the property and conducted sampling and rehabilitation work on the property. Considerable variation is reported in the gold to silver ratios, possibly depending on the amount of tetrahedrite present, with values ranging from 1:3.6 to 1:74 gold to silver.

The No. 1 zone outcrops at an elevation of 1560 metres and consists of a 15-metre-wide feldspar dike with values in the hangingwall and centre of the dike. An assay of the upper adit yielded 12.35 grams per tonne gold and 32.93 grams per tonne silver over a 45-metre length and 1.35-metre width (Property File Rimfire - Medallion Gold Mining Corp. Ltd., 1963).

In 1963, a 3-metre-wide sample from the zone assayed 9.46 grams per tonne gold (Property File Rimfire - Sirola, 1963). The No. 2 zone outcrops at an elevation of 1620 metres, 360 metres west of the adit. Five chip samples taken across 6.3 metres of the east most exposure yielded 7.22 grams per tonne gold and 328.3 grams per tonne silver (Property File Rimfire - Medallion Gold Mining Corp. Ltd., 1963).

From 1971 to 1973, Stellac Exploration conducted a soil geochemical survey and collected rock samples. From 1974 to 1975, Susie Gold Mines conducted geotechnical soil and rock chip surveys and constructed road access to do trenching at the site of the 1936 trenching. From 1979 to 1980, Mark V Petroleum Ltd. conducted EM and magnetometer surveys and collected chip samples.

From 1990 to 1992, P. Weishaupt staked the Granite property and conducted a soil survey, collected rock samples, and blasted trenches in a cliff face. From 1993 to 1994, Noranda Exploration Co. Ltd. staked the area for Hemlo Gold Mines Inc., then conducted rock sampling, a geochemical soil survey, and geological mapping.

From 1994 to 1995, Hemlo Gold Mines Inc. completed a program of mapping, rock sampling and diamond drilling. Highlights of the drill program included drillhole DDH-HGB-95-2, which yielded 9.1 metres grading 3.36 grams per tonne gold and 11.7 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 24220). In 1996, Hemlo Gold Mines Inc. completed further trenching and channel sampling to test the grades and extent of the previously identified gold-silver anomalous zones. In 1997, Canasil Resources Inc. conducted a 500-metre drill program. Significant results include anomalous values from drillhole GB-97-01, which yielded 5 metres grading 2.37 grams per tonne gold and 5.85 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 25297).

The Granite property was dormant from 1997 to 2013. In 2013, Canasil Resources Inc. funded a remote sensing survey of the property and the work was completed by Auracle Geospatial Science Inc. In 2014, Canasil funded a limited prospecting and sampling program. In 2016, a limited prospecting program on behalf of Canasil Resources Inc. attempted to identify and sample similar alteration and mineralization east and southeast of the old workings. Most of the samples collected and submitted for analysis were of silicified, pyritic and locally sheared fine-grained clastic and intermediate volcanic rocks. The altered rocks yielded gold values ranging from less than detection to 7.93 grams per tonne (sample GB16-BL03, from gossanous andesite with 3-5 per cent disseminated pyrite and common jarosite-hematite; Assessment Report 36469). A 2016 helicopter-borne magnetics survey was hampered by difficult to unsafe flying conditions that prevented the central portion of the claim block from being flown resulting in a large gap in survey coverage. Therefore, the completed survey, totalling 41.5 line-kilometres, yielded limited information proximal to the area of historic exploration and workings.

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1927-139
EMPR BULL *1, p. 15
EMPR FIELDWORK 1991, pp. 127-145; 1992, pp. 109-134; 2018, pp. 31-53; 2019, pp. 25-47
EMPR GEM 1973-397; 1975-E158; 1976-E171
EMPR OF 1992-11; 1993-2
EMPR P 1992-01, pp. 127-145; 1993-01, pp. 109-134; 2019-01, pp. 31-53; 2020-01, pp. 25-47
EMPR PF (Plans and sections with assays, Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company Limited, 1936, 1937)
EMPR PF Rimfire (Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. (1906): Plan Map of geology and workings, Granite Basin M.C.; Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. (1936): Assay Plan map - Granite Basin M.C.; Sirola, W.M. (1963): Memo to P.M. Kavanagh re: Lay Group, Aiken Lake area; J.T.W. (1963): Sketch map showing upper and lower adits - Lay Group; Sirola, W.M. (1963): Memo to W.S. Row re: Lay Group Examination - Aiken Lake Area; Sirola, W.M. (1963): Memo to W.S. Row with map and assays; G.S.C. (1963): Report on Lay Group - Aiken Lake Area; Medallion Gold Mining Corp. Ltd., Bronlund, E. (1963): Summary Report on Mineral Properties - Lay Group; Medallion Gold Mining Corp. Ltd.; Bronlund, E. (1963): Proposed Exploration Program 1963 - Lay Group; Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. (1937): Sketch Map of Workings - Lay Group; Kavanagh, P.M. (1963): Letter to I. Shulman re: Lay Group)
GSC MAP 1030A; 48-5A
GSC MEM *274, p. 217
GBC 2021-01, pp. 105-120
GCNL Dec.29, 1975; Feb.4,18, Jul.19, Aug.22,24, Sept.9,23, Nov.12, 1976
N MINER Mar.4, 1976; Jul.3, 1995
PR REL Canasil Resources Inc. Feb.26, 2013

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