The Saunders North showing is located approximately 7.5 kilometres east-northeast of the Lawyers mine (094E 066), some 280 kilometres north of Smithers. The occurrence lies within the Omineca-Cassiar Mountains at the southern end of the Toodoggone gold camp. It is situated within a Mesozoic volcanic arc assemblage which lies along the eastern margin of the Intermontane Belt, a northwest- trending belt of Paleozoic to Tertiary sediments, volcanics and intrusions bounded to the east by the Omineca Belt and to the west and southwest by the Sustut and Bowser basins.

Permian Asitka Group crystalline limestones are the oldest rocks exposed in the region. They are commonly in thrust contact with Upper Triassic Takla Group andesite flows and pyroclastic rocks. These Takla rocks have been intruded by plutons and other bodies of the mainly granodiorite to quartz monzonite Early Jurassic Black Lake Suite and are in turn unconformably overlain by or faulted against Lower Jurassic calcalkaline volcanics of the Toodoggone Formation, Hazelton Group.

The dominant structures in the area are steeply dipping faults which define a prominent regional northwest structural fabric trending 140 to 170 degrees. In turn, high angle northeast-striking faults (approximately 060 degrees) appear to truncate and displace northwest-striking faults. Collectively these faults form a boundary for variably rotated and tilted blocks underlain by monoclinal strata.

The Saunders North showing is underlain by a succession of lower to middle subaerial volcanics and associated volcaniclastic sediments of the upper volcanic cycle of the Toodoggone Formation. Lithologies underlying the Saunders North showing consist predominantly of latite lava flows with interflow lahar and mixed epiclastic and pyroclastic rocks of the Metsantan Member. To the south and west, Toodoggone Formation volcanics are composed of partly welded, crystal-rich dacitic ash flows of the Saunders Member. The dominant lithologies southeast of the showing are divided into two informal units. The first unit consists of pyroxene-biotite-hornblende porphyry flows with interbedded breccias and lapilli tuffs. The other unit consists of well-bedded lapilli, crystal and ash tuffs with interbedded sandstone and siltstone. The area is also disrupted by a conjugate set of northwest and northeast-striking faults that appear to have substantial displacement.

Quartz veins and stringers with pyrite are hosted in an outcrop composed of intensely silicified, oxidized and argillic-altered latite or trachyte. Limonite coating on fracture surfaces is common.

In 1983, a sample (S-9-1-9) from an outcrop of fractured, silicified, and oxidized feldspar porphyry with quartz seams and stringers and limonite staining, located along the ridge approximately 300 metres to the south, yielded 0.23 gram per tonne gold and 18.8 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 12716).

In 1985, a sample (DD-S-5) from a narrow, brecciated quartz vein with pyrite assayed 1.42 grams per tonne gold and 11.7 grams per tonne silver, while a sample (BT-S-6) from a 1- to 2-metre-wide quartz breccia zone, located approximately 300 metres to the southwest of the previous sample, assayed 0.11 gram per tonne gold and 24.0 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 14487).

Work History

In 2003, Stealth Minerals staked the Swan claims. During the same year field crews completed a program of prospecting, stream geochemical sampling, and, in participation with the Geological Survey of Canada/Private Partnership Toodoggone Initiative, completed a helicopter airborne magnetic and radiometric survey. The survey recorded 2 magnetic parameters and eight gamma-ray spectrometer parameters flown at a line spacing of 400 metres and a sensor height of 60 metres over the entire property including the Saunders North showing area (Assessment Report 27442).

In 2004, Prospecting and sampling were undertaken on the Swan 2 and 5 Mineral Claims to assess the potential for extensions and additional mineralized exposures on and around the Saunders South, Som and Saunders North showings.

Refer to Saunders (094E 017) for complete details of the Saunders/Swan property work history.