The Shastex showing is located approximately 4.7 kilometres north-northwest of Drybrough Peak, some 280 kilometres north of Smithers. The occurrence lies within the Omineca-Cassiar mountains at the southern end of the Toodoggone gold camp. The Shastex occurrence 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 (Stuhini) 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 calc-alkaline 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 Shastex (Ridge and Creek) occurrences are underlain by Takla Group volcanic rocks consisting of augite and feldspar phyric basalt to andesite breccias and lapilli tuffs interbedded with siltstone, sandstone and greywacke. To the south, Toodoggone Formation volcanic rocks are exposed as a fault-bound block and consist of coarse pyroclastics and clastics. Intrusive outcrops are scattered throughout the area consisting of variable altered hornblende granodiorite of the Black Lake stock.

The Shastex Ridge showing consists of quartz veins and stringers up to 30-centimetres wide forming a stockwork of fine-grained, vuggy quartz with associated pyrite and propylitic alteration and sphalerite-galena-chalcopyrite mineralization. Other mineralized quartz veins, referred to as the Shastex Creek zone, are reported to the east near Shastex Creek.

Work History

In 1968, Cominco Ltd. completed a program of prospecting and soil sampling on the area as the Xmas claim. In 1974, Conwest Exploration Co. Ltd. completed a program of soil and silt sampling on the area as the Pill No. 1 claim.

In 1980 and 1981, Serem Ltd. completed programs of geological mapping and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area as the Gotcha 1-2, Jock 1-5 and Itsch claims.

In 1986, Alexim Developments Corp. completed a program prospecting, geochemical (rock and silt) sampling and trenching the area as the Dawn, Shastex 1 and Paradise 2 claims. Two rock samples (PS-46 and -47), taken approximately 40 metres apart from the zone of quartz veins and stringers assayed 19.30 and 0.32 grams per tonne gold with greater than 100 and 39.5 grams per tonne silver, respectively, while another sample (PS-43), taken approximately 250 metres to the west, yielded 2.23 grams per tonne gold and greater than 100 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 15310).

In 1989, Esso Resources completed two diamond drill holes, totalling 117.0 metres, on the Dawn and Shastex 1 claims.

Refer to the Pine (MINFILE 094E 016) for details of the Pine property which contained the occurrence from the late 1990s to 2014. Exploration work included programs of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping and airborne geophysical surveys.

In 2003, prospecting in the Dawn-Shastex occurrence area by Stealth Minerals Ltd., as part of their larger Pine property exploration, yielded approximately 130 rock samples containing up to 1.6 grams per tonne gold with 13 grams per tonne silver from the Shastex Ridge area and up to 0.587 per cent copper, 0.999 per cent lead, 3.816 per cent zinc, 0.3 gram per tonne gold and 149.1 grams per tonne silver from the Shastex Creek area to the east of the ridge zone (Assessment Report 27429; samples 132982 and 133597, respectively).

Company maps show rock sampling in the vicinity of MINFILE 094E 095 (Dawn), 140 (Shastex) and 141 (Dawn 2). Stealth verified structurally controlled zones of quartz, quartz-carbonate veins stringers and local stockwork and breccia occur and contain carbonate, barite, pyrite, sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite, with associated gold and silver values. On Shastex Ridge, quartz and barite vein float occur in talus over a 50-metre-wide area and can be traced for over 1 kilometre. Lead and zinc values were high in the Dawn 2 area as previously documented but are also found within several hundred metres southeast of Shastex.

During 2016 through 2018, Amarc Resources Ltd. completed programs of soil and rock sampling, geological mapping, 115.0 line-kilometres of ground induced polarization surveys and 1940.0 line-kilometres of airborne magnetic surveys on the area as the Joy property.