The Sickle Creek occurrence is located in the headwaters of a southeast-flowing tributary of Jock Creek, approximately 5.3 kilometres southwest of the creek’s junction with the Toodoggone River.
Regionally, the area 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 Paleogene 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 Stuhini Group andesite flows and pyroclastic rocks, and marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Lower to Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group. These 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 that 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 Sickle epithermal vein system comprises a set of parallel-banded quartz-calcite-sulphide veins, referred to as the 570A to 570E veins. The veins trend at approximately 155 degrees, dip 65 degrees to the west and cut grey-green andesite lavas that correlate with the Metsantan member (Toodoggone formation) of the Lower to Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group. Several of the most prominent veins reach widths of up to 12 metres and are exposed over a continuous strike length of more than 100 metres; however, the vein system has been traced in outcrop discontinuously over a length of greater than 3 kilometres, past the Griz occurrence approximately 500 metres northwest of the Sickle, and then probably on to the Kevin occurrence (MINFILE 094E 208) approximately 5 kilometres northwest of the Sickle.
The structure was originally described as comprising quartz stockwork, silica flooding and sulphides in wallrock and veins. Galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite and pyrite occur as fine disseminations, patchy aggregates and semi-massive to massive bands up to several centimetres wide in a gangue of white sparry calcite, milky to grey quartz, chalcedony, minor amethyst and lesser adularia.
In 2003, channel sampling of two trenches yielded up to 27.50 grams per tonne gold and 1131.6 grams per tonne silver over 1.0 metre (sample C151515) from trench 2 and 8.56 grams per tonne gold with 634.8 grams per tonne silver over 1.0 metre from trench 1 (Sample C151508), whereas a 0.3-metre wide grab sample (133657) from the same trench yielded 100.29 grams per tonne gold and 1785.7 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 27429). Also at this time, a sample (133957) from the area is reported to have assayed 78.8 grams per tonne gold, 2060 grams per tonne silver, 0.51 per cent copper, 11.4 per cent lead and 10.5 per cent zinc (Press Release, Stealth Minerals Ltd., August 28, 2003).
In 2004, widely spaced (100 to 200 metres) exploration drillholes at the south end of the Griz vein system exposed in the Sickle Bowl area, and associated trenches intersected narrow intervals with silver values. The best intersection was from hole SG-04-23 and assayed 0.43 gram per tonne gold and 220.9 grams per tonne silver over 2.6 metres, including 383 grams per tonne silver and 0.72 gram per tonne gold over 1.3 metres core length (Assessment Report 27790).
Work History
In 1999, Stealth Minerals staked the initial claims in the area of what is now known as the Sickle-Sofia property and, later that year, Standard Metalsconducted a small-scale geochemical program and prospecting on the area as the JC 1-2 claims on behalf of Stealth Minerals. The program discovered quartz and quartz-carbonate veins ranging from 0.5 to 50 centimetres in width with anomalous precious-metal values and chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena mineralization. Grab samples from a silicified, quartz-carbonate-pyrite–flooded shear, 1.0 to 2.0 metres wide and 25 metres long, yielded 396 parts per billion gold and 4.0 parts per million silver (Assessment Report 30339).
Minor follow-up work during the next few years located high-grade silver from a float sample in a talus pile in Griz Bowl.
In 2003, Stealth Minerals completed a program of rock, silt and soil sampling; trenching and 78.4 line-kilometres of ground geophysical surveys on the Pine property. This work resulted in the discovery of the Sickle Creek vein to the south of Griz Bowl. Further work late in 2003 located the Griz-Sickle epithermal vein system and the Quartz Lake (MINFILE 094E 301) veins. Also at this time, as part of a private-public partnership with the Geological Survey of Canada and the British Columbia Department of Mines and Energy, the Sickle-Sofia property was included in a multi-parameter helicopter-borne geophysical survey over the Toodoggone district. Several high potassium anomalies and low thorium-potassium ratio anomalies were detected.
In 2004, Stealth Minerals expanded the property package by staking additional claims. A grid-based soil survey was conducted over 27 square kilometres, outlining the Alexandra (MINFILE 094E 245) copper-gold soil anomaly. Concurrent prospecting identified the Sofia (MINFILE 094E 238) porphyry outcrop, the North Vein (MINFILE 094E 304) outcrop, and high-sulphidation silica-alunite alteration. A total of 728 rock and 2103 soil samples were collected. Also at this time, Stealth Minerals completed 3323 metres of diamond drilling in 24 holes, designed primarily to test downdip and along strike of the Quartz Lake (MINFILE 094E 301) A to C veins and test the along-strike projection of the Griz-Sickle vein set. Rock sampling was also done in the Kevin (MINFILE 094E 208) area.
Drilling on North Ridge failed to intersect any mineralization similar in grade or texture to the float sample recovered from surface. The drillholes (SG-04-20 to SG-04-23) drilled to the south also failed to reproduce the high grades of gold and silver recovered from the surface rock chip samples in the area.
In 2005, a program of geological mapping and a 21 line-kilometre induced polarization and ground magnetic geophysical survey was completed over the lower, glacial-fluvial–covered portion of the Sofia (MINFILE 094E 238) copper-gold porphyry target. This survey outlined an 800-metre wide by 1200-metre long +40 millisecond induced polarization chargeability anomaly that was open to the north. Geological mapping was also completed over the BS (MINFILE 094E 303), Sickle (MINFILE 094E 237) and Alexandria (094E 246) occurrence areas.
In 2006, Stealth Minerals further expanded the IP/ground magnetic survey by another 21 line-kilometres and expanded the chargeability anomaly a further 600 metres north and 300 metres west. During the 2006 season, a total of 27 rock samples were taken from outcrop and float. Geophysical surveys were completed in the area between and covering the Sofia (MINFILE 094E 238) to Quartz Lake (MINFILE 094E 301) area.
In 2007, the Sickle Sofia property was operated by BCGold Corporation and was jointly owned by BC Gold and Stealth Minerals. Drilling totalled 1565.6 metres in five holes. One hole was completed at the Sofia showing (094E 238) and two at the Alexandria (MINFILE 094E 246). The other three holes tested IP targets but did not find significant mineralization.
In 2015, a program of geophysical review completed for Cazador Resources Ltd. on the Sofia property identified five target areas.
In 2017, Cazador Resources completed 239.0 line-kilometres of airborne magnetic surveys and a 2.5 line-kilometre ground induced polarization survey on the Sofia property.
