The Toad developed prospect is situated on the east-facing slopes immediately west of Toad River, 44 kilometres south of Muncho Lake, 25 kilometres west-northwest of Mount Roosevelt in the Muskwa Ranges of the Northern Rocky Mountains, and approximately 177 kilometres west of Fort Nelson (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1959; Assessment Report 2547).
The occurrence lies in the hangingwall of the Gataga thrust, on the western margin of the Muskwa Anticlinorium, a major north-northwest–trending structure characterized by moderate folding and thrust faulting (Geological Survey of Canada Map 1343A). Like the main part of the anticlinorium to the east, the thrust sheet comprises Middle Proterozoic (Helikian) sedimentary rocks of the Muskwa Assemblage, and unconformably overlying Paleozoic rocks (Geological Society of America, Geology of North America, Volume G-2, pages 111, 639). All belong to Ancestral North America (Geological Survey of Canada Map 1713A). Northeast- to northwest-trending Proterozoic diabase dikes are common in the region.
The Toad deposit is in the Aida Formation of the Muskwa Assemblage, composed mainly of dolomitic mudstone, siltstone and dolostone (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 373). Locally the unit consists of thinly bedded grey slate and silty argillite (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1959). Bedding generally strikes north and dips between 10 and 20 degrees west. The slaty cleavage strikes 330 degrees and dips 35 degrees southwest.
In the area of the mineralization, a 6-metre-wide diabase dike intrudes the sedimentary rocks, striking 350 degrees and dipping 75 degrees west. Mineralization occurs within a shear zone striking approximately 010 degrees and dipping 70 degrees west, slightly oblique to the dike but crossing it without producing a significant offset (Property File - Map of surface trenches and drillholes). The shear zone north of its intersection with the dike is narrow and not well mineralized.
The more important segment of the shear zone is south of the dike intersection. Chalcopyrite, quartz calcite stringers, and minor pyrite occur in the shear zone over widths ranging from 1 to 4.25 metres. Between 25 and 50 per cent of the surface mineralization is in the form of malachite. In 1959, nine trenches were put in to evaluate the mineralization over a strike length of 200 metres. The average grade obtained was approximately 6 per cent copper over an average width of 2.4 metres (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1959).
Work History
In 1958, 442 metres of diamond drilling over 10 holes extended the depth of mineralization to approximately 30 metres (Property File - Drill hole logs; Minister of Mines Annual Report 1959; National Mineral Inventory). In 1959, another five holes were drilled, totalling 460 metres, confirming the shear zone's depth and width, but the grade was considerably less than that at the surface.
The drilling program indicated 90,710 tonnes averaging 4.5 per cent copper over a strike length of 137 metres and a vertical depth of 60 metres, and an average width of approximately 1.5 metres (National Mineral Inventory; Mineral Bulletin MR 223; Prospectus, Fort Reliance Minerals Ltd., September 28, 1961, A.D. Wilmot, September 20, 1961).
In 1969 and 1970, line cutting was completed on behalf of Brameda Resources Ltd. No significant work was carried out thereafter, although renewed interest in the property was shown in 1992 (George Cross News Letter, Number 87, May 5).
In 2005, Aries Resource Corp. entered into a property option agreement with an arm's-length vendor allowing the company to earn a 100 per cent interest in the Toad River property. Also in 2005, Twenty-Seven Capital Corp. completed a regionally extensive program of geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling and a 9002.0 line-kilometre airborne magnetic survey on the area as the Muskwa property.
During 2017 through 2019, Fabled Copper Corp. examined the area as the Churchkey property. In 2021, Fable Copper Corp. completed a program prospecting, rock sampling and UAV photogrammetry surveys on the Church-Key-Neil property.
