The Book 6 (North zone) occurrence is situated in the northeast corner of the Book 6 claim, approximately 4 kilometres north of the Gataga River and 10 kilometres south-southwest of Churchill Peak in the mountainous Muskwa Ranges of the Northern Rocky Mountains.
The occurrence is in a region known as the Muskwa Anticlinorium, a major north-northwest–trending structure characterized by thrust faults and moderate folding. Rocks as old as Middle Proterozoic (Helikian) outcrop in the structure, along with Paleozoic rocks (Geological Survey of Canada Map 1343A; Geological Society of America, Geology of North America, Volume G-2, page 639). All belong to Ancestral North America (Geological Survey of Canada Map 1713A). The Middle Proterozoic rocks are pre-Windermere Supergroup and are known as the Muskwa Assemblage (Geological Society of America, Geology of North America, Volume G-2, page 111).
Northeast– to (more commonly) north-northwest–trending, steeply dipping diabase or gabbroic dikes are common in the region. These Proterozoic intrusions were structurally controlled; their presence and orientation are closely related to regionally important fault and fracture zones in the Proterozoic sedimentary rocks.
The area is underlain mainly by the Aida Formation of the Muskwa Assemblage, comprising dolomitic siltstone, dolostone, argillaceous limestone and slaty argillite (Assessment Reports 2638, 5777, 10960; Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 373, Paper 67-68). Slate, argillite and siltstone of the overlying Gataga Formation outcrop around the edge of the claim group. The strata strike north-northwest and dip moderately east or west. Some isoclinal folding is present. Slaty cleavage strikes northwest and dips moderately southwest. A number of diabase dikes, 3 to 60 metres thick, in the north and centre of the area strike northeast to northwest and dip moderately to steeply west. Fault and fracture zones in the sedimentary rocks also strike northeast to northwest.
Locally, an east-verging reverse fault zone up to 180 metres wide can be traced from north to south. Some margins of dikes that lie in this zone are sheared. The zone is important because it hosts many mineralized quartz-carbonate veins (Assessment Reports 2638, 5777, 10960). Some occur along the margins of dikes. This occurrence is centred on quartz-rich veins with minor calcite and dolomite in the north of the claim group, on Book 6, extending into Book 4. This has been referred to as the North zone (Geology, Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 1971). The main vein has a strike length of approximately 500 metres, dips 68 degrees west, and ranges from 1 to 1.5 metres in thickness. It is mineralized with disseminations, stringers and lenses of chalcopyrite, locally sub-massive, visually estimated at 2 to 5 per cent or greater (Assessment Report 2638). Coarse disseminated galena and fine-grained pyrite also occur in places. Fine- to medium-grained sphalerite has been seen in diamond drill core (Assessment Report 5777). Local oxidation has produced limonitic gossan, and minor malachite and azurite.
Another zone of similar mineralization is located approximately and extending from 400 metres south-southeast of the North zone, which has been referred to as the Central zone, may represent a strike extension to the south of the North zone to the Book South (MINFILE 094K 052) zone, approximately 2 kilometres to the south.
Recent work, in 2021, describes two veins, referred to as the Main and West veins, in the previously described North zone. The Main vein was traced for 68 metres with widths of 0.5 to 1.6 metres along a strike of 177 to 181 degrees and steeply dipping to the west through sheared sediments. The Main vein bends slightly to the east-southeast at its southeast end, where a northwest-trending dike has intruded the sediments. The vein is mineralized with chalcopyrite up to 10 per cent but averaging approximately 1 per cent. The West vein is exposed intermittently over a length of 400 metres along a strike of 175 to 183 degrees and dips 85 degrees to the west. The vein is 0.2 to 3.6 metres wide and hosts up to 75 per cent massive chalcopyrite, 2 per cent bornite and locally variable galena concentrations of less than 1 to 20 per cent. At its north end, the West Vein lies 2 to 10 metres west of the Main Vein, and whereas the Main Vein appears to be cut-off by a northwest-trending dike, the West vein continues southward and is offset to the west at various locations where the dikes are exposed. An exposure of an irregular-shaped quartz-carbonate veining, up to 3.6 metres wide, with up to 10 per cent chalcopyrite was located approximately 270 metres southeast of the south end of the West vein and likely relates the previously described Central zone.
In 2005, an outcrop sample (B374309) of quartz-carbonate vein with patchy chalcopyrite, malachite and minor chalcocite from the North zone assayed 1.28 per cent copper, 0.30 per cent zinc and 3.1 grams per tonne silver, whereas an outcrop sample (B374204) of quartz vein with semi-massive chalcopyrite, taken immediately west of Central zone, yielded 26.7 per cent copper and 21.8 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 38212).
In 2021, chip samples (D723054 and D723054-055) from the Main vein yielded 7.73 and 6.36 per cent copper over 1.1 and 1.6 metres, respectively, whereas chip samples from the West vein yielded up to 5.38 per cent copper over 0.8 metre (Assessment Report 39912). Also at this time, a chip sample (D723131) from the southeastern (Central zone) vein yielded 5.42 per cent copper over 0.8 metre (Assessment Report 39912).
Work History
In 1970, Windermere Exploration Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping, hand trenching and rock sampling on the area as the Bronson, PJ and Book groups of claims. The following year, Bralorne Can-Fer Resources completed a program of soil sampling and ground electromagnetic and induced polarization surveys on the PJ claims. In 1975, Bralorne Resources completed a program of geological mapping and geochemical (silt and soil) sampling on the Andrew, PJ and Sybil claims.
In 1981 and 1982, Coppex Syndicate completed a program of geological mapping and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area as the BE and MO claim groups.
In 2005, Twenty-Seven Capital Corp. completed a regionally extensive program of prospecting, geological mapping, geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling and a 9002.0 line-kilometre airborne magnetic survey on the area as the Muskwa property.
In 2012, a remote sensing and geophysical data interpretation program was completed on the area as part of the regionally extensive Northern IOCG property. In 2019, High Range Exploration Ltd. completed a minor program of rock sampling, GIS compilation and application of remote sensing on the area as the Bronson property.
In 2020, Fabled Copper Corp. completed a minor program of rock sampling and historical data review on the area as the Bronson property. The following year, a program of photogeological interpretation, rock sampling and 1.6 line-kilometres of combined airborne magnetic and ground electromagnetic (VLF) surveys were completed on the property.
