The Englishman showing is on the Yellow Giant property, situated on the west side of Banks Island, a coastal island located on the Hecate Straight approximately 110 kilometres south of Prince Rupert and 120 kilometres southwest of Kitimat. Nearby communities include Hartley Bay, which is located 55 kilometres to the east on the mainland, and Kitkatla, which is located 55 kilometres to the north on Dolphin Island. Banks Island is uninhabited and presently the only access to Banks Island is by air or by boat. Access is easiest by float plane or helicopter, which can be chartered from Prince Rupert.
Banks Island lies along the western edge of the Coast Plutonic Complex characterized by northwest trending granitic bodies, mainly granodiorite-quartz monzonite and quartz diorite which are separated by narrow, persistent Permian (?) or older metasedimentary belts, mainly crystalline limestone, micaceous quartzite skarn, and schist. The metasedimentary rocks generally exhibit a wide range of "granitization" effects and contact metasomatism.
Regional and local faulting, fracturing, and folding are common on the Island. Two major, right lateral faults, trending 310 degrees known as the Arseno and Hepler faults have associated 045 degree linears. Left lateral faults trending 090 degrees also occur. Many contacts between the plutonic and metasedimentary rocks are faults or drag folds. Some faults have been healed by recrystallization. Structure is the prime factor in ore localization.
The Englishman Zone lies along a major east-west fracture-shear system and is characterized by intense sericite-chlorite-quartz alteration, hosted by biotite quartz monzonite. The Main Zone strikes 115 degrees and dips 80 degrees north and the North Zone strikes 135 degrees and is close to vertical. The two zones are separated by a 20 to 30 metre distinctive hornblende quartz diorite with many intrusive breccia features. Pyrite, pyrrhotite, and arsenopyrite, with minor sphalerite, galena, and molybdenite occur as disseminations.
The east-west trend of the Englishman Zone is displaced by 045 degree cross faults with up to 50 metre left-lateral displacements. The Main Zone strikes 380 metres, has a vertical depth of 90 metres, and widths up to 24 metres. The North Zone strikes a similar length, has a 40 metre vertical depth and widths up to 4 metres. Both zones are open in length and depth.
A 2.44 metre drill intersection in the Main Zone assayed 7.54 grams per tonne gold and 10.29 grams per tonne silver. A 4.0 metre intersection of the North Zone assayed 4.8 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 14171).
Banks Island Gold Ltd. continued exploration on the Yellow Giant property with an airborne VTEM survey in 2011 and exploration and confirmation drilling in 2012 and 2013 (Assessment Reports 33421, 33448 and 34684).
See Kim (103G 021), Discovery (103G 025), Tel (103G 026) and Bob (103G 024) showings for additional information and resource estimates.
Banks Island Gold Ltd. declared Commercial Production effective January 1, 2015. During the period of 2014 into 2015, mining was occurring in the Bob and Tel zones. On July 31, 2015, operations were suspended due to permitting and regulatory issues and in January 2016 Banks Island Gold filed for bankruptcy (Press Release - Banks Island Gold Ltd., August 4, 2015 and January 8, 2016).
