The Quartz Hill 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 Quartz Hill area consists of abundant large, irregular quartz veins and masses in a 250 by 100 metre area associated with metasedimentary rocks in contact with quartz monzonite. The quartz masses are at the intersection of a 150 metre long east-west shear and a 240 metre northeast-southwest structural lineament.
The metasedimentary rocks consist of marble and actinolite- garnet skarn. Disseminated sulphide mineralization occurs through- out the area as sparse molybdenite, sphalerite, and pyrite. Galena containing up to 342 grams per tonne silver is occasionally present near vein contacts (Assessment Report 14171).
Trenching of the "Cliff Zone" exposed a heavily manganese oxide- stained contact between hornblende-biotite quartz monzonite and garnet-actinolite skarn with 10 to 15 centimetre widths of massive pyrite and lesser sphalerite. Samples assayed 3.4 grams per tonne gold, 27.4 grams per tonne silver, 2.0 per cent zinc, and 0.71 per cent lead. A 3.0 metre chip sample assayed 1.54 grams per tonne gold. The "Meade vein", 80 metres to the south assayed 34.3 grams per tonne gold from a 5 to 13 centimetre width over a 6.1 metre length (Assesment 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).
