The Enterprise showing is located on Lot 5346, near the headwaters of the Bear River, about 2.3 kilometres northwest of Strohn Lake and 850 metres north of the Stewart highway.
The area is underlain by east trending, gently north dipping Lower Jurassic Unuk River Formation (Hazelton Group) andesitic tuffs and flows. The main workings are in pyritic pyroclastic or volcaniclastic felsic rocks that are variably chloritized. The iron formation unit which hosts the George Gold-Copper deposit (104A 029, 129) lies below the workings.
Small veins, stringers, pods, disseminations, mineralized shear zones and stockworks contain chalcopyrite that is accompanied in places by galena, sphalerite, chlorite, quartz and calcite. Mineralization does not appear to be continuous from outcrop to outcrop.
The best mineralization is in the Frenchman tunnel, where a northwest striking, vertical fault gouge is well mineralized with chalcopyrite, pyrite and malachite. Grab samples collected from this zone in 1978 assayed up to 7.0 per cent copper, 3.4 grams per tonne gold and 24.0 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 7201).
Samples from fault and fracture zones in the Enterprise tunnel assayed 0.1 to 0.2 per cent copper and 3 to 14 grams per tonne silver; one sample assayed 1.0 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 7201).
In tunnel A, pyritic felsic tuff-agglomerate is mineralized with stringers and disseminations of chalcopyrite and veinlets of quartz and calcite. A grab sample collected in 1978 assayed 1.86 per cent copper, 15.8 grams per tonne silver and 13.8 per cent barium (Assessment Report 7201).
Above and northwest of the Enterprise tunnel, the country rock is pyritic, andesitic or dacitic tuff. Several small mineralized zones are exposed in pits and tunnels. The zones comprise narrow veins, stringers or disseminations in fault breccia and shear zones. Wallrocks are variably sericitized and chloritized. A channel sample, collected in 1946(?) across a northeast striking, east-dipping fracture contained pyrite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, galena and sphalerite. The sample assayed 1.8 per cent copper, 1.0 gram per tonne gold and 147.4 grams per tonne silver across 0.28 metre (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1946).
Several silver-rich boulders have been located southwest of these showings. The source has not been found. In 1946, samples of one boulder assayed 10.3 grams per tonne gold and 5136 grams per tonne silver (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1946).
Significant, but sporadic gold values have been reported over the years from the Enterprise showing. In 1928, a sample across 1.5 metres from a cut 27 metres above the Frenchman tunnel assayed 27.4 grams per tonne gold, 68.6 grams per tonne silver and 2.3 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1928).
Drilling completed on the Enterprise zone in 2010 failed to intersect any ore grade mineralization reported by previous property operators. The three holes which tested this zone intersected only minor amounts of fracture controlled epigenetic mineralization. They did not intersect any stratabound mineralization or any volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) related horizons such as exhalite. This area, however, still has a good exploration potential. Even though mineralization is erratic, it is quite abundant and often of high grade. The area with alteration and mineralization is quite extensive and the two holes (the third hole did not reach the target) tested only a small portion of this zone.
Considerable work, including an adit (30 metres long) was reported on the Lucky Frenchman claim group before 1919; the work may have been done in 1910-11. George restaked the ground in 1919, and again in 1922, as the Enterprise claims. High grade silver-bearing float was reported west of the Frenchman tunnel in 1922 and 1925. Mineralized zones were reported in this area in 1927. In 1928, the George Enterprise Mining Company Ltd. was formed to acquire the claims. During 1928-31, considerable tunnelling and opencutting were reported; at least six further adits were emplaced. Tunnel A was driven about 260 metres southwest of the Frenchman tunnel. The 100 metre long Enterprise tunnel was driven about 40 metres northwest of the Frenchman tunnel. A drift was driven to connect the Frenchman and Enterprise tunnels. Several other tunnels were driven along a northwest trending zone of mineralization, above and to the northwest of the Frenchman tunnel. Further work, mainly prospecting, was reported in 1946 and 1950. Tournigan Mining Explorations Ltd. conducted reconnaissance mapping in the area in 1976 and prospecting and sampling in 1978. In 1994, work completed on the Bear Pass property by Lac Minerals Ltd. consisted of prospecting, reconnaissance mapping and grab and chip sampling. A total of 55 samples were taken on five claim groups: the George Gold-Copper, Heather, Enterprise, Red Top and Barite groups. In 1996, Transworld Trading Corporation conducted a helicopter-borne magnetic survey over the Bear Pass property and approximately 249 line-kilometres of total field magnetic data was collected. In 2006-07, a property scale stream sediment sampling and prospecting program was carried out on the Bear property on behalf of Auramex Resource Corp. In 2010, an exploration program on the Bear property owned by Auramex Resource Corp. consisted of prospecting, drilling and airborne geophysics. The Bear property covers 11 mineral occurrences of which Enterprise is part. In total, 271 core, 228 rock, 14 silt, and 30 soil samples were collected during the entire program. The Enterprise zone was tested by three diamond-drill holes totalling 1295 metres of NQ core. The airborne geophysics consisted of VTEM (Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic) and magnetic surveys totalling 744.3 line-kilometres; previously, in 2009, a total of 939 line-kilometres were flown.
