The George Gold-Copper Upper prospect is located about 1.3 kilometres south of the Stewart highway, 2.5 kilometres southeast of the confluence of Rufus Creek with the Bear River.
The area is underlain by flat lying to gently dipping Lower Jurassic andesite flows of the Unuk River Formation (Hazelton Group). Northwest-trending dikes are common in the area.
Several east trending, steeply south dipping quartz-jasper-barite veins occur. The veins are up to 6 metres wide, but average 1 to 2 metres in width. They comprise mainly quartz, with lesser amounts of jasper, barite and included country rock. Metallic minerals consist predominantly of chalcopyrite and pyrite with sporadically developed hematite, magnetite and arsenopyrite. Metallics form up to 50 per cent of the vein material.
The western Blue and Jasper veins form a continuous vein more than 335 metres long. The vein strikes at 110 degrees and dips 65 degrees south. Mineralization occurs continuously over a length of 145 metres and consists of pyrite, pyrrhotite, hematite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite.
The Green vein, east of the Blue-Jasper vein complex, consists of several veins and intervening stockworks. The vein is about 60 to 70 metres long and may be the extension of the Blue-Jasper vein.
The White vein, about 50 metres north of the Green vein, can be traced for a length of about 150 metres.
Channel samples across the veins range from less than 1 per cent up to 10 per cent copper and trace to 8.6 grams per tonne gold (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 175, page 117).
Assuming continuity of the mineralization along the veins, reserves have been reported to total (indicated and inferred) 180,000 tonnes grading 2.0 per cent copper, 17.1 grams per tonne silver and 2.1 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 6382, page 12). Unclassified reserves were reported to be 453,550 tonnes grading 17.1 grams per tonne silver, 2.0 grams per tonne gold and 2.0 per cent copper (Statement of Material Facts July 12, 1979 - Tournigan Mining Explorations Ltd., G. Keyte, December 1978).
The prospect is on the Helena (Lot 4783) and Grandview (Lot 4793) claims, staked by W. George and F. Strohn in about 1911. Several open cuts had been emplaced by 1919. The property was optioned in 1920 by the Algunican Development Company Limited and in 1922 to 1923 by the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Limited; no work was reported. In 1925, the George Gold-Copper Mining Company Limited was incorporated and Cominco optioned the property in 1927. At least six holes were drilled before 1929. In 1971, Keith Copper Mines Ltd. acquired property near the showing and performed magnetometer surveys. In 1976, Tournigan Mining Explorations Ltd. purchased the 12 George Gold-Copper claims, including the Helena and Grandview claims. Tournigan carried out work in the area during 1976-78, but no specific work was reported on the showing. Tournigan Mining conducted sampling on their Bear Pass property, which includes this prospect, in 1991. In 2002, the Stro 1-3 and the BA 1-4 claims were acquired by E.R. Kruchkowski. In 2005, the claims were jointly owned by Pinnacle Mines Corp. (50%) and Mountain Boy Minerals Ltd. (50%). In August and September of 2006, follow-up prospecting and sampling led to the discovery of the Barbara zone. The summer program consisted of geochemical sampling that included chip sampling across mineralized structures and horizons and grab sampling of outcrop and float; a total of 32 grab, 110 float and 4 chip samples were collected. Mountain Boy Minerals optioned the property in the fall of 2006 and from the fall of 2006 to the fall of 2008, the Barbara zone was drilled. Over the next three years, a total of 13,550 metres of BTW size core was drilled in 93 holes from 55 different drill pads. Some limited trenching and surface sampling was also conducted during this time (internal company data, 2009). In 2010, Great Bear Resources Ltd. conducted an exploration program on the BA property which included a VTEM (helicopter-borne time-domain electromagnetic) survey and a diamond drill program comprising 85 drillholes totalling 14,791 metres.
In 2016, Great Bear Resources reported an assay from Trench M on their George copper target approximately three kilometres to the northwest of the BA zone. The 6-metre sample assayed 0.35 gram per tonne gold, 19.2 grams per tonne silver and 2.1 per cent copper (News Release, Great Bear Resource, December 8, 2016). The target is situated 100 to 200 metres stratigraphically below the BA zone and is thought to represent higher-temperature, copper-gold-dominated VMS mineralization of similar style to that which has also been intersected below the zinc-silver-lead horizon at BA.
In September 2017, Mountain Boy Minerals reported that they had struck an option agreement whereby they could earn a 60 per cent interest in West George copper (News Release, Mountain Boy Minerals, September 11, 2017). The property consists of 288 hectares adjacent to the company's 100-per-cent-owned George copper project. The project has a silica cap over highly sericite altered andesitic rocks containing sulphide-bearing quartz stockworks. High copper values with two to three grams per tonne gold have been obtained on the talus slopes below the silica cap (News Release, Mountain Boy Minerals, September 11, 2017). Sampling was reported to be underway in late 2017.
See BA (104A 180) for further details.
