The Delta 1 showing is located about 80 kilometres northeast of Stewart, near the headwaters of the west branch of Deltaic Creek, a tributary of the Bell-Irving River, immediately southeast of the Delta Glacier.
The area is underlain by Lower to Upper Jurassic Hazelton Group volcanics and sediments of uncertain stratigraphic position that are exposed in the Oweegee Dome, an inlier in the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Bowser Lake Group. Green volcanic conglomerate is overlain by green volcanic flows, brown-black siltstone, mudstone, limestone, felsic to intermediate lapilli tuff, tuff breccia and crystal lithic tuff. Northeast-trending faults and shears cut the rocks.
Several north trending alteration zones, up to 1000 metres long and 100 metres wide, occur in the area along north to northeast-trending faults and shears in the volcanic conglomerate. They consist mainly of weathered pyrite, but kaolinite and hairline quartz veining are present in the more intensely altered areas. Surrounding rocks have undergone propylitic alteration.
Mineralization comprises mainly disseminated pyrite, which forms 2 to 7 per cent of the alteration zones, and localized chalcopyrite, malachite and azurite with traces of sphalerite. A grab sample assayed 0.95 per cent copper and 0.24 per cent zinc, lead, silver and arsenic values were negligible and gold was slightly anomalous (Assessment Report 21745).
In 1996, drilling returned anomalous gold values of 248 parts per billion over 80 metres and including 1.23 grams per tonne gold over 6.76 metres (Assessment Report 32061).
In 2007, drillhole DDHDC07-03 intersected mineralization that returned 0.189 gram per tonne gold and 0.074 per cent copper over 138.67 metres; including a higher grade gold section that contained 0.468 gram per tonne and 0.11 per cent copper over 17.14 metres and a higher copper section that returned 0.140 gram per tonne gold and 0.17 per cent copper over 17.08 metres. The wide, anomalous gold zone includes a zinc zone that averaged 0.109 gram per tonne gold and 0.079 per cent zinc over a core length of 14.44 metres (Assessment Report 32061).
The 2017 stream sediments and soils sample results suggest the area underlying and/or draining three of the five VMS Airborne Versatile Time Domain Electro Magnetics (VTEM) target zones are anomalous in silver, lead and zinc, while two of the thirteen VTEM survey porphyry target zones are anomalous in gold and copper (Press Release, ArcWest Exploration Inc., December 7, 2017).
In 1989, Cominco Ltd. staked the Delta 1-2 claims and in 1990 geological mapping and sampling outlined an area, 700 by 600 metres, containing a gold-copper-zinc anomaly. The following year Cominco performed further mapping, prospecting and rock and soil sampling. In 1991, Indigo Mines completed a helicopter-borne magnetometer and VLF-EM survey that covered the area of the Stewart Property and extended beyond its boundaries to the southeast and north. In 1992, the company was apparently wound up and the ground lapsed; there is no indication that the survey was followed-up on the ground.
In 1993, a reconnaissance program was carried out for Barrick Gold Corporation and although several the gossan zones failed to return encouraging gold results, the Deltaic Grid and surrounding areas were deemed to constitute a high priority gold target. In the same year, a follow-up exploration program by Barrick was carried out on the Deltaic Grid and comprised induced polarization (IP) and magnetometer surveying, as well as soil geochemical surveys completed on grid lines totalling about 7.3 kilometres.
In 1996, a program on the Deltaic Grid was completed by Viceroy Resource Corporation and included the diamond drilling of five holes totalling 1195.7 metres that tested IP chargeability anomalies typically with strong, coincident gold, copper and zinc soil geochemical anomalies that had been delineated in 1993. The IP anomalies were usually explained by wide, sulphidized (mainly pyrite, with minor chalcopyrite and sphalerite) zones often strongly propylitically altered (chloritized, carbonatized, silicified and epidotized) with suggestions of some locally potassically altered pyroclastic and intrusive rocks. Subsequent to the completion of the diamond drill program and as permitted by the late waning snow conditions, the 1993 grid was restored; geological mapping was completed and a structural interpretation was carried out on the Deltaic Grid, and, additional rock, float and soil sampling completed. At least eight individual auriferous zones were identified and expanded, based on the 1993 and 1996 work on the Deltaic Grid, most of which had postulated strike lengths of over 700 metres and some of which have widths up to over 100 metres. The geological surveys carried out did indicate, however, that the mineralized zones dip mainly to the north and that the drill evaluation was inadequate, since most holes were drilled somewhat downdip. In 1997, the southern and central area of the property was flown with an Aerodat magnetic and conventional electromagnetic (EM) survey.
In 2006, part of the Deltaic Grid was restored and MMI (Mobile Metal Ion Process) soil sampling was carried out. In 2007, a drill program was carried out to evaluate the priority drill targets delineated by the integration of the favorable MMI results with the historic database. The drill program comprised three holes totalling 1023.82 metres. Two holes, DDHDC07-01, 03, were drilled to evaluate priority geochemical, geological and geophysical targets associated with the postulated gold-copper target on the North A Fault Zone; and a third, DDHDC07-04, was used to test the volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) target on the South Meadow. In 2008, a small program was carried out mainly in Bear Valley to evaluate the postulated eastern along strike extension of the gold-copper porphyry type mineralization referenced above and associated with the North Fault and subsidiary structural fabric on the Deltaic Grid. Detailed geological and geochemical surveys were used to evaluate the zones and structural fabric in two main target areas: Target Area 1 that includes the North and Knob 1 zones; and, Target Area 2 that hosts the North A Fault and Rim zones. The work included the running of survey lines on which 166 samples (21 outcrop chip samples, 94 composite samples of angular talus boulders and 51 talus soil samples) were collected. In 2008, a small geochemical and geological survey was completed up Squeaker Creek (6 MMI samples, 4 rock samples) just west of DDHDC07-03.
In 2009, exploration activities on the Stewart Property included the installation of survey lines in the Skowill Creek area of the Delta West Target Area. Topographical, vegetation, geological and geochemical surveys (2 stream sediment samples, 1 rock, 16 float rock and 88 MMI samples, including check samples) were utilized to evaluate the postulated along strike, northern extension of targets historically outlined on the Delta West Grid. In 2010, a field program was focused mainly on the Delta West Target Area. Additional geological and geochemical surveys utilized helicopter access to initially investigate the postulated northern extension of the gold-copper mineralization in the Bear Valley/Deltaic and the NW Target Areas. The field work included air photo interpretation, data compilation and target delineation, geological, geochemical, topographic and vegetation surveys, and data integration. A total of 226 soil (MMI and conventional) and rock samples, including checks, were collected. A subsequent helicopter-borne geophysical survey using a versatile time-domain electromagnetic (VTEM) system and a cesium magnetometer was completed on behalf of Frontline Gold Corporation.
In 2011, Frontllne Gold Corp. had Geofine Exploration collect 10 rock, 10 soul and 13 silt samples on the Delta and Fox claims. In 2012, Geofine collected 81 rock samples, 148 soil samples and 6 stream sediment samples (Assessment Report 34622). In the fall of 2016, Millrock Resources Inc completed a 550-kilometre ZTEM airborne geophysical survey was then integrated with previous airborne surveys from 1996 and 2010 (Assessment Report 36361). In 2017 Sojourn Exploration collected 504 stream sediment samples, 332 soil samples and 12 rock samples (Assessment Report 37267). In 2017, Sojourn Exploration Inc. optioned the Oweegee Dome property from Millrock Resources Inc.
In 2018 Sojourn Exploration conducted a preliminary 2-kilometre time domain induced polarization survey on its Oweegee Dome project (Press Release, ArcWest Exploration, November 2, 2018). Results for the 2018 IP survey are pending. Reconnaissance prospecting, mapping and sampling during 2018 yielded the discovery of multiple new outcropping zones of porphyry copper-gold mineralization up to 1.7 kilometres from the known Delta porphyry copper-gold target.
In 2019, Sojourn announced that it would change their name to "ArcWest Exploration Inc." effective February 28, 2019.
