The Cooper showing is situated on a ridge on the north flanks of Snippaker Peak on the south side of Iskut River, approximately 8.3 kilometres east of the Bronson Airstrip and 3 kilometres southwest of the mouth of Snippaker Creek.

The Cooper area is underlain by a sequence of folded and faulted upper Triassic andesitic volcanic and clastic sedimentary rock units of the Stuhini Group. The sequences of clastic layered rocks consist of volcanic wackes, andesitic flows, and argillite interbeds.

Mineralization is comprised of up to 10 per cent pyrite in fracture fillings, stringers, and pods. The zone is characterized by intense silicification, narrow zones and veins of massive and semi-massive pyrite, scattered blebs of chalcopyrite and molybdenite, traces of arsenopyrite, and quartz-chlorite-carbonate clots. Mineralization is associated with quartz veinlets and lenses; the rock host is an andesitic tuff. The entire mineralized zone appears to have a 110 to 120 degree dip, striking north. In 1990, three trenches were blasted; the best results were from the Lower Trench, where 24.56 grams per tonne gold was obtained over a sample length of 2.5 metres. This intersection included 0.50 metre of 103.91 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 21301). The Centre Trench yielded an assay of 20.21 grams per tonne gold over 1.45 metres (Assessment Report 21301).

Other positive results were from drill hole W90-02; this returned 19.87 grams per tonne gold over 0.68 metre (Assessment Report 21301). W90-04 also intersected the Cooper Zone returning 2.81 grams per tonne gold over 1.07 metres. Drill hole W90-1, W90-5, 6 and 7 did not intersect the Cooper Zone (Assessment Report 21301). It was concluded from the 1990 work that the Cooper Zone was a complex structure, which lacked continuity and depth; it is possible that shallow dipping shears noted in the trenches may terminate or offset mineralization at depth.

Work History

The Cooper Zone is a gold-bearing, sulphide-rich shear zone that was discovered in 1990 by Big M Resources on Waratah claims. The zone trends at 120 degrees and dips subvertical. During 1990, the zone was trenched in three locations over approximately a 75 metre strike length, and drilled in seven locations totalling 539.8 metres. The results of the 1990 program were considered inconclusive (Assessment 21301).

In 1996, the Waratah property was held by Maple Mark International Inc and Royal Bay Gold Corp. The Cooper Zone was blast-trenched in seven locations to further delineate the width and strike extent. Trenching results indicate that the zone is up to 5 metres in width, approximately 150 metres in strike length, cut by a fault of unknown attitude to the southeast, and pinching out to the northwest.

In 2008 Newcastle Minerals conducted a program of rock and soil sampling over the Bug Lake property including sampling of the Cooper showing. Gold concentrations of up to 21.03 grams per tonne were found in mineralized specimens. While the Cooper Showing has been evaluated by previous work including drilling, outlying soil geochemical anomalies remain unexplained (Assessment Report 30391).

Refer to Gold Bug (04B 295) for details of a common work history.