The Tangle zone on the Trek property is underlain by Upper Triassic Stuhini Group rocks, which have been intruded by Late Triassic monzonitic intrusions, Eocene granitic dikes, sills and stocks of the Major Hart Plutonic Suite, Paleocene to Eocene granodioritic plutons and Miocene basaltic and rhyolitic dikes.
The Tangle Zone (Wall and West zones) covers the area of the soil geochemical grid from the 2006 exploration program and encompasses both of the areas previously known as Wall and the West (see MINFILE occurrence West (104G 029)). Soil geochemistry from the 2006 exploration season shows the two areas may consist of one continuous zone of anomalous geochemistry.
Mineralization at the Wall zone consists of 2-8 per cent pyrite, chalcopyrite and lesser pyrrhotite as disseminations, fracture coatings and blebby concentrations of sulphides. Massive sulphide veins up to 30 centimetres wide occasionally form in the most intensely mineralized and altered areas. Internal fractures are often coated with azurite and malachite. The Wall Zone was previously described as a massive sulphide vein within the Tangle Zone.
Mineralization and alteration are associated with northeast trending monzonite dikes as well as orthoclase-phyric alkali feldspar syenite dikes and pseudoleucite-phyric alkali feldspar syenite dikes. Host rocks of porphyry-style mineralization at the Tangle Zone include subvolcanic diorite, andesite flows, andesite crystal and lapilli tuffs of the Stuhini Group, and cobble-conglomerates including clasts of the other host lithologies. Mineralization at the Tangle Zone consists of up to 40 per cent pyrite including zones of semi-massive pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, malachite and lesser bornite as disseminations, fracture fill and blebby concentrations of sulphides. Massive sulphide veins up to 30 centimetres wide occasionally form in the most intensely mineralized and altered areas.
Drilling at the Tangle Zone revealed two zones of strong alteration and mineralization separated by the Tangle Zone fault. The upper zone consists of potassic and calc-potassic altered conglomerate and breccia consisting of disseminated and blebby pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite, truncated by the Tangle Zone fault. Drilling showed that the Tangle Zone fault is 0.75 to 4.75 metres wide and is believed to be a thrust or oblique-thrust fault. At surface the fault separates chloritized augite bearing mafic flows in the hanging wall from apparently unaltered augite and plagioclase-bearing tuffs continuing to depth. The second zone of alteration and mineralization consists of intense potassic alteration and consists of conglomerates, tuffs, orthoclase and pseudoleucite bearing dikes, and orthomagmatic breccia. The mineralization in this zone consists predominantly of pyrite, which occurs in disseminated crystals, blebs, and semi-massive zones with lesser chalcopyrite occurring in disseminated crystals, clots, and veins. The mineralization is commonly located on the margins of the orthoclase and pseudoleucite bearing dikes, especially in the orthomagmatic breccias which may develop on these margins.
In 2006, two chip samples from within the monzonite (270597 & 391129) and one within andesitic lapilli tuff (270603) are reported to have assayed 0.934 per cent copper and 1.39 grams per tonne gold over 5 meters, 0.309 per cent copper and 0.6 gram per tonne gold over 10 metres and 0.434 per cent copper and 0.35 gram per tonne gold over 4 meters, respectively (Assessment Report 28624). A 20 centimetre sample of intrusive(?) rock woth 40 per cent chalcopyrite and pyrite assayed 7.56 grams per tonne gold with 16.45 per cent copper, 20.4 grams per tonne silver and 0.087 per cent zinc (Sample 270596, Assessment Report 28624).
In 2010, grab samples from the vicinity of conductive anomalies with in a 700 by 200 metre wide area of anomalous copper-gold in soils yielded up to 9.6 grams per tonne gold (sample 484405) (Desautels, P. (2011-06-21): NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Trek Property).
In 2014, four samples were collected which yielded elevated copper values with no significantly elevated values of other metals. Samples SA20140900, 0901, and 0902 were collected from the outcrop where a historical 16.5 per cent copper sample was collected during 2006. Sample SA20140900 was a grab sample taken from outcrop with localized 30-40 per cent massive chalcopyrite hosted in a shear zone, which is believed to be the same origin as the 2006 16.5 per cent copper sample. Sample 0900 assayed 10.4 per cent copper, verifying the 2006 results (Assessment Report 35254). Samples 901 and 902 were chipped over 5 metres distances to the east and west away from the high grade zone, to represent more typical mineralization across the outcrop. Chip samples 901 and 902 returned anomalous copper grades, consistent with porphyry style mineralization, of 0.23 per cent and 0.43 per cent copper respectively (Assessment Report 35254). This mineralized outcrop is a coarse grained hornblende-biotite phyric intrusive in contact with an aphanitic, bleached rock, thought to be Stuhini volcaniclastics. Grab sample SA20140903 was taken from a diorite approximately 25 metres to the southeast of the high grade shear zone, and returned a value of 0.06 per cent copper (Assessment Report 35254).
In 2018, Galore Creek Mining collected 5 chip samples in on their Sphal-Kim property, four from the Tangle area and 1 from the Lower North area (104G 406). all samples plot as sub alkaline or alkaline basalts. One sample (458401) from the Tangle area was observed to a have fine grained igneous texture. It was collected to compare to the intrusions of the Galore Creek suite and plotted as syeno-diorite with anomalous concentrations of gold and copper (0.155 grams per tonne gold and 0.197 per cent copper) (Assessment Report 38218).
Refer to North zone (104G 022) for details of the Trek property work history, of which the Tangle showing is part of.
