The Jason area is underlain by Mississippian Stikine Assemblage rocks consisting of siltstone, a phyllite and a breccia/conglomerate unit. These are overlain by volcanic rock of the Upper Triassic Stuhini Group. Area rocks are intruded by a Triassic quartz dioritic batholith and high-level quartz phyric, felsitic intrusive plutons of the Tertiary Sloko-Hyder Plutonic Suite. Overlying the sediments and batholith are rhyolite and basalt of the Sloko Group of Early Eocene age. Monzodiorite, observed at centre of Jason Zone, is grey in color, medium-grained and weakly clay-altered.
A zone of intense silicification within Sloko basalt contains gold values up to 3.0 grams per tonne (Assessment Report 11819). Elsewhere in the area (no location available), massive arsenopyrite (tetrahedrite?) veins within the Sloko volcanics contain gold values up to 10.3 grams per tonne (Assessment Report 11819).
No work is recorded on the claims prior to staking by Chevron Canada Resources Ltd. in 1983 as the Rod claims. In that year Chevron conducted 1:10,000 scale mapping, rock sampling and reconnaissance soil sampling (1 15 soils). Although Chevron's work located two areas of interest, no further work was conducted until 1989.
In 1988 the now lapsed Rod claims were restaked as the Golden Met claim and in 1989 the property was optioned to Interex Development Corp. and United Cambridge Mines Ltd. who added the Golden Met-2 claim. Interex carried out limited follow-up (25 soil samples and 5 rock samples) of the anomalous Chevron results but could not locate a bedrock source for Chevron's very high soil samples (greater than 10,000 parts per billion gold).
In 1991, Core Ventures Ltd. conducted field work on their Golden Met property consisting of contour soil (5.53 kilometres of line; 134 samples), 1:5,000 scale mapping and prospecting. During mapping, samples of altered and mineralized float and outcrop were routinely taken (30 samples). Core Ventures reported that they could not find the source of highly anomalous soil and float samples taken by Chevron and by Interex but seven areas containing significant veining and/or base or precious metals were identified. In the extreme northeast corner of the Golden Met claim, a 4-metre-wide zone of gossanous rubble hosts a broken quartz vein containing malachite-azurite-pyrite. Sample 18844 of this quartz rubble only contained 182 parts per million copper but did contain significant silver and zinc (Assessment Report 21812). Orientation of the zone is uncertain. Near the LCP for Golden Met-2, a limonitic, 10-metre-wide zone of intense sericite alteration within the quartz diorite hosts a carbonate-magnetite-azurite/malachite stockwork. Although samples from this zone (18845, 18851-18853) generally only contain background metal values, sample 18845 yielded 0.24 per cent copper (Assessment Report 21812). Near the highest point of the property a narrow silicified zone cutting the quartz diorite contains pyrite, chalcopyrite, and malachite. Sample 15843 from this zone carries 0.06 parts per million gold, 7.9 grams per tonne silver and 1 per cent copper (Assessment Report 21812). West of the highest peak, quartz float within the quartz diorite contains pyrite, insignificant gold, and anomalous molybdenum (samples 18529 and 18918). The vein appears to trend approximately 030 degrees. Also, in 1991 Core Ventures collected a total of 34 rock, 83 soil and 1 silt sample from their Golden Glory 5-9 claims
In 2005, Solomon Resources Limited carried out rock and soil sampling programs, collecting 24 rock grab samples and 117 contour soil samples, both at Melta East and Rod occurrences. Only six rock chip samples taken from the Rod occurrence gave high silver and copper values up to of 35.3 grams per tonne silver and 0.78 per cent copper (Assessment Report 27771).
In 2016, 130 soil samples were collected on the Jason zone by IMGM International Mining Canada Inc. Prospecting rock samples taken at Jason Zone is limited to just 8 samples, assays returned lower gold, copper, and silver values. High arsenic values indicate an arsenic rich alteration zone that shows on a red gossanous hill. A northeast trending near vertical banded quartz carbonate vein occurs within andesite in contact with monzonite porphyry. Rock samples from this vein yielded low gold and silver values. Disseminated pyrite in sedimentary rocks also yielded gold and silver.
The 2017 exploration program by IMGM on the Tat (104K 155) and Jason zones, particularly through soil and rock geochemistry surveys, resulted in the discovery of large areas of anomalous copper, gold, silver, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, mercury, molybdenum and cadmium. The geological settings are reported favorable for mineralization.
In 2018, Stuhini Exploration Ltd. collected 36 rock samples over their Metla Creek property including 15 samples over the Metla prospect (104K 161) and 21 samples taken about 3 kilometres up Metla Creek from the Metla Prospect area, or about 800 metres northwest (and downhill) of the Jason showing (MINFILE) plot. Except for 1 of the 21 samples, which were largely talus/float, only one sample was significant. A sample (1892609) of vuggy quartz vein boulder with traces of pyrite assayed 1.04 grams per tonne gold, 10.4 grams per tonne silver and 0.005 per cent molybdenum (Assessment Report 38430). The 21 samples taken near the Jason showing were a 2018 VTEM target.
See Tat (104K 155) and Metla (104K 161) for related details.
