The Gleaner veins are located on the north and south sides of Butler Creek, 30 kilometres west of Atlin. The property is situated on the eastern shore of Taku Arm of Tagish Lake and surrounds the Engineer mine (104M 014). The veins are about 500 metres northeast of the main Engineer veins and workings. Access to the property is via boat from Carcross, Yukon or via helicopter or float plane from Atlin or Whitehorse, Yukon.
The Lower Jurassic Laberge Group, which hosts the vein systems, consists of greywacke, shale, slate, and argillites which are folded into a syncline with a northwest trending fold axis. Small granodiorite plugs outcrop west of Engineer Mountain and south of Bee Peak. To the east of the plug on Engineer Mountain, a subcircular volcanic cap or neck, about 4 kilometres across, comprises Cretaceous or later Hutshi Group rhyolites, trachytes and volcanic breccias. Feldspar porphyry, trachyte, and andesite dikes occur in the vicinity of the veins and are locally offset by them.
The Gleaner showing comprises the Mickey vein (on the Mickey claim), the Gleaner adit (on the Taku Chief claim), and the Myosotis adit (on the Myosotis claim). The Gleaner veins is situated on the northeast side of a major northwest trending shear zone. They have been explored by several opencuts and the 210-metre-long Gleaner crosscut tunnel. Veins range up to 1.2 metres in width, and consist of sets of quartz stringers cutting sediments, brecciated wallrock fragments cemented by quartz, and massive quartz veins.
Mineralization consists of pyrite and native gold. Gold occurs as fine disseminations, thin leaves, and flakes in small pockets. A sample from the Mickey vein assayed 1.23 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 22075, sample 5008).
The Gleaner group of 3 claims, located east of and adjoining the Engineer mine, was located in 1900. The owners formed a joint stock company, Gleaner Mining and Milling Company, in 1901. Intermittent development work included opencuts and trenches; a 59-metre-long crosscut driven in the direction of the No. 3 vein; a 11-metre-long adit driven on a 20-centimetre quartz vein; and a 12-metre-deep shaft. The Gleaner group of 3 claims, the Lakeview (Lot 241), Taku Chief (Lot 240), and Myosotis (Lot 239) were Crown-granted to the Gleaner Mining and Milling Company in 1902. Gleaner Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd. was formed in November 1922 to carry on the exploration work. During 1925, some 213 metres of open cutting, 122 metres of crosscut tunnelling, and 15 metres of sinking was-done. All work by the company ceased early in the summer of 1926. Exploration work was carried on in 2 crosscut adits, the longest of which is approximately 230 metres in length, with 3 drifts from 1.8 to 3.7 metres in length on its north wall and one drift 7.6 metres in length on its south wall.
In 1980, Windarra Minerals conducted a program of geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and diamond drilling on the company's claims surrounding the old "Engineer" gold mine. A total of 14 veins have been reported in the old Gleaner system covered by the Myosotis and Taku Chief claims (Assessment Report 9049, Geology Map, showing claims). At least five main vein systems occur striking north, 010 to 015 degrees and dipping vertically or 45 to 75 degrees east. A north-south set of trenches exposes a 61-centimetre-wide vein of massive quartz, quartz stringers, veinlets, and breccia for 110 metres. This vein was drilled by DDH 80-3 but with no significant assays (Assessment Report 9049). A 70-to-100-centimetre wide massive, brecciated quartz vein on the south side of Butler creek is in contact with andesitic rocks. On the north side of this creek at 45 S, 205 E an adit has been driven 18 metres on a 15-centimetre-wide zone of quartz stringers and veins. Another 1980 drillhole (DDH 80-1) by Windarra, located about 185 metres north of the plotted MINFILE location of the Gleaner showing, intersected 11.6 metres of vein quartz and argillite breccia. This 11.6-metre intersection graded 1 gram of gold per tonne and 8.7 grams per tonne silver, including 2 grams per tonne gold and 44.6 grams per tonne silver over 1.7 metres (Assessment Report 9049).
Mr. K. Lumsden has been prospecting these claims since 1971. In 1991, trenching at the Gleaner adit and on the Mickey vein and rock sampling was completed on behalf of Mister Lumsden (Assessment Report 22075). One 25-metre trench was completed and 58 rock samples collected. In 1993, Lumsden established a (approximately) 3.5-line kilometres grid in the Gleaner area of the property (Assessment Report 23211). A preliminary VLF-EM/magnetic survey totaling 2.1 kilometres was completed, 21 rock samples were collected, and 60 metres of underground rehabilitation was done. The Gleaner and South Gleaner adits were opened, washed, and geologically mapped and sampled. An area above the South Gleaner adit portal was trenched, mapped, and sampled.
See Engineer for related geological and work history details. Mobile Metal Ion soil sample surveys were completed over portions of the Gleaner occurrence.
