The Catfish showings are located on the west side of Tutshi Lake near Paddy Pass.
The Catfish Zone on North Mountain contains five mappable units. These consist of the Devonian to Triassic Boundary Ranges metamorphic rocks overlain by the Upper Triassic Stuhini Group sedimentary rocks, as well as two distinct intrusive units consisting of Late Cretaceous equigranular granite and a series of small plagioclase porphyritic mafic dikes. The last unit is a series of quartz-sulphide veins with similar composition to those mapped in the Tannis and South Mountain zones.
The property follows the regional northwest trend with foliations averaging 140 to 160 degrees with near vertical dips. Numerous quartz veins, ranging from 1.0 centimetre to 1.5 metres, crosscut both the granite and metamorphic rocks. The first set, which trends east-southeast, are generally barren. The major mineralized veins trend northeast and mineralization is confined to quartz veins which have an aresonpyrite rich core and a green to yellow alteration envelope (scorodite).
A 15 metre adit was driven along the main vein on the north mountain. The vein, characterized by a coarse-grained, comb-structured, vuggy, milky to white quartz, is traceable on the surface for 200 metres. Moderate to intense limonite and jarosite stain occurs on weathered surfaces. Mineralization occurs as coarse blebs in the vein and consists of pyrite, stibnite, arsenopyrite and galena. The west contact is essentially a stockwork with finely disseminated mineralization.
In 1986, samples assayed up to 23.32 grams per tonne gold and 147.1 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 15972). A chip sample in 1988, over 1.5 metres, assayed 1.6 grams per tonne gold, 15.7 grams per tonne silver, 0.025 per cent copper, 0.1915 per cent lead, 0.0262 per cent zinc, 1.13 per cent arsenic and 0.0121 per cent antimony (Assessment Report 18522, sample C8R 14R).
A parallel vein, 1.5 metres in width, occurs just west of the main vein. In 1986, a sample taken across the vein assayed 6.8 grams per tonne silver, 0.024 gram per tonne gold, 0.032 per cent lead, 0.018 per cent zinc, 0.005 per cent tin and 0.012 per cent copper (Assessment Report 15972).
Coarse flakes of molybdenite were observed on fracture surfaces in the granite intrusion. Molybdenum in quartz veins was observed on the north mountain west of the main adit.
In 2008, a total of 18 grab samples were collected from the Catfish Zone, the majority taken from a number of narrow veins up to several metres long hosted in both the granite intrusion (and associated dikes) and the Boundary Range metamorphic rocks to the east. Comparison of geochemical results of all 2008 rock samples clearly identifies a bismuth-molybdenum-tungsten anomaly in the Catfish one that is not present in any other zone in the Tannis block.
Work History
Previous work consists of mapping and prospecting (adits, trenches and blast holes) and is largely undocumented. The property was explored for molybdenum in the 1970s and for gold at the turn of the century. The four adits and trenching are circa 1900. A prospecting program was completed on the north mountain by Copland in 1986. In 1988, Frame Mining Corp. conducted mapping, petrology and geochemical surveys. Detailed mapping and sampling was done in 1989. In 1990, geophysical surveys were conducted on the property. An induced polarization survey in 1990 resulted in moderate to strong chargeability responses over known vein structures (Assessment Report 19794).
In the mid-2000s the Golden Eagle property consist of three blocks: Bennett Lake Block (containing zones: West Gully, Plateau, Cowboy, LQ, Stibnite, Skarn, North Prospect); Tannis Block (containing zones: Tannis, Middle Ridge, North and South Mountain, Catfish, Missing Link, Tim); and Golden Eagle Block (containing zones: Carbonate, Jessie and Camp)
In 2008, mapping and prospecting by Troymet Explorations were limited to Tannis (Middle Ridge) block (including Tannis and Missing Link zones), North Mountain (Catfish zone and Tim Vein) and South Mountain (South Mountain zone), located in the middle of the Golden Eagle property, west of Tutshi Lake. The focus of mapping was the Tannis Zone, but lithologies present there extend into the other prospected areas. Two grab samples (C287111 and C201125) from the Catfish occurrence area yielded 0.42 and 10.05 grams per tonne gold, 535 and 71 grams per tonne silver with 1.35 and 0.227 per cent lead, respectively (Aurora Geosciences Ltd. (2012-07-09): Technical Report – Golden Eagle Property).
See Tannis (104M 074) for related geological and Work History details of the Tannis (Golden Eagle) property of which the Catfish showing is part of.
