The Beavis occurrence is located on the eastern shore of Atlin Lake about 2 kilometres north of the community of Atlin.
The Beavis property covers the northern contact of the Monarch Mountain thrust, a tectonized basalt of the harzburgite unit of the Atlin ophiolite assemblage. The mineralization is hosted in "accretionary complex" sediments caught up in the thrust.
The showing consists of a well-defined quartz vein hosted within upper Mississippian to Permian ultramafic rocks of the Cache Creek Complex. In the area of the vein, the ultramafic rock can be both silicified and carbonate altered to a listwanitic-type alteration assemblage with some chromium micas identified as mariposite. The hostrocks for the intrusions are cherts and argillites of the Mississippian to Triassic Kedahda Formation (Cache Creek Complex). The quartz veins and alteration occur very near the contact of the intrusions and the sediments.
The main vein at Beavis is 45 centimetres wide and it strikes at 155 degrees with a dip of 85 degrees to the northeast. Associated with the vein is a light coloured felsic dike. The exact relationship of the vein and dike is not documented, although a similar dike/vein assemblage occurs on the Anaconda property (104N 046) about 2.5 kilometres to the south. The dike on both properties is mineralized with disseminated pyrite. The quartz veins at Beavis carry variable amounts of disseminated pyrite and visible gold. Some breccia textures are present.
A sample taken by Tom Schroeter (British Columbia Geological Survey) on July 13, 1985 from a silicified breccia zone yielded 63 grams per tonne gold and 235 grams per tonne silver.
The mineralization in the area of the present day Beavis property was probably first discovered in 1898 or 1899. During this time, the Beavis shaft was sunk (concurrently with the Yellowjacket shaft (104N 043) and the Anaconda adit (104N 046)) to evaluate the occurrence of lode gold. Most work on the Beavis occurred from 1902 (or 1904?) through 1908. In 1908, Gold Group Mining Company sunk a 60-metre-deep shaft and probably three underground levels.
In 1981, Archer, Cathro & Associates Ltd. pumped water out of the underground workings at Beavis and conducted limited re-sampling from the 16.7 metre (55 foot) level, which resulted in assays reaching up to 21.7 grams per tonne gold. In 1986-87, Nansen Mining Corporation conducted soil sampling and trenching programs on the Beavis property, which revealed several narrow and elongated, but discontinuous gold anomalies. In 1987, BYG Resources Ltd. made an attempt at rehabilitation of the old mine workings.
In 1991, G.C. Lee conducted geophysical (magnetometer) and geochemical (soil sampling) surveys on the property. Several samples taken from the Beavis mine tailings by Saturn Minerals Inc. personnel during late 2007 and early summer 2008 yielded encouraging grades of precious metals, including one sample from the whitish, banded quartz vein which assayed 1196 grams per tonne gold and 573 grams per tonne silver. Similarly, some samples collected from other parts of the property, especially from the so-called “Phillips Vein” yielded from a few to several grams per tonne gold.
In 2008, Saturn Minerals conducted a two-phase exploration program on the Beavis property consisting of reconnaissance rock sampling (89 samples) and diamond drilling of eight drillholes totalling 854.9 metres. The 2008 diamond drilling by Saturn Minerals Inc. resulted in the discovery of a zone of crudely layered massive sulphide mineralization situated within approximately 120 metres in the footwall of the Beavis vein (BS8-1). The mineralization is hosted by stratified volcanoclastic rocks displaying selective silicification. Ore minerals include predominantly massive to semimassive pyrite with subordinate disseminated pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite. The uppermost layer of massive pyrite assayed 8.9 grams per tonne gold (check assayed 8.1 grams per tonne gold) and 18.7 grams per tonne silver over 0.23 metre, with strongly elevated levels of copper and bismuth. The mineralized zone appears to dip steeply toward the west and is probably coincident with a prominent VLF-EM conductor established in the course of historic exploration. This newly discovered mineralized zone suggests pre-deformational genesis, and may represent a syngenetic style of mineralization.
