The Mother Lode claim (Lot 1508) is central in the Burnt Basin mining camp which is situated approximately 13 kilometres northeast of Christina Lake and roughly 25 kilometres west of Trail in southeastern B.C. Access to the property is via Highway 3 from either Grand Forks or Castlegar to the Paulson Bridge. From a point 0.4 kilometre southwest of the Paulson Bridge, a dirt road extends along the eastern side and then across the southern part of the property. A continuation of this road traverses Josh Creek to the northwestern part of the property. Elevations range from 1180 metres on Josh Creek to 1424 metres at the highest point on the property.
Burnt basin is underlain by a variety of bedded rocks and igneous intrusions. The sedimentary and volcanic bedded rocks are mostly in the southern part of the camp. These units are assigned to the Mount Roberts Formation (Permian?) and include clean and dirty grey limestone beds of variable thickness interlayered with siltstone and minor chert. North of these units is an area of mostly massive andesitic volcanic rocks. Fragmental textures are found in places in the volcanic rock commonly associated with a carbonate matrix and small limestone lenses. These beds are cut by numerous felsic dikes and sills related to the Coryell batholith (Tertiary). In the northern part of the camp, extensive areas are underlain by granitic rocks of the Nelson Plutonic Complex (Jurassic).
On the Mother Lode claim the main vein, which averages 0.6 metre wide, lies in crushed and banded greenstone between two large porphyritic dykes. The ore is principally quartz, carrying pyrite, sphalerite and galena, with a little chalcopyrite, molybdenite and calcite.
Only fragmentary information has been recorded regarding early prospecting in the camp that began in the late 1800's. By 1901, the No. 1 vein on the Mother Lode claim was stripped for 38 metres and a shaft sunk to a depth of 15 metres. From the bottom of this shaft a cross-cut tunnel was driven for 18 metres, where a 2-metre-wide section of the vein was intersected. Also, a crosscut adit was driven for 73 metres cutting 1.2 metres of the same vein at a depth of 50 metres, where good gold and silver values were encountered. Another tunnel was driven on No. 2 vein for 15 metres, and below this, downhill, another tunnel was driven on the same vein for 9 metres. The No. 3 vein was stripped for 24 metres and a crosscut adit begun at lower elevation to intercept this structure. Another adit, referred to as the Contact adit, is reported approximately 400 metres to the north of the Mother Lode workings. The adit is 15-metres long and follows a 0.4 to 1 metre wide quartz vein which trends 340 degrees and dips 70 to 80 degrees east.
Subsequent work on the property was intermittent and not well recorded. Since 1965, several operators have explored the showings and shipped small quantities of ore. In 1965 Christina Lake Mines Ltd. completed geological, geochemical and magnetometer surveys and a minor amount of diamond drilling. In 1968, Dalex Mines Ltd. conducted an induced polarization survey, considerable stripping and trenching, and 7 drill holes totalling 653 metres.
In April 1986, Westrim Resources Inc. acquired an option agreement on the property, the object being to evaluate the Mother Lode (Lot 1508), the Eva Bell (Lot 2031) (082ESE169) and the Halifax (Lot 3042) (082ESE099) claims. The program consisted of trenching and 425 metres of diamond drilling at Mother Lode and detailed fill-in soil geochemical surveys in the Halifax/Eva Bell area. The results indicate that gold bearing quartz veins at the Mother Lode are discontinuous and therefore have very limited tonnage potential. However, a special feature of the property is platinum associated with the sulphides. Assays of mineralization in the quartz vein range from a trace to 8.57 grams per tonne platinum (O'Neill and Gunning, 1934).
The Ajax zone, identified in 2007 and located approximately 100 metres south of the Mother Lode zone, comprises an outcrop of massive magnetite and sphalerite.
In 2007, select grab samples from the Ajax zone assayed up to 15.4 per cent zinc, while two samples from the Contact adit vein yielded values of 59.03 and 67.42 grams per tonne gold with 74.9 and 27.9 grams per tonne silver, respectively, and a chip sample of vein from the portal of the adit returned 15.84 grams per tonne gold and 68.1 grams per tonne silver over 0.4 metre (MacIntyre, D. (2018-11-26): Technical Report - Molly Gibson Lode Property).
In 2018, Rich River Resources, on the behalf of Golden Lake Exploration Inc., completed a program of prospecting and geochemical (rock, soil and silt) sampling on the area as the Molly Gibson-Golden Lode property. Two samples (32034 and 32038) from the Motherlode zone area assayed 29.5 and 22.2 grams per tonne silver with 8.27 and 21.5 grams per tonne gold, respectively (MacIntyre, D. (2018-11-26): Technical Report - Molly Gibson Lode Property).
