The Seattle (L.652) occurrence is located on the west side of the Granby River, at an elevation of approximately 700 metres and approximately 11 kilometres north-northwest of the community of Grand Forks.

The area is underlain by grey and white limestone of the Triassic Brooklyn Formation, which is intruded by small diorite dikes and bounded to the north by granodiorite of the Cretaceous Anstey pluton and to the south by greenstone.

The Seattle main showings (Central zone) consist of a north-trending magnetite-epidote-garnet-chalcopyrite skarn zone. Mineralization consists primarily of disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite with small lenses of massive magnetite and chalcopyrite. Chalcocite is also reported. The skarn zone is exposed in several opencuts, pits, tunnels and a shaft over a strike length of approximately 170 metres and varies in width from 4 to 15 metres. The skarn zone is reported to be on a steep limb of an asymmetric anticline striking to the northeast, whereas the skarn layers strike from north-south to north 35 degrees east and dip 75 to 80 degrees east.

Drilling in 1994 indicated that the skarn alteration in the Seattle area is limited to thin contact zones about the intrusive, and the mineralization associated with this alteration is anomalous in copper and gold, but values are sub-ore grade. One drillhole intersecting garnet-pyroxene skarn showed zones of alternating diorite and skarn down to 41 metres. This sequence of alternating skarn and diorite, located from 28-41 metres, is thinly banded, calcite-rich (40-50%) and generally contains 1-2 per cent pyrite and chalcopyrite. These skarn zones may be replacement of tuffaceous volcanic rocks or calcareous sediments interbedded within the volcanic sequence. Cross sections indicate that these skarn zones may be lens-like because they appear discontinuous and are difficult to trace from surface to depth.

In 1956, surface sampling of two trenches yielded up to 1.7 grams per tonne gold, 16.1 grams per tonne silver with 0.93 per cent copper over 2.7 metres in the no.1 trench and 1.7 grams per tonne gold, 16.1 grams per tonne silver with 0.58 per cent copper over 1.8 metres in the no. 2 trench (Property File - J.B. Bush [1956-08-22]: Report - Seattle Group).

In 1981, sampling of the no. 2 pit, located north of the main workings, yielded up to 11.5 grams per tonne gold, 9.6 grams per tonne silver and 1.56 per cent copper over 2 metres (Property File - Minequest Exploration Associates Ltd. [1982-02-01]: Compilation of Previous Work and Results of Magnetometry Survey).

In 1987, sampling of the Central zone yielded up to 14.26 grams per tonne gold across 1 metre (Assessment Report 17378).

In 1993, channel sampling of a trench along strike of the main skarn zone yielded 1.37 grams per tonne gold and 0.384 per cent copper over 22.2 metres, with values of up to 7.31 grams per tonne gold and 0.719 per cent copper over 4.6 metres (Property File - GCNL [1993-11-17]: No. 220 (1993) - Copper/Gold Discovered At Thimble Mountain, BC).

In 2006, sampling returned up to 11.30 grams per tonne gold, 67.9 grams per tonne silver and 3.65 per cent copper from the Seattle occurrence (Assessment Report 28787).

Production records indicate a total of 296 tonnes of ore being mined yielding 4.42 kilograms of silver, 0.90 kilogram of gold and 3093 kilograms of copper.

Work History

The history of the Seattle reverted Crown grant dates back to 1896, when 9 metres of tunnelling was reported. An 1899 Minister of Mines Annual Report states that an opencut on the hillside exposed a mineralized dike. In 1903, 183 metres of underground development was done by the Granby Company and later by the Trail Smelter, producing 57 tonnes of ore. In 1905, W. T. Hunter and Mr. Pemberton, of Greenwood, took a bond on the Seattle, but ceased work after 40 metres of tunnelling. Records indicate that 239 tonnes of ore were shipped from the mine in 1916. In 1928, 6.4 metres of drifting was done by Robert Clark.

In 1956, Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting & Power Co. Ltd. examined the property. The Ike claim group, owned in 1969 by Ryslo Silver Mines, was operated in part by Ryslo and by Granby Mining Crop through to 1974. The Ike claims encompassed the Sailor Boy (Lot 1093) and Shickshock (Lot 992) claims and included the area to the east and south, extending to the area south of and also including the old Seattle (Lot 652), Bunker Hill (Lot 1609), Loyal Canadian (Lot 1608) and Virginia City (Lot 1606) Crown grants.

In 1971, Ryslo conducted a magnetometer survey and geological mapping over its Ike 16 to 25 claims. In 1973, Ryslo conducted 4 kilometres of I.P. surveying. The claims they operated included the Seattle, Virginia City, Bunker Hill, Loyal Canadian and Ike 1-25 and 30-36. In 1974, a magnetometer survey and a program of trenching and chip sampling was carried out on the Shickshock, Sailor Boy and Ike 24 and 25 claims by Granby Mining Corp, who was the documented owner by this time. Granby also operated the Ike 7, 8 and 22-25 and Bac 31 and 32 claims. Trenching totaled almost 400 metres in six trenches and 106 chip samples were taken. This was considered a continuation of the 1972 Granby program, when Granby conducted 18 kilometres of ground magnetometer and EM surveying.

In 1980 and 1981, Minequest Exploration Associates Ltd. carried out a magnetometer survey on a portion of their Jake property, which included the Seattle, Hummingbird and Sailboy/Shickshock occurrences. Limited contour soil sampling was done by Minequest in 1985. In 1988, 605 soil samples were taken by Simon Fraser Resources on a property that included the Lime, Seattle, Bunker Hill, No. 1, Virginia City and Loyal Canadian claims.

In 1990, Kettle Rivers Resources spent four days examining the old workings on the Shickshock and Sailor Boy claims. From various old workings, rock samples (11) and soil samples (21) were collected on a contour-controlled basis downslope from the trenched area. The property includes the Rad 1-8 claims, which encompass the old workings on the Shickshock and Sailor Boy claims and extend 1 kilometre north-south and 2 kilometres to the east of the Crown grants.

Acquisition of the Thimble Mountain property (Rathful 1-2, Lime, Shicksock, Sailor Boy, Rad 1-8, Hummingbird, Hummingbird Fr., Seattle, No. 1, Bunkerhill, Loyal Canadian, Virginia City, Amie, Blacktail) by Orvana Minerals Corp. began in early 1991 with the staking of the Rathful claims. During 1991 and 1992, pre-existing claims were acquired through exploration/mining leases with options to purchase. Additionally, Orvana staked the 18-unit Plowboy claim in 1992. Extensive geological mapping, grid installation, soil sampling, ground magnetics and I.P. surveys were also conducted in 1992 by Orvana personnel. Orvana’s 1994 exploration program was designed to drill-test copper-gold mineralization and skarn alteration at the Seattle showing.

Kettle River Resources Ltd. conducted assessment work on the Rads claims in 2004. In 2006, 12221998 Alberta Ltd. optioned the Eholt property from J.W. Carson and completed a program of prospecting, rock sampling, geological mapping, soil sampling and airborne geophysics. In 2007, the property was optioned by Knob Hill Silver Inc. and a program of soil geochemistry and trenching was completed. In 2010, Knob Hill Silver Inc. was acquired by Range Capital Corp. and later changed their name to Open Gold Corp. In 2011, Open Gold Corp. completed 1795.94 metres of diamond drilling on the area as the Eholt property.