The Wolfard area is underlain by Devonian to Permian Knob Hill Group and Triassic Brooklyn Formation rocks that are intruded by diorite and granodiorite of the Jurassic to Cretaceous Nelson Intrusions and syngenetic rocks of the Eocene Coryell Plutonic Suite. Greenstone occurs throughout the area and is intruded by irregular-shaped granodiorite to quartz-diorite intrusions and by lesser leucocratic feldspar porphyry sills and dykes. Further north, a thick section of massive to well-bedded, white-to-grey Brooklyn limestone with minor intercalated calcareous sandstone occurs. Pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite skarn mineralization is developed near the contact of the volcanics with granodiorite and feldspar porphyry intrusives.
Numerous old pits, adits and shafts expose the rusty, siliceous pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite skarn. Trenching in the Wolfard area at the Kate shaft, upper adit and lower adit showed that the skarn mineralization is a relatively flat-lying, 1 to 3-metre thick blanket above or adjacent to a large granodiorite plug or above a feldspar porphyry sill. Large portions of the skarn blanket have been removed by erosion and only remnants of the mineralized blanket remain in the Wolfard area. Sampling showed that copper values were consistently elevated within the skarn, averaging approximately 0.46 per cent copper; however, gold and silver values were generally low (Assessment Report 27587).
In 1905, 120 feet of tunnelling and 1000 feet of diamond drill work was done on the Wolfard occurrence. In addition to the 1905 development there was a tunnel 55 feet long, one shaft 54 feet deep and another shaft 28 feet deep. Also in 1905, a shaft 15 feet deep into ore and an open cut 50 feet long by 10 feet deep and 6 feet wide were made in the Kate occurrence, which adjoins the Wolfard and was owned by the same parties.
In the late 1960s, Granby staked the Hope-Wet-Eagle property, which straddled Highway 3 and covered the Wolfard area, as well as ground to the east. A ground magnetometer survey was completed in 1969, as well as a program of geological mapping. In 1970, an IP survey was done.
The April claim group was staked in 1976 and covered the Wolfard area as well as ground to the north and west. These claims were optioned to Tofino Mines Ltd. (which later became Banqwest Resources Ltd.). Tofino/Banqwest carried out a significant amount of geological, geochemical and geophysical work during the period of 1976 to 1984 over what later became the Royal Attwood property.
In 1976, Tofino Mines Ltd. re-established Granby’s 1970 Hope grid over the Wolfard area and completed ground magnetometry, copper soil geochemistry and geological mapping over the grid. In 1977, Tofino Mines Ltd. drilled 13 percussion holes at two sites to test the intrusive contact zone in the Wolfard-Kate area. Ten of the holes were drilled at one site, approximately 100 metres northwest of the Kate shaft and 3 metres from the second site, which was located approximately 100 metres east of the Kate shaft. A maximum depth of 24 metres was reached, with nine of the holes reaching a depth of less than 10 metres due to the highly fractured nature of the ground.
During the period 1979 to 1982, Banqwest Resources Ltd. carried out soil and rock sampling plus ground magnetometry over a number of isolated grids on the property, as detailed by Hawkins (1982). Soil samples were analysed for copper and arsenic only, but were re-run in 1984 to check for gold, as described by Rayner (1984).
Vikon International Resources Inc. staked the Phoenix property in the mid to late 1980s. Minor geological, geochemical and geophysical work was completed over part of Vikon’s property in 1987. Most of this work was done to the west of the Wolfard occurrence. Two very minor, incomplete and inconclusive follow-up geochemical (soil and rock) sampling programs were completed by Vikon in the upper reaches of May Creek in 1994 and 1995.
The eastern portion of what had been held as the April claims by Tofino/Banqwest, including the Wolfard area, was staked by J. Carson in the late 1980s and optioned to Zephyr Resources (which later became Mercantile Gold Corp.). Zephyr Resources completed a wide-spaced geochemical survey plus minor geophysics (VLF) over a portion of their claims in 1988.
Two diamond drillholes were drilled in the Wolfard area, as evidenced by core located near the Kate shaft. It is believed that this core was drilled by Mercentile Gold Corp. in 1989, although this work is undocumented and results are unknown.
During 1996 and 1997, Donald Rippon staked a large number of claims in the area and optioned them to Century Gold Corp. as the Royal Attwood property. Century Gold’s Royal Attwood property was larger than the property by the same name held in 2004 by Comcorp Ventures Inc., and included additional claims to the north, west and east of Comcorp’s property. During 1997, Century Gold Corp. completed a program of grid work (approximately 100 line-kilometres); soil, silt and rock geochemistry; geophysics (ground magnetometry) and limited geological mapping. Almost 4000 soil samples were collected from the property. The Royal Attwood property was optioned by Comcorp Ventures Inc. from Donald Rippon in 2002. Excavator trenching totaling 455 metres in seven trenches was done during December 2003. Ground magnetometer and induced polarization (IP) surveys were completed over a new grid by Comcorp in 2004.
In 2007, Great Michael Resources Ltd. optioned the property from Donald Rippon and completed a small rock sampling program on the property. Highlights include sample 07MDP305, which assayed 0.7 per cent copper and 3 grams per tonne silver (Dufresne, 2008).
In 2010, Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. optioned the property from Donald Rippon and in the same year signed an agreement to option 50 per cent of its interests to Hi Ho Silver Resources Inc.
In 2011, Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. conducted an exploration program of geological mapping, rock and stream sediment sampling, IP and EM geophysical surveys and a single diamond drillhole. Highlights of the rock sampling include sample 11RDP007, which assayed 1.6 grams per tonne gold and 97.4 grams per tonne silver, and sample 11LTP008, which assayed 1.5 grams per tonne gold, 8.9 grams per tonne silver and 1.87 per cent copper (Assessment Report 33111).
