The Standard Fraction (Lot 3297) is a past producer, located 3.0 kilometres west of the summit of Goat Peak and 3.25 kilometres south-southeast of Beaverdell, British Columbia (Assessment Report 16772). The Reverted Crown grant was forfeited February 15, 1994.
The Standard Fraction occurrence was first discovered and actively developed by 1903. Further development work of several shallow opencuts and a shafts was done by 1916 by W.H. Rambo, the owner. Fifty sacks of ore were reported taken out. Intermittent development work and ore shipments were made between 1914 and 1947 by W.H. Rambo and various lessees. The Buster vein was developed by three tunnels: the No. 1, 3.6 metres; No. 2, 9.1 metres; and No. 3, 9.1 metres long. The Standard vein was developed by two raises, both 9.1 metres, in addition to 45.7 metres of drifting and opencuts. In 1946, work was carried out by Highland Silver Mines Ltd. Between 1946 and 1958 development work and ore shipments have been made by Highland Silver Mines Ltd. and various lessees. In 1947 the '46-77' drift was extended from 21.5 to 97.5 metres length on the Standard Fraction claim and continued onto the Buster claim, for total extended length of 181.8 metres. The last recorded ore shipment was in 1949 by leasers operating under the name Cranberry Creek Gold Mining Co. Ltd. Some underground drilling was done from a caved adit near the main campsite on the Standard Fraction, under lease to A.E. Horne. Sherritt-Lee Mines Ltd. was owner in 1959 and 1960. The most recent interest in the Standard Fraction property has been by Canstat Petroleum Resources Corp. in 1983. During 2007 through 2009, Intigold Gold Mines Ltd. completed programs of rock and soil sampling and am airborne geophysical survey on the area as the Beaverdell property.
Initial prospecting began in the Beaverdell area in the late 1880s. The first ore was shipped in 1896. The major producing mines in the Beaverdell silver-lead-zinc vein camp, from west to east, were the Wellington (082ESW072), Sally and Rob Roy (082ESW073), Beaver (082ESW040), and Bell (082ESW030), with numerous other small workings throughout the area. For a detailed description of the geology and mineralization of the area refer to the Beaverdell (082ESW030).
The Standard Fraction adjoins the Rambler claim (082ESW034) in the northwest and the Buster claim (082ESW036) in the southeast. The property is underlain by granodiorite of the Westkettle batholith. A mineralized quartz vein occurs in an east trending shear/fault zone. The vein strikes 093 degrees and dips 90 degrees south. Northeast striking, high angle normal faults are numerous and closely spaced and chop the vein into short segments.
Mineralization consists of galena, pyrite, sphalerite, tetrahedrite and possibly chalcopyrite in a gangue of mainly quartz. Canstat Petroleum Corp. sampled the old abandoned workings as part of an exploration program in 1983. Sample #115 (47261) taken from a quartz vein in an adit yielded 8.9 grams per tonne silver, 0.1 gram per tonne gold and 0.04 per cent lead (Assessment Report 12734). Another sample (47260) was taken from a 15-centimetre quartz vein with 2 centimetres of massive galena in a silicified shear zone, exposed in a caved trench. The sample yielded 100.8 grams per tonne silver, 0.17 gram per tonne gold, 0.15 per cent lead and 0.31 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 12734).
In 2008, a chip sample (080730G) of a massive quartz vein assayed 0.250 gram per tonne gold, 410.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.437 per cent lead and 0.334 per cent zinc over 0.30 metre (Gray, P.D. (2010-05-28): Technical Report on the Beaverdell Property).
The Standard Fraction has produced 161 tonnes of ore from which 531,892 grams of silver, 31 grams of gold, 2776 kilograms of lead and 2263 kilograms of zinc were recovered. Production was intermittent between 1914 and 1949.
