The Bellaclava (Lot 3837s) prospect is located 4.75 kilometres west of the summit of Goat Peak and 3.5 kilometres south of Beaverdell, British Columbia (Assessment Report 16772).
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.
Granodiorite of the Westkettle batholith underlies most of the area. It has been intruded by small quartz monzonite porphyry stocks including the Eocene Beaverdell, Tuzo Creek, Eugene Creek and Carmi stocks. Other granitic porphyry stocks that intrude the Westkettle batholith are the Eocene Beaverdell porphyry. The Westkettle batholith has been correlated with the Nelson intrusions that have been dated by potassium-argon and uranium-lead methods as Middle Jurassic. The Westkettle batholith contains remnants of pendants and/or screens of metamorphosed Wallace Formation. The Wallace Formation is believed to be correlative with the upper (Permian) section of the Carboniferous to Permian Anarchist Group. Lithologies include metamorphosed andesitic tuffs and lavas, hornblende diorite porphyries, olivine gabbro and hornblendite, hornfels and minor limestone. The contact between the Wallace Formation and the Westkettle batholith is sinuous, trending north with gentle east dips. These are unconformably overlain by Oligocene tuffs and conglomerates and Miocene plateau basalts. Westkettle granodiorite or Beaverdell quartz monzonite are the dominant hostrocks. Mineralization rarely extends into the Wallace Formation to the east. A series of dikes, ranging in composition from quartz latite and quartz monzonite porphyries to hornblende andesite porphyries, are found throughout the area. In the Beaverdell camp, fine-grained, brown andesite dikes, referred to as Wellington-type dikes, are believed to be pre-mineralization. Quartz latite dikes are referred to as Idaho-type dikes and thought to be syn or post-mineralization.
Beaverdell silver-rich veins are found in a 3.0 by 0.8 kilometre belt, referred to as the Beaverdell silver-lead-zinc vein camp. The mineralized veins are fissure-hosted, formed along east-trending faults in the west portion of the Beaverdell camp and northeast- trending faults in the east portion of the camp. Faults have been classified into five types based on their orientation, with each type having common orientation, kind of movement and age relationship. The northeast-striking, high angle normal faults pose the greatest obstacle to systematic exploration and mining, as these faults are commonly spaced a few metres apart dividing veins into short segments in a northwest downward direction.
Vein-type mineralization of the Beaverdell camp is characterized by a high silver content. Mineralization is composed of galena, sphalerite and pyrite with lesser amounts of arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite, pyrargyrite, chalcopyrite, polybasite, acanthite, native silver and pyrrhotite. The gangue minerals in veins are mainly quartz with lesser amounts of calcite, fluorite and sericite with rare barite.
The Bellaclava (Lot 3837s) adjoins the Hidden Treasure property (082ESW193) in the north. The property is underlain by Westkettle batholith granodiorite. A shear zone, striking 190 degrees and dipping 15 to 58 degrees west, hosts two quartz stringers 2 to 5 centimetres wide and contains galena, sphalerite, pyrite and possibly arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite exposed at the face of the lower adit over 6 metres. The older stringer strikes 140 degrees and dips 50 degrees southwest while the other younger stringer strikes 220 degrees and dips 40 degrees northwest. A narrow, dark green andesite (Wellington-type) dike is 1 to 15 centimetres wide, striking 290 degrees and dipping vertically. The dike occurs in and closely follows the shear zone.
The first recorded development on the Bellaclava was in 1931. In this year Crater Lake Mining Co. owned and operated the Crater Lake group consisting of the Bellaclava (082ESW192), Zora May, Silver Hoard and Hidden Treasure (082ESW193) claims. Development consisted of numerous opencuts and short tunnels which followed the hanging and footwalls of a narrow, dark green andesite (Wellington-type) dike. A lower tunnel, 9 metres vertically below a 18-metre drift containing indicators of an ore shoot on the floor, was 41 metres long along a 305 degree trend. Crater Lake Mining Co. continued work until 1937. Since 1946, work has been intermittent and ownership has changed several times: 1946 - Silver Bounty Mines Ltd., 1958 - Sheritt-Lee Mines Ltd., 1963 - Ruby Silver Mines Ltd., 1971 - Copper Bounty Mines Ltd. and 1983 - Walmont Precious Metals Corp. The occurrence is currently owned by IGF Metals Inc. Highland Bell Ltd. obtained a lease on the Bellaclava claim in 1947 and conducted 152 metres of development in 4 adits. An old adit was cleared as a drilling diamond drilling base in 1967 by Silver-Lee Mines Ltd.
