The Eden and Crescent occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 820 metres on a south-facing slope, north of Coffee Creek and approximately 4.2 kilometres south-southwest of Ainsworth.
Regionally, the area is underlain by hornblende schists, limestone and banded quartzite of the Upper Mississippian to Permian Milford Formation and basaltic volcanic rocks of the Carboniferous to Permian Kaslo Group. Granodioritic intrusive rocks of the Middle Jurassic Nelson Batholith are exposed to the west.
The area covers a layer of crystalline grey limestone in micaceous quartzites and mica schist of the Mississippian to Lower Permian Milford Group. The workings follow two shear zones approximately 75 metres apart that strike north and dip 45 degrees to the west.
The easternmost zone is followed by an adit contains highly sheared and dark-grey to black schist in a zone 1.2 to 1.5 metres wide that contains lenses of quartz near the portal but no sulphides. The westernmost fault is in mica schist and micaceous quartzite just west of a prominent limestone. It contains fine-grained quartz with many vugs, minor calcite and siderite as well as resinous brown sphalerite, galena and pyrite.
In 1916 and 1937, a total of 45 tonnes of ore was mined yielding 40 682 grams of silver and 20 993 kilograms of lead.
Work History
The Eden and Crescent claims were Crown-granted to the Columbia Mining Co. in 1894. Small-scale mining operations were first reported in 1890 but the details of this and later operations have not been fully recorded. In 1895, a shaft was sunk for 21 metres.
Development work began in 1916, when the property was worked by leasers under an option from the Larson estate. In 1919, the Eden and Crescent Mining Co. acquired the property along with seven other claims plus a fraction. They drove a crosscut 168 metres to intersect the vein at a depth of approximately 44 metres and then drifted on the vein for approximately 9 metres. Two shafts, 30 metres apart, were sunk on the Crescent vein: one 12 metres deep and the other 8 metres deep. The company ceased operations in 1919 and the mine remained closed until 1937. Leasers worked the property in 1937 and 1938.
The Yale Lead and Zinc Mines Ltd. acquired the property in 1949, and leasers mined on a contract basis until 1956 when the operation was abandoned. A stope, approximately 15 metres long, was carried up the vein to the surface. An inclined shaft was sunk 37 metres on the vein from the adit level. Some stoping was carried out up to the adit level but very little ore was found to either side of the shaft.
In 1979, David Minerals Ltd. conducted a program of geochemical (stream and silt) sampling on the area as the Peanut Butter claims of the Ainsworth property.
In 1989, South Kootenay Goldfields Inc., on behalf of Dragoon Resources Ltd., conducted a program of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling on the area as the Peanut Butter property. A sample (E49716) from the footwall of the Eden vein assayed 2.24 per cent lead, 3.87 per cent zinc and 11.7 grams per tonne silver, whereas three dump samples (E49717 through E79719) yielded an average of 5.50 per cent lead, 17.9 per cent zinc and 45.3 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 19130).
During 2006 through 2008, Kenneth Turner completed programs of prospecting and geochemical (rock) sampling on the area as the Queens Coffee property. Two rock samples (523552 and 523595) from the Edin-Crescent vein yielded 0.33 and greater than 1.00 per cent lead, both greater than 1.00 per cent zinc with 11.5 and 12.3 grams per tonne silver, respectively (Assessment Report 29305).
In 2011 and 2012, David Wallach prospected and rock sampled the area as the Coffee Creek and Ainsworth properties.
