The Whopper occurrence is situated on a northern ridge of McKay Mountain, approximately 2 kilometres north of Whiteboar Lake and 31 kilometres southwest of Kimberley.
The area is underlain by siltstones, greywackes, quartzites and phyllites of the Proterozoic Upper and Middle Aldridge and Lower Creston formations (Purcell Supergroup), intruded by a small quartz monzonite stock, possiblly Cretaceous. The lower Creston Formation consists mainly of laminated to thickly bedded argillites and siltites with minor fine-grained quartz wackes. The rocks are waxy green to olive in colour with tan-weathering surfaces, wavy bedding and abundant mudcracks. Rocks of the Upper Aldridge consist of a relatively homogeneous unit with occasional thin interbeds of rusty weathering light grey quartzite and laminated light and dark grey argillaceous quartzite. Locally, these rocks are intruded by gabbro or diorite sills and dikes of the Moyie Intrusions. The intrusive stock consists of medium- to fine-grained massive biotite monzogranite. The sediments adjacent to the intrusion have been altered to produce concentric zones of biotite hornfels and siliceous siltstone.
Galena and chalcopyrite mineralization is hosted in quartz veins. Mineralization is hosted mainly within a gabbro sill package; however, zones of mineralization and alteration were also present in the surrounding sediments. The mineralization cuts the gabbro sill package and is possibly related to a later mineralizing event than the Ailsa showing (MINFILE 082FNE001) discovered in the Ailsa Lake stock to the west.
Chalcopyrite, pyrite, epidote and malachite are associated with crystalline quartz veins in sheared or schisty gabbro and fractured gabbros. In the upper sill, alteration occurs as fractured zones with magnetite, epidote disseminations and seams, quartz-carbonate, chalcopyrite and malachite. Some areas of the gabbro are altered to schisty green. Appreciable amounts of copper have been associated with the upper gabbro sill. Mineralized samples from the lower sill consisted of crystalline quartz veins in vuggy, sheared gabbro with lead sulphides, chalcopyrite, limonite and pyrite.
Work History
In 1983, Noranda Mining and Exploration Inc. conducted a program of geological mapping and geochemical (soil and silt) sampling on the area immediately to the south of the occurrence as the WB claims. The area was initially identified during Cominco mapping program in 1990. Exploration was focused on a Sullivan-type lead-zinc target.
In 1992, Firesteel Resources Incorporated staked an area extending from the north side of Meachen Creek to the northern tip of Whiteboar Lake and covering the Whopper showing area as part of their Meachen Creek property. The following year, Firesteel Resources conducted a program of geological mapping and a contour soil geochemical survey over the northwest fault in an attempt to locate anomalies identifying possible lead-zinc targets at depth. A total of 57 soil samples and 2 silt samples were collected; three weak to moderate lead-zinc soil anomalies were identified.
In 2005, Sean Kennedy staked the Whopper claims to the south of Meachen Creek to cover an area of promising soil geochemistry results over a Cretaceous granitic stock previously outlined by Cominco. Kootenay Gold Incorporated later optioned the property and had Kennedy complete various rock and soil geochemistry and geological mapping programs. A rock sample (MAL-10) from a narrow, 4-centimetre wide, quartz vein hosting galena, located approximately 1.3 kilometres to the southwest of the occurrence, yielded 0.76 per cent lead and 8.6 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 28323).
The following year, Sean and Mike Kennedy conducted a brief prospecting and rock geochemistry program around Ailsa and Mayo lakes (Ailsa showing, MINFILE 082FNE001) to the southeast. Results of the program identified a strong silver-bismuth-tungsten anomaly that appeared to be closely related to the intrusive event.
In 2007, Sean Kennedy discovered an approximately 1-kilometre long north- trending zone of copper-bearing iron oxide breccia zone while carrying out a soil and rock sampling program on the Whopper claim group. The rock samples were collected from an area between Whiteboar and Ailsa creeks, from two gabbro sills and regions of altered sediments between the sill packages. From the 2007 rock sampling program, two samples (WP-77 and WP-78) of mineralized quartz vein material hosted in a gabbro to the north of the occurrence yielded values of up to 0.34 per cent copper, greater than 1.00 per cent lead and greater than 100 grams per tonne silver, and samples (WP-101, -104 to -109) collected from chalcopyrite-bearing fractured gabbros in the occurrence area returned values from 0.39 to 0.67 per cent copper and 1.5 to 41.1 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 29315, 30057). Samples (W-84 to -87) of brecciated and silicified sediments hosting narrow quartz veins with pyrite, arsenopyrite and galena, taken approximately 500 to 600 metres to the east of the occurrence and on the other side of the valley, yielded values of up to 0.69 per cent lead, 18.0 grams per tonne silver and 0.68 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 29315, 30057).
In 2016, a program of geophysical data analysis (seismic and airborne magnetic data) and a 1.0 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey was conducted on the area by F. A. Cook, on the behalf of D. E. Lavoie, as the Meachen Bend (MB 01-16) property.
The Following year, Kootenay Silver Inc. completed a 5.0 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey on the area as the MB property. In 2019, Kootenay Silver Inc. conducted a program of prospecting and rock sampling on the MB property. In 2022, Kootenay Resources Inc. conducted a minor program of rock sampling on the area as the Meachen Bend property.
