The FM 3 showing is situated on the southwest flank of Fire Mountain at 1524 metres elevation above Fire Lake, 21.5 kilometres northwest of the northwest end of Harrison Lake.
The Money Spinner (092GNE002) is the most important of a cluster of copper-gold quartz vein mineral occurrences on the southwestern flank of Fire Mountain. In the 1970s and 1980s, the area was explored for its base metal potential. In 1983, a number of very low frequency electromagnetic and high magnetic anomalies were outlined over Fire Mountain. Kidd Creek Mines also outlined a number of stream sediment anomalies. In 1987, Plaskey Development Enterprises conducted a prospecting program over part of the property and discovered a strongly pyrite-clay-silica-altered gossanous zone. In 1990, Burmin Resources entered into a joint venture with Plaskey Development Enterprises. Geological mapping and geochemical sampling were conducted. In 1991, a follow-up program was carried out.
Regionally, the FM 3 showing is hosted in a belt of volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Fire Lake Group, which extends northwest from Harrison Lake for 40 kilometres. The Fire Lake Group is an island arc sequence preserved in a roof pendant, which occurs mostly west of the Lillooet River near the eastern margin of the Jurassic to Cretaceous Coast Plutonic Complex. The assemblage has been subjected to thrust faulting, large amplitude folding and regional metamorphism up to greenschist facies. Immediately to the east of the FM 3 occurrence in the Lillooet Valley, the Harrison Lake shear zone and related structures are interpreted as important mineral controlling structures.
The Peninsula and Brokenback Hill formations of the Fire Lake Group are recognized on at the FM 3 showing. The Peninsula Formation consists of a lower conglomerate and upper interbedded arkose and pyritic slate. The overlying Brokenback Hill Formation consists of four lithological units. The lowest unit is composed of interbedded feldspar crystal tuff with slate or phyllite. This unit is overlain by andesitic to intermediate volcanic rocks, which are inturn overlain by coarse grained volcaniclastic sandstone. Pyroclastic rocks dominated by lapilli tuffs comprise the remaining unit. These rocks have been affected by three phases of deformation.
In 1990, two rock samples taken from the mid-eastern part of the FM 3 claim yielded anomalous precious and base metal values. The samples were taken from brecciated tuff with disseminated pyrite, galena and chalcopyrite. Sample FDF-120 yielded 3.91 grams per tonne gold, 10.8 grams per tonne silver, 0.16 per cent copper, 1.19 per cent lead and 3.47 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 21036). Sample FDR-121 yielded 0.14 gram per tonne gold, 4.4 grams per tonne silver, 0.20 per cent copper, 0.50 per cent lead and 1.85 per cent zinc.
The occurrence was named the Snow showing in 1991. Trenching and detailed mapping have revealed the showing is a 5-metre wide shear zone with disseminated pyrite, galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite. Shear textures include a strong lineation, boudinaging, quartz-carbonate flooding and brecciation. The hostrock is a green, fine grained, chloritic tuff. The shear is exposed for 2 metres along strike but mineralized overburden and sub-outcrop suggest a strike length of several hundred metres. A hand trench was excavated across the shear zone and samples taken every 0.5 metre. Sample FM-T1 (2.0 to 2.5 metres) yielded 0.145 gram per tonne gold, 0.21 per cent copper, 3.02 per cent lead, 1.94 per cent zinc and 16.9 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 21735). Sample FM-T1 (4.5 to 5.0 metres) yielded 0.745 gram per tonne gold, 0.10 per cent copper, 0.51 per cent lead, 1.24 per cent zinc and 4.9 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 21735).
