The Maggie occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 1150 metres on a small hill, southwest of Tule Lake and approximately 2.3 kilometres northeast of Aspen Grove.
Regionally, the area is underlain by the Upper Triassic Nicola Group, which regionally consists of alkalic and calc-alkalic volcanics and intrusions of island arc origin, and which is the principal component of the Quesnel terrane in southern British Columbia (Geological Survey of Canada Maps 41-1989, 1713A). The area lies in the Central Belt or facies of the Nicola Group (after Preto, Bulletin 69). This belt of rocks mainly consists of subaerial and submarine, red or purple to green augite plagioclase porphyritic andesitic and basaltic flows, volcanic breccia and tuff, and minor argillites and limestone. The volcanics are intruded by bodies of comagmatic Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic diorite to monzonite. The area is characterized by long-lived, primarily north-striking faults and related fracturing, which originally controlled intrusion emplacement. East-striking faults are subordinate, and commonly offset intrusive contacts.
Locally, pyrite and chalcopyrite occur disseminated in greenish-grey, fractured and sheared andesite of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group (Central Belt, Bulletin 69). The fractures are occasionally filled with yellowish white serpentine or white chalcedony. One zone of shearing strikes 155 degrees and is mineralized with chalcopyrite and bornite.
Work History
Between 1901 and 1905, H. Schmidt excavated a 15-metre-deep shaft on the mineralized shear zone. Numerous historical trenches, referred to as the Bald Hill and Giant trenches, are located to the east and southeast of the shaft, respectively, and are reported in the nearby Big Sioux (MINFILE 092HNE073) occurrence.
In 1968, David Minerals Ltd. examined the occurrence area as the Touch 2-4 claims. Two trenches were reported on the occurrence at this time. Later that year, Norranco Mining and Refining Co. Ltd. completed 20.0 line-kilometres of combined ground magnetic, induced polarization and self-potential surveys on the Broatch, Halo and Ram claims.
In 1971, Frontier Explorations Ltd. and David Minerals Ltd. completed a program of soil sampling and a 32.0 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey on the area as the Halo, Ram, Lou, Chalco, Magnus and Touch claims of the Hans Haveroen Copper property. The following year, a 16.3 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey was completed on the area immediately west of the occurrence as the Bob claims.
During 1975 through 1980, David Minerals Ltd. conducted programs of geological mapping, self-potential surveys, trenching and five diamond drill holes, totalling 169 metres, on the area as the Halo, Touch, Broatch and Ex claims.
The area was re-staked in 1989 as the Shear claims after copper mineralization was exposed in a roadcut along the north side of the recently completed Coquihalla Highway (Phase 3 - Okanagan Connector). The occurrence was subsequently mapped and sampled by Amex Exploration Services Ltd. in 1990. In 1991, Northair Mines Ltd. completed a program of rock and soil sampling on the area as the Halo 100-200, Dawn 100 and Shear 1 claims. A grab sample (91420) of silica-altered andesite tuff with trace chalcopyrite-pyrite and malachite staining from the occurrence area assayed 0.140 per cent copper and 0.09 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 21824).
In 1992, Placer Dome Inc. completed a program of geological mapping, trenching and soil sampling on the Shear property. In 1993, Northair Mines Ltd. completed a further program of rock sampling on the property. In 1997, Christopher James Gold Corp. completed a program of geological mapping, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and a 13.8 line-kilometre induced polarization survey on the area as the Big Kidd property. A grab sample (95628) from the area of the shaft yielded 0.302 per cent copper and 0.125 gram per tonne gold, whereas a chip sample (95632) taken from an old pit located several hundred metres southwest of the shaft yielded 0.534 per cent copper and 0.415 gram per tonne gold over 1 metre (Assessment Report 25611). Also at this time, grab samples (95640 and 95641) from old pits located several hundred metres north-northeast of the shaft yielded up to 1.49 per cent copper, 4.4 grams per tonne silver and 0.660 gram per tonne gold, respectively (Assessment Report 25611).
In 2008, Christopher James Gold Corp. completed a 1113.5 line-kilometre airborne magnetic-radiometric survey on the Big Kidd property.
In 2011 and 2012, Xstrata Copper Canada Corp., on the behalf of Jiulian Resources Ltd., completed programs of prospecting, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling, six diamond drill holes, totalling 1808.7 metres, and a 56.8 line-kilometre induced polarization survey on the Big Kidd property.
