The Am occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 1080 metres and is 1.7 kilometres north-northwest of the north end of Bluey Lake and 600 metres west of the south end of Kentucky Lake.
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, chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite form disseminations and stringers in shear zones, up to 0.3 metre wide, within massive green volcanic breccia and lahar deposits of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group (Central Belt, Bulletin 69). Two of the fracture zones dip moderately to the southeast, while a third fracture zone dips steeply to the northeast.
In 1978, two chip samples from an old shaft are reported to have yielded 2.05 and 1.50 per cent copper over 1.6 and 1.3 metres, respectively, whereas a grab sample from the shaft dump yielded 0.90 per cent copper (Assessment Report 6821, page 4).
In 2019, a sample (21604) of epidote-chlorite-hematite–altered tuff or intrusive with limonite and malachite staining taken from the area of the winze or shaft assayed 1.08 per cent copper and 6 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 38460).
Work History
A historical adit, a shaft and a number of opencuts, likely dating to the early 1900s, are reported to have been developed on the occurrence.
In 1973 and 1974, Cripple Creek Resources Ltd. held and examined the area as then Den 1-24 claims. In 1978, Silver Acorn Development Ltd. completed a program soil sampling and a 13.0 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey on the area as the AM claim.
In 1985, Vanco Explorations Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area immediately south of the occurrence as the Bloo, Climax and Thor claims. In 1987, a further program of rock and soil sampling was completed on the claims.
In 1990, MineQuest Exploration Associates Ltd. completed a minor program of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling on the area as the Ley 1-3, Al 1-3 and Ken claims. In 1992, Pacific Copper Fields Inc. and MineQuest Exploration Associates Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and rock sampling on the claims.
In 2006, Bold Ventures Inc. completed a program of geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and a 28.0 line-kilometre induced polarization survey on the area as the Casper claims of the Kentucky Lake property.
In 2012, Enduro Metals Corp. completed a photogeological structural (lineament) interpretation on the area as the Tom Cat property. In 2019, Enduro Metals Corp. completed a minor program of geological mapping and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area as the Tom Cat property.
