The Miner (South) occurrence is located approximately 0.7 kilometre south-southeast of the confluence of Allison (One Mile) and Deer Valley creeks, 3.5 kilometres northeast of Princeton.
The area in the vicinity of Mount Miner (Baldy Mountain, Allison Mountain) is underlain by the eastern facies of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group consisting of mafic augite and hornblende porphyritic pyroclastics and flows. These rocks are intruded by small dioritic bodies that may be coeval with the volcanics. A fault striking northeast along Dear Valley Creek (Deer Valley fault) juxtaposes the volcanics against coal-bearing sandstones and shales of the Eocene Princeton Group to the northwest.
This showing is primarily hosted in a reddish augite porphyritic andesite that may be of intrusive origin. Some mineralization is also hosted in the surrounding andesitic tuffs, flows and breccias. Trenching and diamond drilling has encountered sporadic copper mineralization over an area 180 metres long and 150 metres wide.
Mineralization consists of sparsely disseminated chalcopyrite, pyrite and bornite. Minor chalcocite is also present. Native copper was encountered in two drill holes (holes 4 and 7). Disseminated specular hematite is fairly common. Two rock samples contained 0.295 and 0.215 per cent copper (Assessment Report 9634, copper geochemistry map).
Trenching and very limited diamond drilling have to date have located widespread but as of yet apparently disconnected zones of copper–gold mineralization with values ranging over 1 per cent copper and up to 31.47 grams per tonne gold (Preto, V.A. (2011-06-17): Review and Recommendations – Miner Mountain Project).
Early drilling confirmed copper mineralization in microdiorite and Nicola volcanic rocks, with hole 8-4 hitting 64 metres grading 0.46 per cent copper, 0.14 gram per tonne gold and 2.58 grams per tonne silver, and hole 8-9 returning 53 metres averaging 0.41 per cent copper, 0.12 gram per tonne gold and 2.11 grams per tonne silver from 26 metres, with both holes ending in mineralization (N MINER, March 26–April 1, 2012, Volume 98, Number 6).
Another zone of similar mineralization, also referred to as the Miner zone, is reported to be located approximately 1.3 kilometres to the east- southeast on a south facing slope over-looking the Similkameen River. The zone comprises fragmental volcanic rocks of the Nicola Group are weakly altered and contain sparse pyrite and malachite.
Work History
The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Regal (MINFILE 092HSE078) occurrence and a completed property exploration history can be found there.
Climax Copper Mines Ltd. excavated a number of trenches and drilled four holes in 1963. Some rock sampling was conducted by K.W. Livingstone in 1980 and 1982.
During 2006 through 2020, Sego Resources completed exploration programs of geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys, geological mapping, trenching and diamond drilling on the area. In 2013, Sego Resources completed a 288 line-kilometre airborne geophysical survey on the Miner Mountain property.
