The Marten occurrence is located on a ridge north of Merry Widow Creek, approximately 1.1 kilometre south-southeast of Newt Lake.
Regionally, the area is underlain by basaltic volcanic rocks of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation (Vancouver Group), which are overlain sequentially by limestone of the Upper Triassic Quatsino Formation (Vancouver Group); limestone, mudstone and siltstone of the Upper Triassic Parson Bay Formation (Bonanza Group) and mixed volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Lower Jurassic LeMare Lake volcanic unit (Bonanza Group). The volcanic and sedimentary rocks have been intruded by gabbro to quartz diorite of the Lower to Middle Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite.
The occurrence consists of irregular pods of massive sulphides between 0.3 and 2 metres in thickness; it probably represents a manto with minor skarn alteration. The occurrence is hosted at the contact between Quatsino marble and an overlying greenstone. The latter may represent Bonanza tuffs.
In 1992, two mineralized grab samples assayed up to 0.73 per cent copper, 16.2 per cent arsenic, 792 parts per million zinc, 360 parts per million cobalt, 13 grams per tonne silver and 2 grams per tonne gold (Geological Survey Branch - Ray and Webster unpublished data, 1992).
In 2007, drilling intercepted garnet, actinolite and epidote skarn assemblages with massive and semi-massive sulphides and massive magnetite hosted by limestone and volcanics. Minor units included mafic dikes and brecciated zones. Massive sulphide mineralization consisted of pyrrhotite and pyrite with minor chalcopyrite. The mineralization is usually hosted near the base of garnet skarn assemblages or within the limestone. Assayed sections included:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hole ID From To Length Gold Silver Copper Cobalt Iron (No.) (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) (%) MW07-58 0.93 2.07 1.14 0.18 6.00 0.50 3.87 MW07-58 5.07 7.07 2.00 0.26 13.50 1.34 6.16 MW07-60 11.58 12.30 0.72 2.25 4.60 0.23 0.059 45.60 MW07-60 16.55 20.07 3.52 2.03 7.90 0.42 0.071 48.00 including 16.55 18.01 1.46 2.72 12.00 0.64 0.059 >50.00 MW07-70 9.07 9.89 0.82 8.80 6.20 0.26 0.085 42.20 MW07-71 8.40 13.49 5.09 3.82 1.37 0.04 0.017 10.75 including 9.90 11.98 2.08 8.21 2.74 0.04 0.017 14.19 MW07-71 33.72 41.50 7.78 1.13 5.89 0.27 0.020 38.58 including 37.40 40.40 3.00 2.88 7.80 0.38 0.016 50.00 MW07-72 5.18 13.34 8.16 5.82 0.66 0.02 0.405 13.38 including 6.68 11.18 4.50 9.25 1.00 0.03 0.702 16.38 MW07-72 17.48 18.76 1.28 3.17 25.00 1.24 0.050 36.40 MW07-73 5.61 7.11 1.50 0.03 3.30 0.35 0.005 13.15 MW07-73 9.82 13.90 4.08 3.61 2.68 0.13 0.443 37.77 including 9.82 12.58 2.76 5.00 2.75 0.13 0.653 38.33 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
(Assessment Report 30002)
In 2020, a channel sample on the Martin occurrence yielded 2.89 grams per tonne gold, 0.315 per cent copper and 0.041 per cent cobalt over 10.0 metres of oxidized semi-massive pyrrhotite-pyrite mineralization, whereas a channel sample of the Lower Martin occurrence yielded 1.77 grams per tonne gold, 4.8 grams per tonne silver and 0.15 per cent copper over 2.0 metres (Assessment Report 39420).
Work History
The area has been explored in conjunction with the Merry Widow (MINFILE 092L 044) deposits since the early 1900’s. In 1968, Quatsino Copper Gold completed a program of airborne magnetic and radiometric geophysical surveys on the area. In 1970, Alice Lake Minerals completed an aeromagnetic survey. During 1989, through 1992, Taywin Resources completed programs of geological mapping, trenching and surface sampling on the area. During 2005 through 2012, Grande Portage Resources completed programs of rock, silt and soil sampling, geological mapping, airborne electromagnetic and magnetic surveys, a ground magnetometer survey and 5 drill holes, totalling 110.32 metres, on the area. In 2016 and 2017, Bridgeland Minerals completed a radar satellite and LiDAR orthophoto geological interpretation program on the area as the Blue Gold/Merry Widow property. In 2019, Mirva Properties Ltd. completed a rock sampling program on the Merry Widow property. In 2020, Roughrider Exploration Ltd. completed a program of rock, silt and soil sampling on the area as the Empire Mine property.
