The Britannia B occurrence lies in the Zeballos gold camp and is located west of Goldvalley Creek, approximately 750 metres south of the creek’s junction with the Zeballos River.
Regionally, the area is underlain by Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group basaltic to rhyolitic volcanic rocks. Conformably underlying the Bonanza volcanic rocks are limestones and limy clastics of the Triassic to Lower Jurassic Parson Bay Formation (Bonanza and Vancouver groups) and Upper Triassic Quatsino Formation (Vancouver Group), and tholeiitic basalts of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation (Vancouver Group). Dioritic to granodioritic plutons of the Zeballos intrusion phase of the Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite have intruded all older rocks. The Zeballos stock, a quartz diorite phase of the Eocene to Oligocene Mount Washington Plutonic Suite, is spatially related to gold-quartz veining in the area. Bedded rocks are predominantly northwest striking, southwest dipping, and anticlinally folded about a northwest axis.
The Britannia B occurrence consists of at least six northeast- to east-striking, steeply dipping quartz veins spread out over a distance of 500 metres in quartz diorite of the Eocene Zeballos intrusions, near the contact with Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group volcanic rocks. Bancroft reports 13 veins in the area of the Britannia B occurrence. No locations are specified so they have not been correlated with this occurrence (Geological Survey of Canada Paper 40-12, page 22).
The Calcite vein, Impact vein, End vein and several unnamed veins, are located in quartz diorite or a mixed assemblage of Bonanza volcanics and quartz diorite. These altered contact rocks have been intruded by post-vein felsic and mafic dikes.
The End vein, located on Lot 1058 at an elevation of approximately 450 metres, is traceable for over 400 metres and was explored in the 1930s by an approximately 12-metre long adit. It consists of a 22-centimetre wide quartz-pyrite-galena vein enveloped in a zone of ‘white alteration gouge’ and hosted near the contact between the quartz diorite and intrusive complex. In 1983, a sample (BB-006-83) assayed 0.82 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 12077).
The Impact vein is located near the border of the B-4 (L.1059) and B-6 (L. 1060) Crown grants just below the junction of Goldvalley and Moncton creeks and at an elevation of approximately 210 metres. The vuggy quartz vein is 10 centimetres wide and hosts pyrite with lesser chalcopyrite and sphalerite. In 1983, a sample (BB-013-83) assayed 13.9 grams per tonne silver and 0.632 per cent copper (Assessment Report 12077).
The Calcite vein is exposed in lower Moncton Creek on the B-4 (L.1059) Crown grant at an elevation of approximately 270 metres and east of the other veins/zones. The vein is described as vuggy with ‘moderate’ sulphide content in a quartz diorite host. In 1988, a sample (43242) from a logging road south of the vein assayed 1.0 gram per tonne gold, 21.5 grams per tonne silver and 0.117 per cent copper (Assessment Report 18556).
Other quartz veins (un-named) are located along a logging road cut bank northeast and downslope from the End vein at an elevation of approximately 270 metres. The veins vary from 2 to 4 centimetres wide and contain variable amounts of pyrite, galena and sphalerite. In 1983, four samples (BB-008-83, BB-009-83, BB-010-83 and BB-011-83) assayed from 0.6 to 11.83 grams per tonne gold, 20.0 to 30.2 grams per tonne silver, 0.49 to 4.27 per cent copper, 0.073 to 0.364 per cent zinc, trace to 0.159 per cent lead and 0.001 to 0.020 per cent molybdenum (Assessment Report 12077).
The area has been explored since the late 1930s in conjunction with the nearby Central Zeballos (MINFILE 092L 212) past-producing gold mine. Several adits date to this period.
During 1981 through 1983, Impact Resources Inc. completed programs of geological mapping, prospecting and rock and soil sampling on the Central Zeballos property.
In 1988, Canalaska Resources Ltd. optioned the Central Zeballos property from New Impact Resources Inc. and completed a program of geological mapping, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and prospecting.
