The Red Devil Shear (Road Zone) occurrence is located on the north side of the Teihsum River, approximately 4 kilometres east- southeast of the river mouth. Access is by logging roads from Port Alice to the V.L. Main. From there, access by a gated logging road (Western Forest Products, 1994) proceeds up the Teishum river. Access has been poor due to several washouts but they may have been repaired over time.
Volcanic rocks of the Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group primarily underlie the area. Exposed in the river valley are carbonates of the Triassic Parson's Bay Formation. It is these rocks that host the mineralization. Many basic to felsic dikes criss cross the area. The overlying volcanic rocks comprise green and maroon basalt flows with some limestone interbeds. The Parson's Bay Formation carbonates exposed in the valley comprise black, thin bedded tuffaceous limestone, limestone agglomerate (breccia?) and reefal limestone with well-preserved shell fossils. Felsite dikes and sills intrude the limestone and are often mineralized. Later diorite dikes are also present.
Mineralization comprises structurally controlled shear/vein mineralization. Shear/vein mineralization typically comprises quartz-carbonate breccia with arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena and sometimes realgar. These zones are often silicified with secondary ankerite, calcite, kaolin and mariposite. The shears are usually parallel to and crosscut by diorite dikes that also carry some mineralization. The primary structures trend north and dip steeply east. Secondary structures trend 040 degrees and dip sub-vertically.
Locally, at the Red Devil Shear, a 1 metre wide shear zone hosts gold-bearing sulphides and realgar, often forming in drusy vugs filled with realgar and quartz.
In 1994, a 40-centimetre chip sample (AR-9) yielded 20.8 grams per tonne gold, 9.6 grams per tonne silver, 0.128 per cent copper and 3.79 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 23645).
In 1997, rock sampling on the Road grid yielded values up to 3.7 grams per tonne gold and 0.41 per cent zinc over 0.5 metres (Sample TR-96-25; Assessment Report 24971)
Approximately hundred metres to the north the Spruce Creek Vein is exposed. It consists of a north east trending 0.2 metre wide shear vein with quartz, carbonate and massive realgar. A coarse crystalline black carbonate mineral forms the wall rock.
Work History
Documented exploration in the area began in 1984 when the "Vancouver Island Syndicate" performed some regional geochemical surveys west of the property. This was followed by some geochemical work by Westmin in 1985 covering the area of the showings. This work identified a strong gold geochemical anomaly in the area of Deadfall Creek (Gold Creek Zone). In 1990 Granges did some work in the area but did not pursue it aggressively. In 1994, J.W. Laird prospected the area as the A 1-4 claims. In 1997, Cascade Metals completed a program of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping and ground geophysical surveys on the area as the Teihsum River Gold Project.
In 2003, J.W. Laird prospected the area as the J 1-4 claims. In 2004 and 2005, Red Lake Resources completed a program of geological sampling and 2 drill holes, totalling 199.34 metres. In 2007, Grande Portage Resources Ltd. completed a program of geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling and a 1748.1 line-kilometre airborne magnetic survey on the area as the Merry Widow and Merry Widow Extension properties. During 2011 through 2013, Homegold Resources completed limited programs of prospecting, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and air photo geological interpretation on the area as the Raging River project. In 2020, Roughrider Exploration Ltd. completed a program of rock, silt and soil sampling on the area as the Empire Mine property.
