The ML or Cariboo property is located on the north bank of the Quesnel River immediately northwest of its confluence with the Cariboo River, 2.5 kilometres northwest of Quesnel Forks and some 61 kilometres southwest of Quesnel. The nearest community is Likely, located 13 kilometres to the southeast. Access to the property from Likely is by the Keithley Creek road for 11 kilometres, then north on Forest Service Road 1400 for 10 kilometres and west along the Kangaroo Creek Forest Service Road for 8 kilometres and then south and west for approximately 6 kilometres to the Most Likely #4 mineral claim (ca. 2006). Additional access may also be gained from the QR Mine by travelling north on forest access roads to a point just east of Le Bourdais Lake then east on an access trail built by Cross Lake Minerals Ltd. in 2003 to the Kangaroo Forest Service Road then east for 5 kilometres and then south and west for approximately 6 kilometres to the Most Likely #4 mineral claim.
Geological mapping of the ML property is incomplete due to the limited bedrock exposure. The best outcrop exposures are along the recently constructed logging roads that cross the claims. The mapping and diamond drilling indicate that a sequence of Triassic Nicola Group pyroxene basalts, basalt breccias and mafic tuffs with subordinate siltstone horizons trend roughly northwesterly through the centre of the property. The volcanic package is overlain by conglomerate and siltstone to the southwest and underlain by a thick sequence of siltstones and argillites to the northeast. Diorite intrusive plugs have been mapped in the north centre of the property in the area of an airborne magnetic “high” and monzodiorite dikes were intersected in earlier drillholes in the centre and northwest corner of the property. Diamond drilling in the centre of the property in 1989 encountered a widespread zone of hydrothermal alteration. Alteration is characterized by moderate to intense silica replacement and bleaching with minor quartz stockwork veining. An alteration envelope of chloritization is common. Disseminated sulphide mineralization is ubiquitous but generally less than 1 per cent. Pyrite is by far the most common sulphide mineral, however, several per cent arsenopyrite has been observed over short core intervals in the 1989 drill core. Elevated gold values in the drill core appear to be directly related to the presence of arsenopyrite.
Three drillholes of the 2003 program of Cross Lake Minerals Ltd. were located to test a pronounced induced polarization (IP) and soil geochemical anomaly 700 metres north of its Cariboo gold property (093A 201). Significant copper and molybdenum mineralization was intersected over large sections of each hole. This represents a new discovery in this immediate area. Notable zones include; 0.05 per cent copper and 0.02 per cent molybdenum over 20.46 metres in hole 03-16; 0.067 per cent copper and 0.03 per cent molybdenum over 27.2 metres in hole 03-17; and 0.06 per cent copper and 0.02 per cent molybdenum over 58.86 metres in hole 03-15 (Press Release, Cross Lake Minerals Ltd., January 26, 2004). Petrographic studies show that the mineralization is related to secondary veins in an altered gabbro peripheral to a possible porphyry host.
Cross Lake Minerals Ltd. discovered the ML showing in 2003 as part of its exploration of its Cariboo epithermal prospect and completed a seven hole, 1421.4 metre diamond drilling program, three holes of which were directed at the ML. Please see Cariboo (093A 201) for further details of the property. In May 2005, Cross Lake agreed to provide financial assistance for a scientific study sponsored by Geoscience BC that would see vegetation and soil samples collected for analysis and investigation of their geochemical signature over a range of mineral deposits in central British Columbia. Included in the study were the QR (093A 121) and Cariboo properties held by Cross Lake.
