The Hope mineral claims are located on northeast-facing slope, between Laventie and Sandifer creeks, 2 kilometres southeast of Tahtsa lake. The community of Kemano is located 22 kilometres to the southwest. During 1983 to 1986, High Hope Inc. completed geological mapping, rock sampling and 137 metres of trenching on the Hope 1 to 7 mineral claims.
The Hope occurrence area straddles the boundary between the Coast Plutonic Complex and the Intermontane Belt. Coarse-grained granite and fine-grained diorite of the Eocene Nanika Intrusions and numerous andesitic dikes are abundant on the property. Andesite and andesite flow breccia with lesser tuff and tuff breccia are also evident and belong to the Telkwa Formation of the Lower to Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group.
Geological mapping and rock chip sampling during 1986 have delineated a sulphide-bearing altered zone, 40 to 50 metres wide and more than 700 metres long, which locally carries significant precious metals in numerous, parallel although discontinuous sulphide veins. At least 16 veins have been identified in the altered zone that contained tetrahedrite and other sulphides. Trenching has been carried out on several of these veins. Highest values within the altered zone were 1305.7 grams per tonne silver and 3.1 grams per tonne gold across 0.17 metre of quartz-calcite and tetrahedrite (Assessment Report 20652, page I). Petrographic studies indicate strong calcite, chlorite, sericite and quartz as alteration products in the altered zone. Multiple brecciation of calcite- quartz-sulphide vein material and volcanics are common within the altered zone. Dark green to brown fine grained parts of the zone has been determined to be strongly altered ultramafic rock (hornblendite) cut by secondary calcite-potassium feldspar veinlets.
Adjacent to the altered zone and extending southward into an area dominated by granitic rocks, several quartz-carbonate-galena- chalcopyrite-pyrite veins have been explored by trenching. One of the quartz-galena veins have been traced for 300 metres at surface, 0.1 to 0.3 metre wide, and yielded from 0.27 to 13.0 grams per tonne gold and 4.7 to 1305.7 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 20652, page I).
