The Van Decar Creek occurrence is located on the west side of a small knob about 1 kilometre south of the major fork in Van Decar Creek, about 90 kilometres northwest of Fort St. James. It is the largest known chromite body in the Fort St. James area.

The showing, located on the northeast slope of Mount Sidney Williams, occurs within ultramafic rocks of the Permian to Triassic Trembleur Intrusions (the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafite). This suite of rocks is probably of ophiolitic affinity related to the oceanic Mississippian to Triassic Cache Creek Complex on which it lies.

The Mount Sidney Williams ultramafite hosts three known chromite occurrences: Van Decar Creek (this description), Pauline (093K 040) and Mt. Sidney Williams Cr (093K 039). These showings were discovered during mapping by Armstrong (1949) in 1940. Only the Van Decar Creek and Pauline showings have since been re-examined.

The main showing at Van Decar Creek is a lens of massive and aggregate chromitite, 1.5 by 12 metres in size. The chromitite is hosted by serpentinized dunite. The Cr/Fe ratios, from 2.3 to 3.9, are some of the highest in the province.

In 1979, four samples from a hand trench on the main zone yielded values from 17.7 to 38.9 per cent chromium, 0.096 to 0.190 per cent nickel and 0.012 to 0.018 per cent cobalt (Assessment Report 8135).

In 1998, five samples (Road-1 through -5) taken from near the east side of the east arm of Van Decar Creek, approximately 1.4 kilometres south-southwest of the Van Decar Creek occurrence, of dunite, serpentinite and harzburgite with disseminated awaruite yielded from 0.156 to 0.210 per cent nickel (Assessment Report 25727).

A second showing of serpentinized dunite, approximately 305 metres south of the main showing, is recorded as being 1 by 12 metres containing about 10 per cent disseminated chromite. Prospecting in 1979 failed to find this showing.

Also at the Van Decor occurrence, two or three zones of coarse-grained awaruite have been identified. Two of the zones occur approximately 700 metres apart and may represent the same zone with alluvial cover between them, while the third zone is located on the north margin of the area is covered by alluvial material. The mineralized area is approximately 1150 by a minimum of 200 metres in size.

In 2010, surface rock samples yielded from 0.134 to 0.268 per cent nickel and averaged 0.206 per cent nickel (Verley, C.G. (2011-02-14): Report on the Decar Nickel Property (Pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators) Trembleur Lake Area).

Work History

In 1979, Mountaineer Mines Ltd. conducted reconnaissance prospecting on the CR 1-5 claims with the goal of establishing the location of chromite showings. A serpentinized peridotite-dunite batholith (the Trembleur Intrusions) was found to underlie Mount Sidney Williams, with several serpentinized peridotite-dunite sills outcropping both at Mount Sidney Williams and Tsitsutl Mountain.

In 1982, Western Geophysical Aero Data Ltd., on behalf of Northgane Minerals Ltd., conducted an airborne very low frequency electromagnetic and magnetometer survey of approximately 310 line-kilometres on the Cr 1-6 claims. The survey was performed to define boundaries of the ultrabasic rocks and identify trends for further chromite exploration. Two areas of magnetic highs were determined to be striking northwest, separated by a prominent northwest-trending low. The highs were interpreted to be zones of ultrabasic rocks. Anomalies of very high magnetic intensity within the magnetic high zones were interpreted to be serpentinized phases.

During 1987 through 2006, the area immediately south and west of the Van Decar Creek occurrence was explored as part of the Mount Sidney Williams property by various operators. A complete summary of the exploration work can be found in the Mount Sidney Williams (MINFILE 093K 043) occurrence.

In 2007, First Point, now FPX Nickel Corp. returned to the area and conducted a regional rock sampling program on the area as the Will 1-15 claims of the Decar property. Assay values from 42 rock samples ranged from 0.12 to 0.28 per cent nickel, with an average of 0.21 per cent nickel (Assessment Report 30499). These samples came from areas northwest of the Sidney (MINFILE 093K 072), east and south of the Pauline (MINFILE 093K 040) and from the Van Decar Creek (MINFILE 093K 041) occurrences. In 2008, a further program of rock and silt sampling was completed on the Decar property.

In 2009, First Point Minerals entered into a joint-venture option agreement with Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Canada Inc. From 2010 to 2012, drilling, geophysical and geochemical surveys were conducted on the property delineating a large-scale, low-grade nickel deposit. In 2012, exploration focused on resource definition drilling on the Baptiste (MINFILE 093K 116) zone. Refer to Baptiste (Decar) for a detailed work history of the area.