The Bear Hill property is located 5 kilometres north of the northwest arm of Takla Lake, 104 kilometres east of Hazelton.
Lithologies on the property include conglomerate and sandstone of the Cretaceous Tango Creek Formation (Sustut Group) and downfaulted blocks of Eocene Ootsa Lake Group subaerial dacitic to basaltic porphyritic flow rocks and coarse to fine fragmental volcaniclastic rocks.
Copper, lead and zinc mineralization with appreciable silver is contained in chalcopyrite, bornite, galena and sphalerite, which are commonly associated with barite. Tetrahedrite, cuprite and chalcocite have been identified in thin and polished sections. Malachite and pyrolusite are common on weathered outcrops. The mineralization occurs in the volcanic rocks as irregular clots, lenses and gash and tension crack fillings over a width of 1 to 5 metres.
One of the higher-grade samples assayed 0.73 per cent copper, 117 grams per tonne silver and 5.4 per cent barium across 5 metres (Assessment Report 10791). Pyrite is conspicuously absent from the showing.
WORK HISTORY
In 1981, BP Minerals Limited completed geological mapping at a scale of 1:4000 on an airphoto base. A cut line grid, totalling 9 line-kilometres, was used as control for subsequent soil sampling (263 samples) and rock chip sampling (167 samples; Assessment Report 09892). The soil and rock sampling programs outlined four areas of interest: 1) the Main showing, a zone of copper-silver and barium that is poorly reflected by anomalous geochemical patterns but nonetheless is the most important geologically; 2) the West showing and possible extensions of the West showing along a north-northeast–trending linear; 3) the galena occurrences north of the West showing, which have an appreciable copper and silver association, and 4) the barium anomaly south and east of the West showing, which has a copper, silver, lead and zinc distribution more outstanding than that at the Main showing where barium as barite is exposed in outcrop.
In 1982, Placer Development Limited (under option from BP Minerals Limited) completed additional rock chip and soil sampling as well as a geophysical survey to further evaluate the property (Assessment Report 10790). A total of 1794 soil and silt samples were collected, which outlined several narrow subparallel anomalies on Bear Hill; the sampling program also included coverage over a regional north-south structural lineament but no anomalies were detected outside of Bear Hill. Thirty-five rock chip samples were collected from selected areas of surface mineralization. A cut line grid, totalling 22 line-kilometres, was used as control for geophysical surveys including magnetic and very low frequency electromagnetic covering approximately half of the soil geochemical grid and 3.7 line-kilometres of induced polarization surveying was completed over a portion of Bear Hill. The magnetic survey outlined Bear Hill and another knoll to the north, known as ‘Camp Hill’, as magnetic anomalies, the very low frequency electromagnetic survey detected major fault structures that partly bound Bear Hill and the induced polarization survey detected a weak anomaly at depth underlying the main barite zone.
Upon completion of the program described above a limited diamond drilling program was completed to test the main zone; two holes totalling 396.24 metres were completed (Assessment Report 10791). The main target was to test the induced polarization anomaly, a secondary target was the main zone barite-base and precious metals target. The induced polarization anomaly was not caused by sulphide mineralization but was attributed to a mixture of magnetite-hematite in each hole. No significant results were returned from the drilling.
In 2010, the Bear Hill property was explored by Ken Galambos and six rock samples were collected. The Main zone was successfully located and sampled. Drillhole BH82-2 was also located and its GPS coordinates were accurately recorded. Sampling yielded values as high as 1.29 per cent copper and 389 grams per tonne silver from grab samples collected approximately 200 metres south of the West showing; chip sampling at the lower Main showing yielded 1.06 per cent copper and 182 grams per tonne silver over 2 metres. Grab samples collected near the top of the Main showing yielded values of up to 0.45 per cent copper, 35.1 grams per tonne silver and 0.33 per cent barium (Assessment Report 32026). Neither the West nor the Galena showing were visited during this program.
In 2012, an exploration program by Copper Point Mining Corp on its Tacla property comprised prospecting and limited rock and soil sampling (Assessment Report 34072). A total of 53 soils and 16 rock samples were collected. The purpose of the work was to evaluate some of the areas of interest outlined by work in the early 1980s on the Bear Hill prospect and surrounding area, and to try and locate a source for electromagnetic anomalies delineated by the Quest West survey flown in 2008. The Bear Hill showing was examined to get an idea of the type of mineralization present there and how it might relate to possibilities on the Tacla property. Prospecting and rock sampling of mineralized outcrops were undertaken on portions of the property, near the eastern claim boundary. Several small, northwest-trending hills were traversed to the north of the Bear Hill showing. These hills were found to be underlain by volcanic assemblages ranging from andesite to rhyolite. Sulphide mineralization was sparse and confined chiefly to fracture planes comprising pyrite and rare traces of chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite.
In 2016, Ralph Keefe, Ken Galambos and Brian Keefe completed soil (39 samples) and rock (2 samples) sampling over three transect lines to determine the strike and width of the known mineralization in the Main zone. Grab or outcrop samples were taken anywhere along the transects where sulphide mineralization was present. Grab samples from the Main zone yielded up to 0.588 per cent copper and 45.8 grams per tonne silver (sample 1043551), whereas a grab sample from a malachite-stained subcrop (sample 1043552) from the West zone yielded 2.55 per cent copper and 334 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 36496). Soil sampling identified multi-element anomalies, including gold (up to 179 parts per billion), extending for several hundred metres in width and length and remaining open to the northwest and southeast.
In 2017, the property owners Ken Galambos and Ralph Keefe along with Brian Keefe completed soil (39 samples) and rock (3 samples) sampling on an additional three transects immediately west of the property, on the strike of the Bear Hill Main zone. Three sites that yielded high values from the 2016 program, sites 103756, 103757 and 103774, were visited during this program. Soil sampling successfully helped to outline a number of precious and base metal anomalies coinciding with mineralization on the property. Silver, copper and gold anomalies along the soil sampling transects extend the strike potential of the Bear Hill Main showing to greater than 4000 metres.
