The MR or Silver Vista occurrence is located west of Babine Lake, about 64 kilometres east of the community of Hazelton.

Ralph Keefe found the MR showing in 1990, supported by a Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Prospectors Grant. A zone of copper-silver mineralization, 300 metres long and up to 50 metres wide, exposed in a clear cut, was explored by trenching and drilling (eight holes) by Equity Silver Mines in 1991-92.

Hostrocks are feldspathic and fossiliferous sandstone, identified as Smithers Formation of the Upper Triassic-Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group that is fractured, carbonate altered and mineralized with finely disseminated chalcocite, bornite and traces of native silver. Mineralization is evidenced by secondary malachite and azurite; primary mineralization is so difficult to recognize that reclaimed trenches were re-opened by Equity to extend sampling.

The most distinctive feature is dull brown, iron carbonate alteration. Vugs in the fracture zone are partially filled with calcite and chalcedonic quartz. The zone strikes northeast, as do the hostrocks, but is interpreted to dip steeply compared to the moderate northwest dip of the strata. Difficulty in correlating drill and trench intercepts may be due to later faults (P. Wojdak, personal communication, 1995).

Drillhole intercepts are lower grade than trench assays (e.g., 0.43 per cent copper, 74 grams per tonne silver over 16.5 metres in a trench versus 0.19 per cent copper, 35 grams per tonne silver over 33 metres in a diamond-drill hole) suggesting surface enrichment. One high grade drill intercept (3.65 per cent copper and 195.7 grams per tonne silver over 2.84 metres) merits more work. Mineralization is extensive but unusual and generally low grade.

Work History

From 1991 to 1992, the MR area was investigated by geochemistry, trenching and 1252 metres of diamond drilling in eight holes by Equity Silver Mines Ltd. In 1997, a flagged grid (2.4 kilometres), ground electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic surveys were carried out on the MR property by Hudson Bay Exploration & Development Co. The EM survey did not reveal any conductive units and the magnetic signature showed no correlation to the mineralization outlined in 1991-92.

In 1997, the property was re-staked by Shawn Turford who optioned it to Hudson Bay Exploration and Development Limited. Hudson Bay conducted ground EM and magnetic surveys over a limited area.

In 2009, Metal Mountain Resources Inc. collected 403 soil samples on the Silver Vista property.

The Silver Vista property in 2009 largely surrounded the MR occurrence (093M 195). By 2012, Amarc Resources Ltd. had expanded the property such that (roughly) its northeast corner was located just west of the north end of Nilkitkwa Lakes. From here, it extended south along the western shore of Babine Lake for about 46 kilometres. The property extended west from these two lakes for about 14 kilometres at its southern end and about 30 kilometres in the north-central part of the claim block. Significant claim areas around French Peak (093M 015), Daisy (093M 016), Higgins (093M 017), Snow (093M 014), and Ellen (093M 123) were held by other companies at the time and were not part of the Silver Vista property, though surrounded by it. In 2012, the Silver Vista property contained the following MINFILE mineral occurrences: Netalzul (093M 018), Copper (093M 019), Wasp (093M 020), Hol, (093M 145), Nat (093M 148), and MR (093M 195). The 2012 property area not only encompassed all the showings but also the Daisy, Higgins and Snow showings.

In 2012, Amarc Resources Ltd. completed 2700 line kilometres of helicopter-borne magnetic geophysical surveys, 700 silt geochemical samples, 175 rock geochemical samples and approximately 6700 soil geochemical samples over the Silver Vista property. Rock samples were mainly collected in the area of historical drilling around the MR prospect, but several reconnaissance samples were collected where outcrop was encountered while soil sampling. Most of the soil sampling was completed in the MR area also.

In 2017, Amarc Resources Ltd. conducted two programs of prospecting and geological mapping over two different areas of the large Silver Vista property. The southeastern portion of the property hosts the main MR silver-copper prospect. The northwestern portion of the Silver Vista property covers gold and silver soil geochemical anomalies (designated the Golden Vista targets resulting from work by Amarc Resources in 2012-13). Amarc Resources continued work in 2017 and completed an airborne Versatile Time-domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) survey over the Silver Vista property totalling 468 line kilometres.

Report on the Silver Vista Property

In 2018, Amarc Resources completed a program of prospecting, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and seven diamond drill holes, totalling 1275 metres, on the Silver Vista property. Hole SV18-06 intercepted multiple horizons of mineralization over the entire length of the hole, with 153.4 metres averaging 16.1 grams per tonne silver, 0.05 per cent copper and 0.10 per cent zinc (Farrell, L. [2021-01-20]: National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report, 2020 Update on the Silver Vista Property, Omineca Mining Division, British Columbia).