The CANYON CREEK occurrence is located west of Canyon Creek on a small hill southeast of the Finlay River, approximately 8.5 kilometres west of Giegerich Peak, about 201 kilometres north-northwest of the community of Germansen Landing.
Regionally, the area is situated within a Mesozoic volcanic arc assemblage, which lies along the eastern margin of the Intermontane Belt, a northwest trending belt of Paleozoic to Paleogene sediments, volcanics and intrusions bounded to the east by the Omineca Belt and to the west and southwest by the Sustut and Bowser basins.
Permian Asitka Group crystalline limestones are the oldest rocks exposed in the region. They are commonly in thrust contact with Upper Triassic Takla Group andesite flows and pyroclastic rocks, and marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Lower to Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group. These rocks have been intruded by plutons and other bodies of the mainly granodiorite to quartz monzonite Early Jurassic Black Lake Suite and are in turn unconformably overlain by or faulted against Lower Jurassic calc-alkaline volcanics of the Toodoggone Formation (Hazelton Group).
The dominant structures in the area are steeply dipping faults that define a prominent regional northwest structural fabric trending 140 to 170 degrees. In turn, high angle (approximately 60 degrees), northeast-striking faults appear to truncate and displace northwest-striking faults. Collectively these faults form a boundary for variably rotated and tilted blocks underlain by monoclinal strata. The Canyon target is largely hosted within a fault block of feldspar-biotite-hornblende-quartz phenocryst-rich dacite ash flow tuff of the Saunders Member of the Lower Toodoggone Formation. The volcanic rocks are cut by numerous thick (up to 100 m) dike-like dacite porphyry intrusions.
Locally, as defined by diamond drilling, a brecciated and sheared zone with strong to intense phyllic alteration in intermediate volcaniclastics hosts veins of semi-massive pyrite. To the east, diamond drilling has identified an argillic-potassic altered quartz monzonite hosting quartz-magnetite stringers and fine-grained pyrite, chalcopyrite and trace molybdenite. Locally, faults host veins of massive galena and molybdenite with minor chalcopyrite and sphalerite. At surface, variably propylitized (chlorite-epidote altered) intermediate, feldspar porphyritic volcanics containing gossanous zones characterized by pervasive clay-sericite alteration host carbonate-zeolite veins with disseminated pyrite. The Canyon Creek area is outlined by a 5 square kilometre induced polarization chargeability anomaly.
In 1992, two rock chip samples of gossanous material from the Bogie Creek area to the east yielded 0.054 and 0.187 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 22873). In 1998, a drillhole (P98-7), located approximately 2.5 kilometres southwest of the Pine occurrence (094E 016), is reported to have yielded intercepts of up to 12.6 grams per tonne silver, 0.020 gram per tonne gold and 0.021 per cent tungsten (Assessment Report 26251).
In 2009, a drillhole (PIN09-15) yielded 11.43 grams per tonne gold over 3.0 metres of a phyllic altered intermediate volcaniclastic hosting veins of semi-massive pyrite (Assessment Report 31564). In 2012, diamond drilling located approximately 2 kilometres to the east yielded intercepts of 0.219 gram per tonne gold with 0.052 per cent copper over 35.00 metres in hole MEX12-013 and 0.269 gram per tonne gold over 3.00 metres in hole MEX12-014 (Assessment Report 33802).
2021 drilling at Canyon intersected 27 metres grading 0.06 per cent copper, 0.21 gram per tonne gold and 0.7 gram per tonne silver in hole JP21006 (Assessment Report 40024). Drilling in 2022 discovered a significant new centre of porphyry copper-gold mineralization on the Canyon prospect in in hole JP22030 which intersected 296 metres grading 0.3 per cent copper, 0.14 gram per tonne gold and 1.7 grams per tonne silver over 296 metres, including a 96 metre intercept of 0.39 per cent copper, 0.18 gram per tonne gold and 2.6 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 40912).
In 2024, drill hole JP24046 stepped out 250 metres east-northeast of JP22030, extending to depth and intersecting 402 metres of 0.16 per cent copper, 0.09 gram per tonne gold and 1.2 grams per tonne silver, including a 51 metre section grading 0.32 per cent copper, 0.18 gram per tonne gold and 1.8 grams per tonne silver (Press Release-Amarc Resources Ltd. Feb. 28, 2025).
Work History
The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Pine (094E 016) and MEX (094E 057) occurrences and properties of the same name. For a complete work history refer to these occurrences.
In 1992, Romulus Resources Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping, rock and soil sampling and a 54.0-line kilometre ground induced polarization survey on the area as part of the Pine property. This work was directed towards gossanous zones exposed along the walls of Canyon and Bogie creeks to the east, which are associated with a near surface chargeability response.
In 1995, Electrum Resource Corp. completed a program of rock sampling and a photo-geological interpretation of the area. During 1997 through 2002, Stealth Mining Corp., on the behalf of Electrum Resource Corp., completed programs of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping, ground induced polarization and magnetic surveys and at least one diamond-drill hole on the area. This work identified an area of anomalous gold-in-soils between Bogie and Canyon creeks with values up to 10,446 parts per billion gold (Assessment Report 25517).
In 2009, Gold Fields Toodoggone Exploration Corporation completed a program of rock and silt sampling, geological mapping, a 180.8-line kilometre ground induced polarization survey, a 2778.0-line kilometre airborne magnetic survey, and four diamond-drill holes totalling 1447.2 metres on the area as part of the Pine property.
In 2012, Cascadero Copper Corporation completed a program of rock and water sampling and two diamond-drill holes totaling 606.9 metres on the area as part of the Mex property.
From 2016 to 2024, Amarc completed exploration programs of prospecting, mapping, soil and rock sampling, historical core logging at Pine (094E 016), Mex (094E 057) and Fin (094E 312), induced polarization and airborne magnetic surveys and diamond drilling on the Joy property. Amarc Resources Ltd. consolidated the Joy Project mineral tenure through a series of agreements concluded between 2017 and 2019. In 2019, Amarc gained a one-hundred per cent interest in the Pine property under agreements with Gold Fields and previously Cascadero (Press Release, Amarc Resources Ltd., Dec. 19. 2019).
In 2021 4322 metres of NQ and HQ diamond drilling in 9 holes were completed. Four holes (2,299 metres) were drilled at the Pine deposit, two on the Mex trend (1,111 metres), two at the Canyon zone (620 metres) and one (302 metres) in the Twins area (Assessment Report 40024).
In 2022, drilling at the Joy Project totaled 15,427 metres in 37 drill holes at Pine, Canyon, South Mex, SWT, Twins, Wrich, North Finlay, South Finlay and CT geophysical targets (Press Release Amarc Resources Mar. 2, 2023). The drilling of 6 holes totaling 3,547 metres in the Canyon target area, led to the discovery of a significant new centre of copper-gold mineralization, approximately 1 kilometre east of the Canyon Creek prospect location, on the east side of Canyon Creek. The 2023 exploration program had the goal of identifying and refining porphyry copper-gold deposit targets occurring in several previously identified target areas across the JOY project (Assessment Report 41856).
The 2024 drilling at Canyon stepped out 250 metres to the east-northeast of 2022 drilling, extending the mineralization eastward and to depth (Press Release, Amarc Resources Ltd., Feb. 28, 2025).
