The Xmas showing is located approximately 5.5 kilometres north-northwest of Drybrough Peak, some 280 kilometres north of Smithers. The showing lies within the Omineca-Cassiar mountains at the southern end of the Toodoggone gold camp. The occurrence 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 Tertiary 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. Takla volcanics have been intruded by the granodiorite to quartz monzonite Black Lake Suite of Early Jurassic age and are in turn unconformably overlain by or faulted against Lower Jurassic calcalkaline volcanics of the Toodoggone Formation, Hazelton Group.
The dominant structures in the area are steeply dipping faults which define a prominent regional northwest structural fabric trending 140 to 170 degrees. In turn, high angle northeast-striking faults (approximately 060 degrees) 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 Xmas showing is underlain by pyritic and intensely shattered and altered Takla Group volcanic rocks consisting mainly of andesite, and Toodoggone Formation rhyolite flows and tuffs. Small intrusions, low in pyrite, consisting of feldspar and monzonite porphyry, intrudes the volcanics.
Minor amounts of chalcopyrite and secondary malachite was found in a single 15-centimetre-wide quartz vein in altered volcanic rocks.
Work History
In 1968, Cominco Ltd. completed a program of prospecting and soil sampling on the area as the Xmas claim.
In 1974, Conwest Exploration Co. Ltd. completed a program of soil and silt sampling on the area as the Pill No. 1 claim.
In 1980 and 1981, Serem Ltd. completed programs of geological mapping and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area as the Gotcha 1-2, Jock 1-5 and Itsch claims.
In 1986, Alexim Developments Corp. completed a program prospecting, geochemical (rock and silt) sampling and trenching the area as the Dawn, Shastex 1 and Paradise 2 claims.
Refer to the Pine (MINFILE 094E 016) for details of the Pine property which contained the occurrence from the late 1990s to 2014. Exploration work included programs of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping and airborne geophysical surveys.
In 2003, prospecting at the Dawn-Shastex occurrence area by Stealth Minerals Ltd., as part of their larger Pine property exploration, yielded approximately 130 rock samples. A sample (132697) assayed 1.66 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 27429).
During 2016 through 2018, Amarc Resources Ltd. completed programs of soil and rock sampling, geological mapping, 115.0 line-kilometres of ground induced polarization surveys and 1940.0 line-kilometres of airborne magnetic surveys on the area as the Joy property.
