The Pau prospect is located approximately 2.5 kilometres southwest of the former Baker mine (094E 026), some 280 kilometres north of Smithers. It lies within the Omineca-Cassiar mountains at the southern end of the Toodoggone gold camp. The Pau prospect 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 Pau prospect is underlain by a discontinuous sequence of Permian to Middle Jurassic volcano-sedimentary rocks upwarped against and in fault contact with the Early Jurassic quartz monzonite to syenite Black Lake stock. The dominant lithologies are augite feldspar phyric andesitic flows of the Takla Group and feldspar porphyry of the Toodoggone Formation. Other lithologies cropping out in the vicinity include limestone and marble of the Asitka Group, and porphyritic andesitic crystal and lithic tuffs and breccias. Structurally the units in the area are intensively disrupted by steep dipping northeast-striking faults.

Locally, two main areas of mineralization have been identified and are referred to as the Black Pete and Skarn zones.

The Black Pete zone comprises galena, tetrahedrite, argentite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite mineralization hosted in quartz veins, breccias and silicification forming a zone that has been traced over a strike length greater than 80 metres with apparent surface widths between 4 and 12 metres. Minor amounts of chalcedony are found in some quartz veins. Unaltered Takla and Toodoggone volcanic rocks, primarily augite porphyry and feldspar porphyry, enclose the mineralized and silicified zone.

The Skarn zone is located approximately 400 metres east-southeast of the Black Pete zone and comprises Asitka Group limestone that is locally metamorphosed to a pale-green actinolite-bearing calc-silicate skarn. Skarn mineralization includes galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and pyrite. Most of both types of mineralization occur near the intrusive contact. Another zone of skarn mineralization is reported approximately 700 metres south-southwest of the Black Pete zone.

Other zones of mineralization include a quartz-galena vein, located approximately 900 metres southeast of the Black Pete zone; zones of quartz-pyrite veining and/or breccia, located approximately 1.3 kilometres northwest and 1.3 and 2.6 kilometres west-southwest of the Black Pete zone, and an area of intrusive float hosting disseminated magnetite-pyrrhotite mineralization is reported approximately 1.1 kilometres south-southeast of the Black Pete zone.

Work History

Property exploration consisting of soil, silt and rock geochemistry, geological mapping and prospecting, and ground magnetic surveys by Cheni Mines from 1980 to 1983, led to the discovery of a zone of intense quartz veining and silicification. This zone became known as the Black Pete zone.

In 1980, a rock sample (SC-34-79-21) of skarn hosting galena-sphalerite mineralization, located to the south-southwest, assayed 0.155 gram per tonne gold, 86.0 grams per tonne silver, 0.245 per cent zinc and 4.90 per cent lead (Assessment Report 8434).

In 1981, a rock sample from a siliceous skarn zone along an intrusive contact yielded 0.59 gram per tonne gold, whereas a sample from a silicified granite, located approximately 1.3 kilometres to the west-southwest, yielded 30.8 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 9973).

In 1982, sampling of the Black Pete zone yielded values of up to 2.7 grams per tonne gold with 490.3 grams per tonne silver over 1.0 metre and averaged 0.9 gram per tonne gold with 164.2 grams per tonne silver over 12 metres from trench P.M. 1, whereas a sample (PM22-82) from the galena-bearing skarn zone yielded 3.4 grams per tonne gold and 17.1 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 10788). Also at this time, a sample (PM-4-82) from a quartz-galena vein, located approximately 900 metres to the southwest, assayed 576.0 grams per tonne silver, whereas samples from areas of quartz-pyrite veining/breccia yielded from 10.2 to 13.7 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 10788).

In 1983, a program of geological mapping, rock sampling and trenching was completed on the Black Pete zone. Sampling of the trenches averaged 0.29 gram per tonne gold and 39.7 grams per tonne silver from 53 samples with values of up to 3.8 grams per tonne gold and 297.5 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 11540).

In 1985, a program of bulldozer trenching, rock sampling, geological mapping, prospecting and an 80.3 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey was completed. This work identified a mineralized area, exposed over approximately 65 metres in trenches 85-8, -5 and -6 on the Black Pete zone, that yielded values of up to 121.4 grams per tonne gold with 7335.9 grams per tonne silver over 1 metre in trench 85-8 and 164.9 grams per tonne gold with 2694.9 grams per tonne silver over 3 metres (Assessment Report 14645 and 16476).

In 1987, diamond drilling was undertaken to determine the continuity at depth of gold and silver mineralization in quartz veins, breccias and silicified zones. Core from eight drillholes, totalling 1122.13 metres, was intensely fractured indicating the area is strongly faulted. Continuity of ore intersections between drillholes was also poor. The best assay values were from drillhole 87PM6. A 0.5-metre intersection from 98 to 98.5 metres analysed 3.08 grams per tonne gold and 1165.7 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 16476). These values were from within a broader 21.6-metre-wide anomalous zone yielding weighted averages of 100.46 grams per tonne silver and 0.31 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 16476). The upper 10.6 metres consisted of a volcanic breccia with a density of irregular quartz stringers followed by a quartz vein 10 metres wide.

Significant but sporadic gold mineralization was intersected in all other drillholes. Drillhole 87PM3 intersected a 0.72-metre-wide quartz vein, from 27.53 to 28.5 metres, which yielded 600.9 grams per tonne silver and 2.74 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 16476). Drillhole 87PM4 intersected a 0.75-metre quartz vein which analyzed 157.7 grams per tonne silver and 0.343 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 16476). An 8.92-metre-wide quartz vein intersected in drillhole 87PM1 analyzed 123.42 grams per tonne silver and 0.343 gram per tonne gold over a 1-metre interval (Assessment Report 16476).

In 1997, Cumulus Technology Ltd. prospected the area. Samples from former trenches yielded up to 1.54 grams per tonne gold and 159.8 grams per tonne silver (Sample PM#3; Assessment Report 25226).

In 2012, a program of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling was completed on the Baker claim group. Seven samples of quartz vein material from the Perry Mason (Black Pete) zone yielded values from 0.10 to 0.40 gram per tonne gold with 1.4 to 77.1 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 34394).

In 2015 and 2016, programs of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling were completed on the area.

In 2019 and 2020, Benchmark Metals Inc. completed programs of geochemical (rock and soil) and biogeochemical sampling, ground and airborne geophysical surveys, 242 diamond drill holes, totalling 69 080 metres, and 191 reverse-circulation drill holes, totalling 28 395 metres, on the area as part of the Lawyers property. The majority of the drilling targeted the Cliff Creek, Dukes Ridge, Phoenix and AGB zones of the Lawyers (MINFILE 094E 066) deposit.

Also in 2020, TDG Gold Corp. completed a 11.9 line-kilometre ground induced polarization survey on the area northwest of Oxide Peak and an airborne geophysical survey on the area as part of the Baker-Shasta-Oxide Peak property.