The SKARN 2 occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 1500 metres on a northwest-facing slope, east of the Finlay River and approximately 7.5 kilometres east-northeast of its confluence with the Firesteel River, about 275 kilometres north of the community of Smithers.
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, 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 occurrence area is underlain by Takla Group volcanic rocks, consisting of dark green augite porphyry basalt flows and breccias, and lesser fine-grained andesite and basalt with thin-bedded sandstone and local limestone. Approximately 1 kilometre to the west, a thrust fault juxtaposes Takla volcanics onto structurally underlying Toodoggone Formation volcanic rocks. Dacitic to andesitic crystal-ash tuffs and flows comprise Toodoggone volcanics. The main Takla-dominated structural block is cut by several types of dikes with variable, but predominantly northwest trends and thicknesses up to tens of metres. One dike type, a feldspar-clinopyroxene-biotite phyric porphyry is spatially associated with, and locally cut by, porphyry gold-copper mineralization (sheeted quartz-sulphide veins).
The SWT target area, defined by Amarc Resources as a 2.2 kilometre long induced polarization (IP) chargeability anomaly, includes the Skarn 1, Skarn 2 and Goat showings. The anomaly is associated with subtle potassic alteration (drill hole JP22028); a Cu-Au soil anomaly with associated arsenic-tellurium-sellenium-molybdenum-silver±antimony and peripheral zinc; a small occurrence of high-grade porphyry gold-copper mineralization sampled in float and outcrop associated with inter-mineral feldspar-biotite-pyroxene porphyry dikes; and polymetallic (copper-lead-zinc) quartz-carbonate veins associated with late inter-mineral feldspar-biotite-quartz phyric dikes (e.g., Goat occurrence).
Locally, a quartz vein is hosted in a hypabyssal quartz feldspar porphyry dike. The dike may be a hypabyssal equivalent of the Toodoggone volcanics. A lens of recrystallized limestone outcrops approximately 75 metres west of the occurrence. Bedding within the limestone varies from 120 to 145 degrees and dips 33 to 58 degrees northeast. Volcanics in the area host up to 10 per cent disseminated magnetite and pyrite.
In 1987, a sample (R6874) assayed 3.0 grams per tonne silver and 0.085 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 17459). In 1988, several samples were taken from this vein, which yielded anomalous silver, copper, lead and zinc values. Sample Q-7612 assayed 75.9 grams per tonne silver, 3.328 per cent lead, 2.258 per cent zinc and 0.965 per cent copper, whereas three other samples (Q-7606, -7614 and -7615) yielded up to 0.135 gram per tonne gold, 94.9 grams per tonne silver, 0.700 per cent lead, 0.410 per cent zinc and 0.111 per cent copper (Assessment Report 18396).
Drilling in 2022, intersected both porphyry and vein-type mineralization. Drill hole JP22028, collared 650 metres northeast of the Skarn 2 showing, intersected 78 metres of 0.02 per cent copper, 0.11 gram per tonne gold and 0.4 gram per tonne silver. Nearby drill hole JP22024 intersected 2.7 metres of 3.7 grams per tonne gold. Additionally a 2022 rock sample, collected from an oxidized quartz-pyrite vein and pyrite veinlets cutting sericitized volcanics in the area, assayed 1.2 grams per tonne gold and 24 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 40912).
Work History
In 1980, initial silt sampling of the area by Serem Ltd., the predecessor to Cheni Gold Mines Inc., resulted in the staking of the Wrich claims in 1981. Subsequent work, during 1982 through 1985, included geological mapping, prospecting, rock and soil geochemical sampling and geophysics, consisting of VLF-EM and VLF-EMR surveys. In 1987, Cheni conducted a program of rock and soil sampling and geological mapping on the area. An option agreement was made between Skylark Resources Ltd. and Cheni Gold Mines Inc. following this program. The following year, a program included geological mapping, geochemical (rock, soil and silt) surveys and geophysical surveys consisting of VLF-EMR and magnetometer.
During 1997 through 2003, Stealth Mining Corp., on behalf of Electrum Resource Corp., completed programs of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping and ground geophysical surveys on the area. In 2009, Gold Fields Toodoggone Exploration Corp. completed a program of rock and silt sampling, geological mapping, a 180.8-line kilometre ground induced polarization survey and a 2778.0-line kilometre airborne magnetic survey on the area as part of the Pine property.
From 2016 through 2024, Amarc completed exploration programs of historical core logging at Pine, Mex (094E 057) and Fin (094E 312), induced polarization and airborne magnetic surveys, prospecting, mapping, geochemical soil and rock sampling 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 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). Four holes totaling 1713 metres were completed in the SWT Target area in 2022. 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).
