The East Ridge occurrence is located 1.85 kilometres north-northeast of Oxide Peak and 800 metres west of Lower Belle Lake, on a major north-trending ridge. The prospect lies within the Omineca-Cassiar mountains in the north-central portion of the Toodoggone gold camp, about 310 kilometres north of the community of Smithers.
The East Ridge 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.
Devonian-Permian Asitka Group crystalline limestones are the oldest rocks exposed in the region. They are commonly in thrust contact with Upper Triassic Stuhini Group andesite flows and pyroclastic rocks. These Stuhini 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 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 prospect lies along the contact between a fault-bound wedge of Stuhini Group within the Toodoggone Formation volcanics. The Stuhini volcanics at this locality are described as dark green augite porphyry basalt flows and breccias with minor interbedded siltstone, tuffaceous sediments and chert. It contains limestone lenses that may be part of the Asitka Group (Assessment Report 15412). The Toodoggone volcanics are part of the McClair Member consisting of lavender and grey, crowded, fine to medium grained, plagioclase porphyritic flows with lesser lapilli tuffs, breccia and minor epiclastic beds (Assessment Report 15412).
The East Ridge prospect consists of a silicified shear zone covering an area 300 metres long by 100 metres wide. It appears to trend 150 to 160 degrees and is not closed off at its southern end. The zone consists of silicification (quartz veining with or without pyrite) in the hangingwall of the shear in the form of a number of subparallel veins and stockworks striking 035 degrees and dipping vertical. The stockworks consists of 1 millimetre to 20 centimetre wide veins variably spaced from 2 centimetres to 2 metres apart (Assessment Report 15412). The veins consist of chalcedonic and crystalline quartz, barite, calcite, galena and sphalerite (Assessment Report 15412).
In 1981, a rock sample assayed 2.50 per cent copper and 19.0 grams per tonne silver, whereas a talus float sample (SC-37-81-1) of quartz-calcite veining with disseminated galena in a propylitic-altered volcanic, located approximately 600 metres to the north-northwest, assayed 6.6 grams per tonne silver and 2.08 per cent lead (Assessment Report 9411 and 10242).
In 1985, chip samples of chalcedony stockwork from the Amethyst Valley zone yielded values of up to 0.340 gram per tonne gold, 14.2 grams per tonne silver, 0.162 per cent copper and greater than 1 per cent lead and zinc, each (Assessment Report 15412).
In 1986, rock sampling of this prospect was conducted. Some of the better results were 14.2 grams per tonne silver (sample ED-94), 0.34 gram per tonne gold (sample ED-95), greater than 1 per cent lead (sample ED-94), 0.169 per cent copper (sample ED-99) and 0.162 per cent barium (sample ED-92) (Assessment Report 15412). The silver assay results from a program conducted in 1988 were also anomalous. Sample L-218, an 80-centimetre channel sample of propylitized andesite porphyry, analyzed 4.3 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 17683).
See Mist (094E 180), located 990 metres northwest, for related work history and Porphyry Pearl (094E 084), located 5.8 kilometres southwest, for details of the Porphyry Pearl property of Starfire Minerals Inc. which contained the East Ridge prospect in the 2000s and 2010s. No work was done on the East Ridge prospect by Starfire as of 2014.
In 1980, the Oxide Peak property (094E 181) was acquired by Serem Inc. and reconnaissance geology and geochemistry were conducted on the Lou and Oxide claims. Work on the Poo and ON claims, adjoining to the north, was conducted over the next two years. Reconnaissance sampling of Oxide Peak drainages produced anomalous base metal values and spotty precious metal highs. Sampling of drainages from the eastern part of the Lou claim (later East Ridge area of Amethyst Valley claim) produced consistent copper anomalies, but only spotty base metal values were found in limited soil sampling. A more limited effort in 1981 saw soil sampling of the 1700-metre contour on Oxide Peak and quartz breccia rock chip sampling along the East Ridge area.
In 1984, C. Kowall mapped silicified and pyritized zones on the East Ridge but soil and rock chip sampling over leached areas did not yield anomalous precious metal values. In 1985, 134 rock samples were collected by Geostar Mining Corp. in the Oxide Peak and Amthyst Valley areas, the latter area contained the Mist and East Ridge occurrences. In 1987, Shayna Resources Inc. conducting soil, stream and rock sampling, VLF-electromagnetic and magnetometer surveys, and, primarily on the Amethyst Valley claim, geological mapping.
In 1994, resistivity and an induced polarization (IP) survey was carried out along one line over the Mist Vein located within the Amethyst Valley claim owned by R. Card. In 1996, resistivity and IP surveys along with some soil sampling were carried out on behalf of Matrix Energy Corp., over a part of the Oxide Peak property (the Mist area). Soil sampling consisted of 17 samples picked up along the base line and line 100N.
In 2004, a number of rock and soil samples were taken in the East Ridge, Mist and Oxide Peak areas by Stealth Minerals. Stealth held these occurrences as part of its Gordo group of claims which stretched to the east over the Joanna and Falcon occurrences. See Joanna Gold (094E 172) for further details of the Stealth work.
In the early 2010s, Starfire Minerals Inc. held the Oxide Peak, Mist and East Ridge showing areas as part of their Porphyry Pearl property but did not report any work there.
See Mist (094E 180) and Oxide Peak (094E 181) for further geological information and Porphyry Pearl (094E 084) for related information on the Porphyry Pearl property.
