The Border occurrence is located 5.6 kilometres east of Metsantan Lake, and 1.8 kilometres southeast of the Mets occurrence (094E 093) and 750 metres north-northeast of the Metsantan prospect (094E 064), approximately 295 kilometres north of Smithers. It lies within the Omineca-Cassiar mountains in the west-central portion of the Toodoggone Gold Camp.
The Border 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. These Takla 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 Border prospect is underlain by northwest trending volcanic units of the Metsantan Member and crosscut by major and minor fault systems. The main northwest fault is possibly correlative with the Cliff Creek structure at the Lawyers mine (094E 066), 14 kilometres to the southeast. A ring and radial fracture system converges on nearby Metsantan Mountain peak. The oldest unit of the Metsantan Member is composed of trachyte and trachyandesite flows and tuff. Within this unit is a distinctive quartz-eye andesite characterized by a pink aphanitic groundmass and clear quartz phenocrysts. Minor ferruginous siltstone and volcanic sandstone also occur within this unit (Assessment Report 14498). The Border prospect consists of three zones; the North zone, the BT zone and Camp zone; a series of subparallel quartz-barite veins and breccias.
The North zone, composed of quartz-barite veins, was investigated in 1985 by four trenches (T-85-1 to T-85-4). These veins form a zone traceable on surface by clay alteration and resistant quartz fragments. Trench T-85-1 exposed a 2-metre-wide quartz vein. Other trenches intersected clay-rich zones with quartz fragments. The best of two chip samples taken from trench T-85-1 analyzed 0.212 gram per tonne gold and 10.97 grams per tonne silver over 1 metre. Trench T-85-3 analyzed 0.918 gram per tonne gold and 11.66 grams per tonne silver over 1 metre. A narrow quartz vein, six metres east of trench T-85-2, was sampled and yielded 37.03 grams per tonne gold and 593.15 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 14412).
The BT zone lies 350 metres west of the North zone. Property work on this zone has consisted of trenching and drilling in 1987 and 1988, but little information could be found. Trench T-87-C from this zone was sampled and assay results were 20.57 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 20400). Two rock samples taken from this zone also yielded anomalous gold and silver. Sample RKN-10 analyzed 0.348 gram per tonne gold and 35 grams per tonne silver. Sample RKN-11 analyzed 1.6 grams per tonne gold and 11.9 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 20400). Results from drillholes 88-3 to 6 were not available.
Little information is available for the Camp zone. See below.
In 1980, the Metsantan property was staked and explored by Lacana Mining Corporation on behalf of the Canadian Minerals Joint Venture. The early discovery of precious metals-bearing epithermal vein systems on Metsantan Ridge led to exploration being concentrated on this sector of the property. From 1981-84, prospecting, geological mapping, soil geochemical sampling, trenching, and diamond drilling were conducted by Lacana.
In 1985, Bart Resources Ltd. optioned the property and conducted trench re-sampling, backhoe trenching, soil geochemical sampling, and geological mapping. Re-sampling of Lacana's trenches confirmed previous results. The structural trend hosting the Ridge zone was traced for at least 600 metres on strike. Soil geochemical sampling defined new target areas, while new trenching yielded several high-grade values.
In 1987, Taiga Consultants Ltd., on behalf of American Ore Limited, conducted trenching, prospecting, geological mapping, soil geochemical sampling, and one diamond-drill hole. The program delineated several new mineralized zones. In 1988, Taiga Consultants Ltd., on behalf of Prolific Resources Ltd., undertook extensive exploration work consisting of geological mapping, soil and silt geochemical sampling, prospecting, backhoe trenching, and 1098 metres of diamond drilling in seven locations. This work identified a number of quartz-breccia systems with associated intense argillic alteration haloes. The soil geochemical sampling clearly identified known mineralized zones and outlined areas requiring further detailed evaluation.
The 1990 property exploration by Taiga Consultants, on behalf of Skeena Resources Limited, consisted of grid-controlled soil geochemical sampling and prospecting, directed at investigating previously established geochemical trends.
In 2006-08, Paget Resources held the new Mandusa showing area (094E 277) as part of its large Met property and visited the Surprise showing (094E 192), which they called the Cirque zone. In 2006, 21 rock and 25 soil samples were collected, mostly in the Ridge (Metsantan) area. In 2008, Paget collected 25 rock samples which are plotted in the Metsantan (Ridge) showing area and in the BT, BT North areas. Traverses extended to the North zone and to the Camp zone, the latter of which is located about 500 metres north-northeast of the Metsantan (Ridge) zone and about 500 metres east of the North zone. The North zone is the plotted location of the Border occurrence. The Border occurrence (094E 197) includes the BT, BT North, North and Camp zone. At the Camp zone, two samples were collected from drillhole DDH 88-7, including one sample of grey vuggy-textured quartz and one sample of clay-pyrite altered volcanic rock. The samples yielded gold values of less than 100 parts per billion (Assessment Report 30413).
See Surprise (094E 192) and the new Mandusa showing (094E 277) southwest of Surprise for other Mets property work.
