The Steel East occurrence is located on a southeast-trending ridge, approximately 2.3 kilometres west-northwest of the junction of the Firesteel and Finlay rivers.
The region is situated within a Mesozoic volcanic arc assemblage that lies along the eastern margin of the Intermontane Belt, a northwest-trending belt of Paleozoic to Neogene 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 of the 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.
Exposures of predominantly Takla Group andesite and tuffaceous sediments are abundant around the occurrence area. Takla Group andesites are composed of aphanitic, medium-grey, massive andesites crosscut by 2- to 10-millimetre wide quartz-carbonate veins. These veins strike 025 degrees and dip vertical. Near the contact between Takla Group rocks and porphyritic granodiorite to quartz monzonite of the Early Jurassic Kemess pluton, finely disseminated pyrite and magnetite are associated with epidote-chlorite alteration and rare localized stockwork quartz veinlets 1 to 2 millimetres in diameter.
In 2003, two rock samples (133207 and 133208) yielded values of 0.40 and 1.88 grams per tonne gold, 12.9 and 27.7 grams per tonne silver with 0.961 and 0.540 per cent copper over 1.0 metre, respectively (Assessment Report 27429).
In 2005, a chip sample (64373) across an oxidized vein-shear with pyrite and chalcopyrite assayed 1.39 grams per tonne gold, greater than 100 grams per tonne silver and 4.049 per cent copper over 0.15 metre (Assessment Report 28071).
Work History
In 1981, Du Pont of Canada Exploration Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and rock, silt and soil sampling on the area as the Fire 1-3 claims.
In 1988, Skylark Resources Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and rock, silt and soil sampling on the area as the Steel 1-2claims.
Refer to the Pine (MINFILE 094E 016) for details of the Pine property, which contained the Steel 1 and 2 occurrences from the late 1990s to 2014. Exploration work included programs of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping and airborne geophysical surveying. Also see the Electrum (MINFILE 094E 125) for details of historical property ownership and related occurrences, and related VIP occurrences: MINFILE 094E 047, 048, 049 and 129.
During 2016 through 2018, Amarc Resources Ltd. completed programs of soil and rock sampling, geological mapping, 115.0 line-kilometres of ground induced polarization surveying and 1940.0 line-kilometres of airborne magnetic surveying on the area as the Joy property.
