The Asap occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 1520 metres near the south end of north-south–trending ridge, north of Cloud (Silver) Creek and approximately 6.5 kilometres south-southeast of the junction of Lawyers Creek and the Toodoggone River.
The area lies within the Omineca-Cassiar Mountains at the southern end of the Toodoggone gold camp. The area 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 Lower Jurassic granodiorite to quartz monzonite of the 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 andesite crystal tuffs, volcaniclastic breccias and hypabyssal quartz trachyandesites, part of a larger package of Toodoggone Formation volcanics assigned to the Metsantan member. Other lithologies of the Metsantan member include mostly latite lava flows with interflow lahar, and a mix of epiclastic and pyroclastic rocks (Bulletin 86).
Locally, epidote- and calcite-altered interbedded crystal tuffs host silicified zones containing quartz veining and stockworks with gold and silver values. Minor disseminated pyrite and specular hematite, and zones of ferricrete are also reported in the area.
In 1982, a rock sample (2-C-3055) assayed 1.45 grams per tonne gold and 117 grams per tonne silver, whereas another sample (2-E-0029) taken a short distance south yielded 0.50 gram per tonne gold and 32 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 11216).
In 1984, a rock sample (309), taken a short distance to the north of the previous samples, assayed 1.08 grams per tonne gold and 80.0 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 12911).
In 1985, a rock sample (H-53) from the area assayed 0.174 gram per tonne gold and 9.4 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 14700).
In 2018, three rock samples (Y445276 to Y445278) from the area yielded from 0.025 to 0.052 gram per tonne gold and 6.4 to 13.9 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 38447).
Work History
In 1982, Great Western Petroleum completed a program of rock sampling and geological mapping on the area as the Asap claim.
Since 1983, the area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Silver Pond (West) occurrence (MINFILE 094E 163) and complete exploration history of the area and property can be found there.
