The Smoke zinc occurrence is situated approximately 10 kilometres east of the Kechika River and 13 kilometres north of Terminus Mountain in the Muskwa Ranges of the Northern Rocky Mountains (Assessment Report 9467, Figure 2).

The area lies immediately east of the Northern Rocky Mountain Trench, which here coincides with the Kechika River valley. The occurrence is in a northwest-trending belt consisting dominantly of the Devonian and Mississippian Earn Group (Geological Survey of Canada Map 42-1962, 1712A). This is a varied unit composed mostly of chert-pebble conglomerate and quartz sandstone, and blue-black siliceous shale and siltstone. The property is underlain by a strongly deformed sequence of grey to brown dolostone, shale, siltstone and chert of the Silurian-Devonian Road River Group (Geoscience Map 1998-9).

A sphalerite-barite–rich breccia crosscuts chert, cherty argillite, and argillaceous limestones of the Road River Group near the top of the ridge approximately 13 kilometres north of Terminus Mountain. The breccia is marked by gossanous pyritic sections. It is approximately 10 metres long and from 0.5 metre to 3 metres wide. Breccia clasts are from 0.1 centimetre to 20 centimetres across and are composed of chert, limestone and argillite. The matrix is composed of rusty iron carbonate, calcite and barite. Pyrite is finely disseminated, and sphalerite seen under the microscope. The breccia is postulated to be a solution breccia (Bulletin 107, p. 108).

A gossanous, 3-metre-wide zone of sphalerite, zinc oxide and barite occurs in chert-shale-dolomite breccia (Assessment Report 9467). The ground was explored with a soil survey, but the results were disappointing. A sample taken in 1995, assayed 0.2136 per cent zinc and 2.07 per cent barite; another assayed 3.39 per cent zinc, 0.984 per cent barite and 0.055 per cent cadmium (Geoscience Map 1998-9). A grab sample by Cominco gave 5.63 per cent zinc, 24.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.034 per cent copper and 0.12 per cent barium. Another sample assayed lower in metals but 3.24 per cent barium (Assessment Report 25013).

Work History

In 1980, Noranda Exploration Company, Limited completed a soil sampling program on the area as the Smoke claims.

In 1996, Cominco Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and minor rock sampling on the area as the Horn claims.

In 2011 and 2012, BCarlin Resources Ltd. completed regionally extensive programs of geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling on the area as the Netson Lake property.