The A & T showings are located in the canyon of the first west fork of Fitzgerald (Goose) Creek, about 1.8 kilometres west of the confluence of Fitzgerald Creek with the Bear River, 14 kilometres north of Stewart. These showings occur on the Big Casino claim (previously Independence 1) to the southwest of the four vein structures currently of interest (104A 038). The Big Casino claim is different from the Big Casino Crown grant Lot 4529 (104A 034).
The area is underlain by north striking, west dipping Lower Jurassic Unuk River Formation (Hazelton Group) rocks predominantly comprising andesitic tuffs and breccias (Bulletin 58; 63) intruded by northwest trending granitic dikes (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1930).
Two north-northeast trending mineralized shear zones occur. The upper zone lies at about 1070 metres elevation; the lower one occurs at about 730 to 910 metres elevation. The shear zones are irregularly mineralized with chalcopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite. A sample, assumed to be from the lower zone, assayed 294.9 grams per tonne silver, 0.7 gram per tonne gold and 4.6 per cent copper across a vein width of 1.7 metres (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1928). A sample from the junction of a weak cross-structure with the lower zone assayed 6.2 grams per tonne gold, 44.6 grams per tonne silver and 2.7 per cent copper across 0.9 metre (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1930).
At an elevation of 730 metres, a gossan zone up to 30 metres wide is exposed in the creek bed. Here, sericitic schist contains pyrite and a silicified zone is mineralized with pyrite and chalcopyrite (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1928).
Work History
The A & T claim group was prospected by Tooth, Armstrong and Howse in 1928. The following year Cominco carried out about 470 metres of drilling; results were disappointing, and Cominco terminated the option. The owners carried out prospecting in 1930.
No further work was reported until 1984 when Tournigan Mining Explorations Ltd. conducted geological mapping and stream sediment surveys on the Independence 1 claim, which covered the A & T showings. No work was reported on the showings. In 1986, Moche Resources Inc. acquired the Rock of Ages group (104A 133-135, 137) (which included the Independence 1 claim); no work was reported on the showings.
In 2017, Richard Billingsley completed an airborne magnetic survey on the area. In 2019, AUX Resources Corp. completed a program of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling on the area as the Independence and Slippery Ian properties.
