The Dalhousie (or No.1) showing is located in the southeastern part of the Dalhousie claim (Lot 4924) on the east side of the Bear River Ridge, about 1600 metres east-southeast of Mount Shorty Stevenson and 750 metres west of the Bear River, 14 kilometres north of Stewart.
The area is underlain by north striking, west dipping Lower Jurassic Unuk River Formation (Hazelton Group) rocks comprising mainly andesitic tuffs, breccias and flows that are intruded by north to northwest trending dikes (Bulletin 58; 63).
Mineralization at the No. 1 showing is hosted in altered and pyritized (0.5 to 1.0 per cent pyrite) fine grained dacitic and andesitic tuffs that immediately overlie rhyolitic flows. These rocks are intruded by north-northwest trending feldspar porphyry dikes (Assessment Report 7841). The general trend of the mineralization is north, dipping west and approximately conformable with the bedding. The mineralization has a width of 7 metres and extends over a length of 38 metres. Several opencuts, immediately east of tunnel No.1, expose veinlets and irregular pods of mineralization in tuffs. These consist of 5 to 40 per cent pyrite, 0.5 to 5 per cent chalcopyrite and 2 to 10 per cent magnetite in quartz-epidote-chlorite-amphibole rock. In 1979, chip samples from cut No. 2, eight metres north of the tunnel No. 1 portal, assayed up to 25.0 grams per tonne gold, 6.9 grams per tonne silver and 0.3 per cent copper across 3.0 metres (Assessment Report 7841). The mineralized zone was not intersected in the tunnel.
Tunnel No. 2, 220 metres north of the No. 1 showing, has been driven about 110 metres northwest. The tunnel exposes andesite flows and tuffs, containing minor disseminated pyrite, and intercalated rhyolite. A 30 metre long crosscut has been driven to the southwest, 100 metres from the portal. The crosscut exposes disseminated chalcopyrite in andesite over a length of 10 metres. The mineralization lies close to the eastern flank of a feldspar porphyry dike. In 1979, a grab sample from the mineralization assayed 1.7 grams per tonne gold, 10.3 grams per tonne silver and 0.33 per cent copper (Assessment Report 7841).
Just south of the No. 1 showing (assumed to be the No. 1 vein; Minister of Mines Annual Report 1927, page 92), a broad gossan trends northwest. At 975 metres elevation, a 0.9 metre wide zone of silicified greenstone is well mineralized with pyrite and chalcopyrite. The zone trends 290 degrees and dips 50 degrees south. A sample assayed 27.4 grams per tonne gold, 41.1 grams per tonne silver and 2.1 per cent copper across 0.9 metre (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1927, page 92).
In 2003, a rock chip sample (20573) from a quartz-sulphide vein across 0.6 metre yielded 3.1 per cent copper, 0.17 per cent zinc, 254.0 grams per tonne silver and 1.98 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 27266).
Work History
During 1925 through 1928, the Dalhousie Mining Company Limited acquired and explored the Dalhousie group, including the Dalhousie claim. The claim group included the Tillamook claim (Lot 4926) (104A 043), which earlier (1920-22) had been included in the Aztec (104A 042, 43) claim group (Minister of Mines Annual Reports 1920 and 1922). Two veins, the Iron and Copper veins, were reported on the Aztec group. It is not clear whether these are the same veins described on the Dalhousie group or are separate ones. Work conducted by Dalhousie Mining on the Dalhousie claim comprised several opencuts and two tunnels: tunnel No.1 on the No. 1 showing and tunnel No. 2, about 220 metres north of tunnel No. 1. No further work was reported until 1979 when Tournigan Mining Explorations Ltd. conducted geological mapping, trenching, prospecting, sampling and a limited magnetometer survey near tunnels No. 1 and 2. In 1990, work on behalf of Calnor Resources Ltd. and Tenajon Resources Corp. consisted of collecting a total of 13 rock chip samples in the vicinity of the Dalhousie claim while 21 rock, 2 silt and 54 soil samples were taken on the eastern half of the Rock Royal property. In 1993-94, a program of geological mapping, rock (21) and stream sediment (20) sampling, and VLF-EM and magnetometer surveying (6.3 kilometres) on the MC 1-5 claim group was carried out. The MC claims cover the Dalhousie and Rock of Ages (104A 135) showings. In 1999-2000, exploration work on the MC and MC 2 claims comprised geological mapping over a 3.5 square kilometre area, stream sediment sampling and 1 kilometre of ground magnetometer surveying. In 2003, geological and geochemical surveys were conducted on the MC and MC 2 mineral claims which cover the Dalhousie and Rock of Ages (104A 135) showings. Geological mapping was carried out over a 0.4 square kilometre area and 12 rock chip samples collected. In 2010, geological mapping, geophysical surveying and rock and soil sampling was carried out on the MC claims on behalf of REC Minerals Corp. and included 95 soil and 22 rock samples and total field magnetometer surveying along 1.9 kilometres. In 2017 and 2019, Bonanza Mining Corp. completed programs of prospecting, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and ground geophysical (induced polarization, magnetic and gravity) surveys on the area as the MC property.
