The Surp 12 occurrence is located west of Surprise Creek near its headwaters, approximately 32 kilometres northeast of Stewart.
Regionally, the area is underlain by a sequence of Jurassic clastic and volcanic rocks of the Hazelton Group which trend north to northwest and are intruded by felsic stocks and dikes and/or sills to the west. The area is dominated by a major anticline, which displays eastern vergence. Reddish to maroon andesitic volcaniclastic and volcanic rocks of the Betty Creek Formation are located close to the anticline’s axial plane. To the west and east of the anticline’s axis there are felsic rocks of the Mount Dilworth Formation(?). They form a horizon, 70 to 200 metres wide, composed of apple green, light grey or white coloured felsic volcanic rocks which include flows, intrusions and pyroclastic rocks. Large gossans are related to sericite alteration and subsequent infusion of quartz and sulphide mineralization and it is speculated that the alteration is associated with the abundant intrusive rocks in the area. In these sericitic zones it is very difficult to differentiate between altered intrusive and felsic volcanic rocks.
Hostrocks consist of grey, fine grained to glassy rhyolites. West of the rhyolites, a sequence of black argillites is interbedded with grey andesitic tuffs and flows. Along the western edge of the property area, a belt of northerly trending maroon pyroclastic rocks and flows is present. Included in this sequence are crystal lithic tuffs, tuff breccia, coarse lapilli tuffs and thin beds of ash and fine lapilli tuff. Extensive and pervasive carbonate alteration is very common in the maroon pyroclastics and flows.
At the Surp 12 showing, a quartz-carbonate stockwork zone containing sphalerite and galena is hosted in argillite and along a major fault zone in the argillite. A grab sample (ERK-484) from a well mineralized quartz stringer with 5-6 per cent sulphides (pyrite, galena, sphalerite) assayed 4.26 per cent lead, 4.08 per cent zinc and 215.8 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 23935).
In the 1970s and 1980s, the area underwent prospecting and some trenching was conducted but there are no records for the work done. In 1989, the Surp claims were acquired by Teuton Resources Corp. The following year, Teuton Resources conducted soil, silt and rock sampling. In 1994 and 1996, Teuton Resources conducted an exploration program consisting of reconnaissance geochemical rock and silt sampling in conjunction with prospecting and reconnaissance geological mapping. In 2003, Pinnacle Mines Ltd. collected a total of 78 rock samples from outcrop and float as well as 23 silt samples during an exploration program. In 2004, Pinnacle Mines continued reconnaissance geochemical rock and silt sampling of the property. A total of 220 rock samples both from outcrop and float as well as 19 silt samples were collected during the exploration program. In 2005, Pinnacle Mines continued exploration on the Surprise Creek property and collected a total of 279 rock and 8 silt samples. In 2006, Pinnacle Mines focused on the area immediately west of Short, Long, Grunwald, Jagiello, Ataman and Sarmatia glaciers. This area features a very intense zone of pervasive K-feldspar alteration which stretches out for at least 10 kilometres in the north-south and 4-5 kilometres in the east-west direction. The extent of this alteration zone was determined by K-feldspar staining of a few dozen samples collected from the area. A total of 58 rock samples were collected during the 2006 exploration program. In 2007, an exploration program by Pinnacle Mines consisted of four diamond-drill holes totalling 1995 metres of NQ core.
In 2017, at least 30 samples (grab and float) were collected in the Surp 12 area. The best insitu sample assayed 0.16 per cent zinc with gold, silver copper and lead having no anomalous content (Assessment Report 37453, Figure 4C). A few of the float samples were higher in lead and zinc with some silver but were not anomalous in gold except for one.
