The Grace showing is located 9.5 kilometres south of the Bronson Airstrip (Iskut River) and is part of the northwest striking Burnie Trend of mineral occurrences east of Craig River.
The Grace area is underlain by Devonian to Permian marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Stikine Assemblage which area overlain by Upper Triassic epiclastic volcanics, marbles, sandstones and siltstones that correlative with the Stuhini Group. Lower Jurassic rock of the Hazelton groups overly the Stuhini rock.
The volcanic and sedimentary sequences were intruded by the Tertiary-Cretaceous Coast Plutonic Complex. A wide variety of intrusive phases are present including granodiorite, quartz monzonite and diorite. Small satellite plugs from the main batholith are important for localizing mineralization.
The predominant lithologies on the property consist of marine sediments, volcaniclastics and volcanic flows. The marine sediments consist of argillites, argillaceous siltstones, and siltstone with some quartzite, greywacke and carbonates. These sediments are interbedded with contemporaneous marine volcanics ranging from rhyodacite to basalt in composition. Volcanic facies include crystal fragmental tuff, lithic tuff, breccias, agglomerate, flows and sills.
Low grade regional metamorphism has occurred within the marine sediments which contain abundant chlorite. Foliation is usually conformable with the bedding. Fault and shear zones trend 135 degrees and about 045 degrees with andesite and basalt dikes following the 045 degree structures and felsite dikes related to the 135 degree structures.
Mineralization is associated with silicified fracture or shear zones that have undergone various degrees of calcic, propylitic and argillic alteration. The Grace 2 showing is situated in the central portion of the property, south of First Basin Creek. The showing consists of a sheared zone trending about 135 degrees, within bedded marine sediments and fragmental volcanic tuffs. The zone is silicified, pyritized and contains malachite and hematite as surface oxidation products. Pyrolusite occurs along fractures. In 1987, a sample of this silicified and hematized sediment with 10 per cent pyrite assayed 5.14 grams per tonne gold, 113.6 grams per tonne silver and 3.759 per cent copper. Another sample assayed 3.39 grams per tonne gold, 78.4 grams per tonne silver, 4.977 per cent copper with 0.445 per cent lead and 0.401 per cent zinc. A sample of silicified and pyritized tuffs and marine sediments assayed 11.21 per cent gold, 54.1 grams per tonne silver and 1.109 per cent copper (Assessment Report 16957).
The Grace 1 showing is located 400 metres northeast of the Grace 2 showing and also occurs within a silicified shear zone which trends 135 degrees in sediments and tuffs. Mineralization consists of pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, malachite and azurite. A sample from this showing assayed 0.47 gram per tonne gold, 27.8 grams per tonne silver and 1.342 per cent copper (Assessment Report 16957).
Work History
The first work recorded on the ground covered by the Eldorado claims was performed by Anaconda Canada Exploration Ltd. for a Skyline Exploration Ltd., Placer Development Ltd. and Anaconda joint venture on the Burnie 14, Reg 10 and Stanley 7 claims, This program was carried out to follow-up on a helicopter-borne geophysical survey and consisted of geological mapping and limited trenching, prospecting, reconnaissance ground geophysics and stream sediment sampling. A total of 28 heavy mineral stream sediment samples and 20 rock samples were collected during this program. The trenching and the five associated rock samples and the ground geophysics were conducted over an area just west of the present Eldorado claims. Anaconda’s work defined a silver-copper-lead-zinc-iron carbonate vein showing off the present Eldorado property with anomalous copper in heavy sediments in First Basin and anomalous gold in heavy sediments in Second Basin.
A total of 920 kilometres of an electromagnetic/resistivity/magnetic survey was flown in 1983, over the Burnie 1-4, Stanley 7, Sky 1-3, Cooee 1-3 and Meg 10 claims, a property held by Placer Development Limited over, and south of, the confluence of the Craig and Jekill rivers Assessment Report 11327).
In 1987, Androne Resources Ltd. completed an exploration program on the Burnie 1-4 and Dan l-3 claims. Their work was comprised of geological mapping and prospecting (139 samples), silt sampling (56 samples) and contour soil sampling (272 samples). This program identified the Grace 2 showing, a northwest-trending shear zone with silicification and pyritization with malachite and which yielded significant gold, silver and copper assays. Androne also discovered the Grace 1 showing, a similarly trending and mineralized shear zone, also with chalcopyrite and azurite.
Pezgold Resources Corp conducted an exploration program in 1988 that was, in part, a continuation of the 1987 program that was halted due to adverse weather conditions. This program entailed grid-based soil sampling and VLF-EM surveys over the Grace showings and four trenches totalling 37 metres over the Grace 2 showing. A total of twelve chip samples were collected from two of these trenches. Results from these trenches were erratic and discouraging with maximum values of 11.9 grams per tonne gold and 1.5 per cent copper over 20 centimetres. The soil survey identified numerous, multi-station, but discontinuous anomalies with the strongest response in gold and base metals in the northern part of the grid (near the Grace 1 showing) and the strongest response in gold and silver in the southern part of the grid. A total of 5.3 line-kilometres of VLF-EM surveying was conducted over this same grid. The most pronounced anomaly outlined by this survey was associated with the Grace 1 showing.
The Burnie and Dan claims were allowed to lapse in the fall and winter of 1994 and were restaked in 1995 by David Javorsky as the Eldorado l-4 mineral claims. Javorsky carried out a limited program of prospecting in the Second Basin area including heavy mineral stream sediment sampling, and re-evaluation of the previous trenching. Twenty-nine rock and 4 streams samples were collected.
In 1996, a total of 115 soil samples and 21 rock samples were collected by Golden Band Resources Inc (Assessment Report 25009).
During 2009 through 2011, Skyline Gold Corp. completed programs of prospecting, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling, trenching, airborne and ground geophysical surveys and 23 diamond drill holes, totalling 5676 metres, on the area as the Iskut property.
In 2016 Apex Resources Inc. conducted a program consisting of 25 rock and 39 soil/silt samples. The entire area was underlain by weakly altered granodiorite. Occasional quartz veins outcropped and quartz float was visible. Rusty, pyritic sediment boulders make up glacial derived boulder trains which also contain large blocks of garnet-diopside banded skarn. Low precious and base metal values were returned from all samples collected on the east side of the property, with the exception of WJD-05 and WLD-04. WJD-05 which was a sample of quartz float containing galena and sphalerite and returned 0.6 gram per tonne gold, 19 grams per tonne silver, greater than 10,000 parts per million zinc and 7912 parts per million lead. Sample WLD-04 returned 994 parts per million molybdenum from a large block of banded garnet-diopside skarn. The source location for neither of these samples was located during the 2016 exploration program (Assessment Report 36705).
