The first description of the Battlement zone is documented from work carried out for Kenrich Mining Corp in 1993. Exploration work on the Battlement zone in 1993 included establishment of a grid with lines spaced 200 metres apart, mapping, soil geochemistry and excavation of two small hand-dug trenches. Additional soil sampling was carried out in 1995. A total of 368 samples have been collected on the Battlement grid. In 1997, Homestake added 16 kilometres of grid lines at 500 metres spacing to the west of the 1993 and 1995 grid and collected 139 whole rock samples over the entire grid.
The Battlement zone is underlain by Hazelton Group mafic and intermediate volcanic and sedimentary rocks of Early to Middle Jurassic age, including rhyolite in the eastern portion of the grid. The stratigraphy consists of a homoclinal sequence of steeply-east dipping Salmon River Formation mudstone, rhyolite breccias and tuffs, and basalt. All units show only weak alteration.
Neither of the two small trenches excavated in 1993 contained anomalous precious metals although 0.1 per cent zinc was obtained from one sample (Assessment Report 27511).
Geological mapping, sampling and drilling in 2005 and 2006 of the rugged and overburden-covered Battlement area, the location of numerous polymetallic geochemical anomalies, has established the presence of mudstone and sub-aqueous rhyolite and basalt that are part of the Eskay rift sequence.
The 2006-07 drill program investigated this potential. A total of ten drill holes were drilled from five different set-ups in 2006 and an additional 2 drill holes were completed in 2007 totaling 647 metres. Multiple intercepts containing elevated zinc, silver, gold and other Eskay pathfinder elements were encountered in association with veined and silicified Eskay mudstone.
See Cumberland (104B 011) for details of the Corey property work which includes the Battlement.