The Snoball prospect is underlain by Upper Triassic Stuhini Formation tuffaceous to calcareous, thin-bedded siltstone. These are underlain by limy black fetid argillite, to the west. The area of interest is bounded by a northwest fault trending fault which sets andesite of Lower to Middle Jurassic Hazelton Group against the against the sedimentary rocks. The siltstone sequence is intruded by an Early Jurassic quartz diorite stock immediately north of the mineralized area. Abundant hornblende phyric dikes and less common feldspar phyric dykes are derived from the stock. A small fault-bounded slice of Early Jurassic ultramafic intrusive rock have been mapped on the eastern part of the Snoball property near the faulted contact between Stuhini and Hazelton Group rocks.
The Snoball property hosts both high grade, sulphide-bearing quartz-calcite veins and moderately large-scale
“intrusion-related, thermal aureole” associated gold-bearing pyrrhotite-quartz-pyrite-(chalcopyrite) veins, replacements(?) and stockworks that in part occur in brittle shears within and marginal to intrusions. The mineralized zones vary from irregular lenses and veins to tabular and stratabound bodies and they also apparently include pyritic breccias along intrusive contacts. Of the twelve holes drilled on the property by Noranda in 1992, six were drilled to test an area of silicification and pyrrhotite mineralization near the eastern side of the grid. The results indicated that widespread, potentially economic, low-grade gold mineralization is hosted by altered sedimentary rocks near the contact with dioritic intrusive rocks.
Mineral occurrences are spread throughout a 0.8 by 1.5 kilometre area and comprise two contrasting styles of gold mineralization. An inferred structure bisects the area of interest into northeast and southwest domains. In the northeast domain, the siltstones are converted to a siliceous hornfels that contains disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite. Replacement pods of massive pyrrhotite with minor chalcopyrite (up to 0.5 per cent copper) contain from 0.5 to 5 grams per tonne gold. In the southwest domain, quartz-sulphide veins, generally less than 1.5 metres wide, crosscut bedding at various angles in the host siltstone. Hornfels in the southwest domain is notably absent. Sulphide vein minerals include arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite and galena. The widest vein assayed 13.7 grams per tonne gold, 70.1 grams per tonne silver, 4.9 percent arsenic, 1.14 percent lead, and 0.6599 percent zinc over 3 metres where it is exposed in a trench. Brecciation textures are prominent in the vein. The average of the fifteen highest grade grab samples of all veins is 60.1 grams per tonne gold, 214.5 grams per tonne silver, 7.2 per cent arsenic, 0.12 per cent copper, 1.7 per cent lead, and 1.5 per cent zinc. (Property File - Gold Giant Minerals C. 1992.)
The mineralization type of most interest in 2017 is that of the pyrrhotite with lesser pyrite and chalcopyrite as disseminations, veinlets, patches and small irregular pods that carried low-grade gold values over significant widths in the 1992 Noranda-Gold Giant drilling. These zones are reported as being associated with a broad band of hornfelsed siltstone that is closely related to a diorite intrusive contact and numerous hornblende porphyry dikes. Some of the zones were explored by Noranda and Gold Giant with six holes drilled in the eastern part of the grid where pyrrhotitic hornfels is widely developed near porphyry dikes. Hole SN-92-7 yielded one of the best gold intercepts in that program, averaging 0.63 grams per tonne gold over 48 metres, which included 2.16 grams per tonne gold over 7 metres (private Noranda report by M. Savell, 1992 (as reported in Assessment Report 37818)). The hole intersected silicified sedimentary rocks and narrow dikes with numerous sections containing 10-40 per cent pyrrhotite and pyrite. Hole SN92-12, collared 170 metres to the north, but drilled toward the intercept in hole SN-92-7, returned three separate mineralized intervals in similar host rocks, including 1.09 grams per tonne gold over 12 metres, 0.34 grams per tonne gold over 47.5 metres and 0.54 grams per tonne gold over 13 metres ( (private Noranda report by M. Savell, 1992 (as reported in Assessment Report 37818)).
A compilation of previous rock sampling conducted by others in the property area since 1991 has been reported by Rowe and Greig (2017) (Assessment Report 37818). Of these former samples, more than twelve returned high gold values of greater than 15 grams per tonne gold, primarily from within the siltstone unit and, to a lesser degree, within the diorite stock. The 2017 analytical results also returned a number of strongly anomalous gold values, which correlate closely with the values reported for the samples collected nearby by others, and these were also collected primarily from veins within siltstone host rocks. The mineralized quartz or quartz-calcite veins typically contain a few percent sulphides, although sulphide mineralization in some of the veins ranges up to 50 percent. Pyrite is generally the predominant mineral in the veins and occurs as disseminations, blebs, and locally as coarse masses. Arsenopyrite and galena may also occur as small intergrown masses, or as disseminations in the veins. Sphalerite and chalcopyrite are less common, and usually occur as disseminations in the veins. Pyrrhotite was noted in a couple of the veins, with pyrite. Although most of the samples were collected from single veins, in some areas there are multiple narrow veins or silicified zones that could be classified as stockworks, with potential to be part of wider zones of low to moderate grade gold and silver. Sample D006402, collected on the southeast side of Pyramid Peak (fig. 24), is significant because it yielded 11.75 grams per tonne gold from narrow quartz-pyrite stringers in probable diorite host rock, but with low values (<0.01 per cent) for arsenic, lead, zinc and copper (Assessment Report 37817). This may represent a different style of mineralization from the siltstone-hosted quartz-calcite veins.
WORK HISTORY.
A considerable amount of exploration work has been documented for the Snoball property, all of it occurring after the late 1980s, most of it initiated following a 1987 regional geochemical sampling (RGS) program carried out by the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources produced anomalous precious metals and pathfinder element values.
In 1989, follow-up heavy mineral sampling of the RGS results by Noranda Mines identified drainages with anomalous gold, silver and arsenic values, and led to claim staking which covered much of the area of the current Snoball property.
In 1990 Noranda undertook exploration on the new claims that consisted of mapping, prospecting and rock (43) and silt (17) sampling. Their preliminary surveys outlined an area of about 2 square kilometres with highly anomalous stream sediment geochemistry, and in which rock samples produced values of up to 10.25 grams per tonne gold and 116.7 grams per tonne silver, 0.27 per cent copper, 1.2 per cent lead, 2.0 per arsenic and 0.3 per cent antimony (Assessment Report 21019).
Noranda continued exploration in 1991, including establishing approximately 12 km of grid lines which facilitated geologic mapping, soil geochemical sampling, and magnetometer, horizontal loop electromagnetics (HLEM) and induced polarization (IP) geophysical surveys. A total of 175 rock samples and 359 soil samples were also collected and analyzed. A multi-element soil anomaly was defined within which the >100 parts per billion gold anomaly measured 300 to 700 metres wide by 800 metres long, and widened to the north, where it remained open (Assessment Report 21932). Arsenic and lead in the soils on the grid coincided closely with gold, whereas higher zinc and copper values were centered farther to the west of the gold anomaly, in an area underlain by a graphitic argillite unit that is possibly enriched in those elements. Geophysical surveys within the gridded area consisted of magnetics and HLEM and IP. The magnetic survey showed a strong positive anomaly corresponding to an area of hornfelsing and pyrrhotite mineralization adjacent to diorite dikes. Strong IP chargeability responses were associated with the strong magnetic high in the area of pyrrhotite mineralization and several zones of moderate chargeability correlated with north-trending soil geochemical anomalies and magnetic features.
In 1992, Noranda and Gold Giant Minerals formed a joint venture, operated by Noranda, to explore the property with a diamond drill program. Twelve holes totaling 1504.6 metres were drilled and 1246 core samples were collected and analyzed (private Noranda report by M. Savell, 1992 (as reported in Assessment Report 37818)). The initial target of the 1992 program by Noranda Gold Gian was a blind Eskay Creek-type high-grade, precious metals-rich stratiform massive sulphide target. Three holes were drilled to test quartz-sulphide surface showings, three tested coincident geochemical and geophysical anomalies and six holes tested pyrrhotite-bearing hornfelsed rocks.
In 1995 Condor International Resources Ltd. undertook a review of historic data and visited the property to evaluate its potential for hosting a precious metal deposit (Assessment Report 24111). The evaluation included the collection of 29 rock samples from areas of known mineralization and the collection of 10 silt samples. Some of the rock samples were from stockwork zones and quartz breccia zones showing pronounced epithermal textures, including silicification of the sedimentary host rocks and the presence of open-space textures in both quartz veins and breccias. A sample (SNGR016) of vein and breccia mineralization assayed 141.0 grams per tonne gold and 446.0 grams per tonne silver (Tupper, D.W. (2019-08-08): NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Snoball Property).
In 1996, Condor continued their work evaluating the property by prospecting, geological mapping, and hand trenching (Assessment Report 24795). They re-established the 1991 Noranda grid for mapping control, prospected the potential source of the large soil geochemical anomaly, excavated four new hand-trenches, and re-mapped and re-sampled one old trench. The new trenches were located in the western part of the Noranda grid, outside of the area of the strong gold-in-soil anomaly. It was concluded that there are many showings of high grade precious-metal quartz-sulphide veins on the property, but that they were generally narrow, limited in strike length, and that they typically pinched and swelled over short intervals. He also noted that the veins tended to occur in or along small faults, and swelled to thicknesses of up to 60 centimetres in dilational lenses created by small cross-cutting faults. Re-sampling of the former Noranda trenches yielded up to 9.9 grams per tonne gold, 33.6 grams per tonne silver, 0.3 per cent lead and 0.1 per cent zinc over a 0.4 metre wide sheared quartz vein, while a new trench yielded 14.38 and 25.28 grams per tonne gold, 185.6 and 233.0 grams per tonne silver, 2.9 and 4.2 per cent lead with 0.2 and 1.9 per cent zinc over 0.55 and 0.50 metres, respectively, from a faulted and/or sheared quartz vein (Tupper, D.W. (2019-08-08): NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Snoball Property).
In 2002, M.J.Mason acquired the Sno property that encompassed the area now covered by the central part of the Snoball property. In order to determine the potential for platinum group metals on the property carried out a geochemical orientation survey of three stream sediment and eight rock samples (Assessment Report 26947). In 2008, Max Minerals Ltd. examined the property.
There are no other publically available records of any additional work having been undertaken in the area of the Snoball property from 2009 to 2016, although at times the showing area has been staked, dropped, and then re-staked.
In 2016, the owner EverGold Corp commissioned a single day of geological reconnaissance by a crew of two geologists and a prospector. Work was focused on the part of the property north of the previously drilled area, at the upslope end of extensive Au-As soil geochemical anomalies. Rock samples collected in 2016 from narrow vein exposures and float boulders confirmed the high grades reported by earlier workers. Two rock samples (SR-SNO-2016-019 and -026) of silicified siltstone and mudstone but by north west-trending, sheeted narrow veins and stockworks of calcite hosting limonite and pyrite, taken 230 metres apart and from the south east-facing slope of Snoball Ridge, yielded 5.22 and 1.02 grams per tonne gold, 12.3 and 4.5 grams per tonne silver with 0.35 and 0.09 per cent lead, respectively (Tupper, D.W. (2019-08-08): NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Snoball Property).
In 2017, EverGold Corp had two prospectors conduct a rock and soil geochemical program on the Snoball property over three days. They collected 51 rock and 67 soil samples. Eleven rock samples from outcrop and sub-crop yielded from 5 to 36.1 grams per tonne gold, 10.9 to 231.0 grams per tonne silver, 0.05 to 0.49 per cent copper, 0.36 to 33.3 per cent lead and 0.08 to 5.60 per cent zinc and included a sample (D006419) from a 2.0 metre wide mineralized vein hosted in silicified siltstone and mudstone located near the south west of the Snoball Ridge which assayed 7.2 grams per tonne gold, 56.4 grams per tonne silver, 0.132 per cent copper and 0.276 per cent lead and two samples (D006402 and D006454) of diorite hosting quartz veins with pyrite from the Pyramid Peak area yielded 11.75 and 5.22 grams per tonne gold with 0.2 and 124 grams per tonne silver, respectively (Tupper, D.W. (2019-08-08): NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Snoball Property).
In 2018, a further program of prospecting and geochemical sampling was completed by EverGold Corp. A rock sample (W095135) from the south west end of the Snoball Ridge area assayed 8.47 grams per tonne gold, 15.5 grams per tonne silver and 0.154 per cent lead, while a sample (W095117) from the Snoball Pond area yielded 1.13 grams per tonne gold and 249 grams per tonne silver (Tupper, D.W. (2019-08-08): NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Snoball Property).
