The Titan showing occurs along the contact between Middle Devonian paragneiss metamorphic rocks and the Paleocene to Eocene Sloko-Hyder Plutonic suite consisting of granites. Early Cretaceous intrusives occur in the vicinity as well, along the Sloko-Hyder suite contact.
The mineralization consists of massive, semi-massive and disseminated molybdenite with associated chalcopyrite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite. It occurs as disseminations in the granite; in quartz veins in granite and metasedimentary rocks; and along the granite-metasedimentary contact.
The Titan showing, discovered in 2002, is a 1 by 2 metre zone of 5 per cent disseminated molybdenite with local high-grade zones of 20-30 per cent molybdenite over 50 by 50 centimetres. The high-grade mineralization is associated with quartz flooding and vuggy quartz. Away from the high-grade core, coarse molybdenite disseminations decrease into low-grade molybdenite-chalcopyrite to barren pyrrhotite within about 1 to 1.5 metres. Chalcopyrite and malachite were also noted at the contact zone. Argillic alteration, sericitization and epidote alteration were observed up to 1 kilometre from the Titan showing.
Eight of the ten rock samples collected during a 2003 exploration program yielded values greater than 0.1 per cent molybdenum. Samples collected from the boulder field below the toe of the glacier assayed up to 1.877 per cent molybdenum, while samples from outcrop yielded up to 0.966 per cent molybdenum. Many samples were also anomalous in copper (up to 2873 parts per million), tungsten (up to 93.1 parts per million), and bismuth (up to 60.7 parts per million) (Assessment Report 27316).
Work History
The mineral exploration history of the area dates back to the 1890s, when prospectors travelling over the Chilkoot Trail and across Bennett Lake to the Klondike Goldfields first started exploring the area. The early prospectors discovered a number of precious and base metal bearing veins on the north and east slope of White Moose Mountain known as the Rupert showings.
In 1979, United Keno Hill Mines Ltd. (UKHM) staked the Fee claims to cover the Rupert showings in the area of the current Titan claims. UKHM carried out extensive geological and geochemical surveys in the showing area. In 1986, UKHM optioned the property to Rise Resources. Rise confirmed the soil geochemical anomalies but performed no further work. In 1989, the property was optioned to Placer Dome. Placer conducted mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys, and trenching on the showings. Their program had limited success and the property was later allowed to lapse. During the period of this exploration activity, however, field crews noted that the ongoing retreat of glacial ice at the headwaters of Buchan Creek had begun to expose porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization. Although fieldwork was directed toward assessing gold-silver vein potential, UKHM continued to hold the Fee claims until the late 1990s when the company was dissolved.
In August 2002, an ex-UKHM geologist, D. Ouellette, staked the Titan claim and conducted a one-day field program confirming the high-grade nature of the molybdenum occurrences. Later that year, the property was acquired by Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. In 2003, Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. optioned the Titan claims from D. Ouellette to explore a high-grade molybdenum showing. The 2003 fieldwork by Eagle Plains included prospecting, rock and soil sampling, an induced polarization (IP) ground geophysical survey, and staking of additional claims to cover prospective stratigraphy. Prospecting in the area exposed by retreating glacial ice located massive to disseminated molybdenite in Cretaceous granodiorite boulders and in quartz veins within the granodiorite. By tracing the mineralized boulders upslope, molybdenum mineralization was located in-situ near the contact between metasediments and Cretaceous granodiorite. Two IP lines spaced 300 metres apart produced a strong anomaly that corresponds to the granite contact. However, the collection of the geophysical survey data was constrained in part by poor electrode contacts, particularly in the areas of high-grade boulders.
In 2004, Kobex Resources Ltd. drilled three short core holes totalling 314 metres on the IP targets under an earn-in agreement with Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. The holes intersected disseminated pyrite, and a 0.2 metre interval of disseminated molybdenite and chalcopyrite. The geophysical targets tested by drilling in 2004 were located peripheral to the best observed mineralization. It is believed that the chargeability anomalies tested in drillholes T04001 and T04002 are likely related to disseminated pyrite. The resistivity feature tested by drillhole T04003 is likely the contact between the mafic gneiss and the underlying granite. The low-grade molybdenum mineralization that was intersected in the drilling does not appear to be the same as that seen at the Titan showing and in the high-grade boulder field. Kobex Resources Ltd. terminated its option agreement with Eagle Plains in December.
In 2005, Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. executed a letter of intent with Canadian Goldrush Corp. (CGC) whereby CGC could earn a 60 per cent interest from Eagle Plains in the Titan molybdenum project. Jasper Mining Corp. acquired the property in February through Canadian Goldrush Corporation. In 2006, Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. verified the locations of the historic geochemistry grids and past trenching work at known mineral showings and collected rock samples at the Fee Glacier (104M 037) and Rupert-L (104M 073) showings to confirm historic analytical results.
In 2007, exploration work on the Titan property included a 132 line-kilometre airborne geophysical survey for both aeromagnetics and radiometrics and a two-week soil sampling program that expanded the historic soil grid. Geophysical interpretation identified six locations of interests on the Titan property, based on both radiometric and aeromagnetic data collected by the airborne geophysical survey. The one region of interest in the south end of the property is interesting as there is a direct correlation between aeromagnetic derived intersecting magnetic lineaments and strong radiometric anomalies high in Uranium/Thorium, Uranium/Potassium and Thorium/Potassium ratios. The five regions of interest in the northern end of the property are less distinct and only one has a correlation between magnetic lineaments and radiometric anomalies. The rest of the locations are based on radiometric anomalies alone. The soil sample grid that was completed by Placer Dome in 1989 and digitized by Bootleg Exploration, along with the infill and expansion of the grid during the 2007 exploration program consisting of an additional 740 samples, located many multi-element anomalies. There is a strong signature of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, and arsenic found in the proximity of the Rupert/Silver King and Rupert-L showings. The anomalous area encompasses a maximum area of 1.4 kilometres long and 750 metres wide. In addition to this zone, there are further zones anomalous in copper, lead, and silver at the edge of the soil grid and open to the southeast, southwest, and northeast. Furthermore, there is an anomalous trend of gold, lead, silver, and copper values extending 300 metres to the north of the Buchan Creek Showing (104M 035).
In 2008, exploration work on the Titan property included a 195 line-kilometre airborne geophysical survey which included both magnetic and radiometric analysis and a 46-man-day field program of prospecting/mapping and the collection of 27 rock samples, 53 stream-silt samples, and 301 soil samples. Work on the property was carried out between July 21st and August 22nd and was funded by option partner XO Gold. The 2008 traverses verified that mineralization at the Titan-Moly showing appears to be constrained to within 325 metres either side of the granite/gneiss contact. There are two structures that appear to have a pronounced fracture set (120/58) hosting some of the mineralization oriented subparallel to the main granite/gneiss contact. The second structure is oriented almost perpendicular to the first at (220/65) and parallel to the cliff face that exposes the main showing. A new quartz vein discovery, 6 kilometres north of the Titan molybdenum showing on the same cross-structure (208/70), assayed 62 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 33152). A similar copper-rich quartz vein (on 220/64) was also discovered 1 kilometre southeast of the main showing.
Mapping, rock -, soil -, and silt sampling at several of the Rupert Showings and integration with the latest 2007-2008 airborne geophysics has demonstrated a probable structural control on the mineralization there. The analysis suggests a strong association of mineral occurrences with north-northwest-trending magnetic lineations that clearly transect granodiorite/gneiss contacts at multiple locations.
In 2010, Eagle Plains was notified by partner XO Gold Resources Ltd that XO has terminated its option on the Titan property. Prior to the 2011 field program, Eagle Plains had completed an option agreement with Drexel Capital Corp on the Titan property. Drexel subsequently changed their name to Blue Gold Mining. In 2011, Blue Gold Mining conducted an exploration program consisting of 23 field man-days that resulted in the collection of 38 rocks samples for assay, 22 rocks for petrophysical analysis, 4 stream-silt samples and 366 soil samples. Prior to the field program, an airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical survey was completed by SkyTEM Airborne Surveys. The 424.9 line-kilometre survey was completed along idealized 100-metre-spaced flight-lines, at a nominal terrain clearance of 30 to 40 metres. The airborne survey was completed over the entire Titan property which included: Rupert (104M 008), White Moose-North (104M 009), White Moose-South (104M 010), White Moose-Shaft (104M 012), Buchan Creek (104M 035), Rupert-North (104M 036), Fee Glacier (104M 037), White Moose-B (104M 072), Rupert-L (104M 073), and Titan (104M 089) In 2012, Eagle Plains received notice from Blue Gold Mining (formerly Drexel Capital Corp.) that they were terminating the Titan Property Agreement and Option.
In 2013, a single day field program conducted by Eagle Plains produced 92 soil samples and four rock samples for analysis. Soil samples highlighted a potential parallel vein system to the east of the White Moose trend, extending the historic anomaly consisting of bismuth, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and to a lesser extent, gold (Assessment Report 34573). Including historic sampling, this anomaly can be confidently traced over 300 metres and to a lesser degree over 500 metres. Soil sampling in the vicinity of the White Moose-Shaft occurrence (104M 012) returned interesting results and expanded on the results from sampling in 2007. The mineralization at the showing itself seems to be limited as sampling over the occurrence only produced a single point anomaly for lead, copper, silver, zinc, and bismuth. The soil samples collected to the north of the Buchan Creek showing (104M 035) extended the soil anomaly to the north for lead, gold, antimony, and silver: all of which are elements closely associated with the mineralization observed at the Buchan Creek showing. With the inclusion of the new samples, the anomaly now extends north of the showing for 630 metres and a width ranging from 50 to 220 metres.
In 2017, DeCoors Mining Corp. conducted a single day field program with the intent of locating previously reported mineralized veins and conducting traverses to prospect for new vein systems (Assessment Report 37317). A total of 20 readings were taken in the field using a Niton portable XRF analyzer. The field day was successful in locating additional quartz veins which appear unrelated to the mineralized vein system at the Buchan showing. Several samples were collected in the Rupert-North occurrence area (104M 036) and the Fee Glacier area (104M 037) (Figure 13, Assessment Report 37317).
In 2018, a four-man De Coors crew collected a total of seven rock samples from different locations along the quartz vein exposure of the Buchan Creek showing. Samples consisted of white quartz with varying quantities of disseminated to semi-massive galena, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and minor amounts of malachite and azurite. Sample gold values range from 0.39 to 11.7 grams per tonne, averaging 3.91 grams per tonne; silver values range from 22.8 grams per tonne to greater than 100 grams per tonne; copper values from 29.6 grams per tonne to 8139 grams per tonne; lead values from 0.12 to greater than 1 per cent; and zinc from 0.0022 to 0.065 per cent (Assessment Report 38252). Tellurium and antimony values were elevated, in most samples, ranging up to more than 0.1 per cent tellurium and 0.2 per cent antimony.
