The IDA MAY mine, part of the approximately 4.55 kilometre long Bralorne Gold deposit belt, is situated 1.6 kilometres east of Bralorne, B.C.

The Bralorne-Pioneer gold deposits are considered to belong to the mesothermal, orogenic, or greenstone-hosted quartz-carbonate gold vein deposits. These deposits form within metamorphic rocks in shallow to mid crustal depths of 5 to 15 kilometres. Quartz-carbonate veins are hosted in moderately to steeply dipping brittle-ductile shear zones and locally in shallow dipping extensional fractures. The approximately 4.5 kilometre long Bralorne-Pioneer gold-bearing vein system is a structurally-controlled hydrothermal gold deposit developed within a lensoidal block of relatively competent host rocks bounded by regional scale faults and less competent rocks.

The area of the Ida May occurrence is underlain by Mississippian to Jurassic Bridge River Complex (Group) and Upper Triassic Cadwallader Group sediments and volcanics which are transected by a major north trending, steeply southwest dipping fault known as the Cadwallader Break. The IDA May mine is situated in the Bralorne East Block of the Bralorne Gold deposit trend, between Bralorne West Block to the northwest and the pioneer Block to the southeast. The main lithologies of this block are the Diorite and Soda Granite of the Bralorne Intrusive Suite. The contact between the two intrusives is typically gradual and interfingered. The Soda Granite is typically massive and affected by albitization, forming a steeply dipping, elongated body along the southeast of the block. A 60-metre-wide belt of serpentinite (Bralorne Igneous Complex) borders the diorite on the southeast at the contact with the Noel Formation (Cadwallader Group). Finally, the intrusive belt is intruded by fine-grained felsic to mafic dikes steeply cut the intrusive phases and are spatially associated with mineralized structures. The main know veins within the Bralorne East Block are the 77 Vein, 51 Vein, 51B Foot Wall Vein and the 220 Vein.

The Ida May (or Empire) Vein, later known as the 51 Vein, strikes northwest and dips steeply northeast in the footwall of the Empire fault. It is irregular, commonly composed of ribboned quartz, sometimes 1 to 4 metres wide or much narrower and surrounded by one metre of sheared wall rock. Free gold is associated with arsenopyrite and sylvanite intergrowths. Stibnite, pyrite and galena also occur, with the stibnite occurring as inclusions in calcite. Alteration is carbonaceous and hematitic. The vein cuts through soda granite and diorite, and also follows an albitite dike which is altered to quartz sericite schist. The vein gradually decreases as it enters greenstone at the east end.

Earlier reports describe two parallel veins: an upper vein shallowly dipping with grades of 38.8 grams per tonne across 0.6 metre, and a vertically dipping lower vein grading 5.35 grams per tonne across 1 metre (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1913, page 258). The Blackbird or 55 vein is the faulted extension of the 51 Vein, occurring in the hangingwall of the Empire fault. It strikes northeast and dips steeply; the southwest end of the vein is cut off by serpentinite. The vein is well ribboned and wide, although it also occurs as a stringer in sheared diorite and along the southern side of a 38 metre wide altered albitite dike. The western 60 metres of the vein occurs in talc rock on the edge of the serpentinite. Early production (1918-1919) on the Ida May before joining the Bralorne workings, yielded 145 tonnes of ore containing 2,353 grams of gold and 283 grams of silver.

The following resource estimates were reported in The Northern Miner, April 4, 2005. It is not known if they are NI 43-101 compliant. The indicated mineral resource in the 51B FW vein is reported at 17,729 tonnes grading 11 grams gold per tonne. The resource was based on 43 diamond drill holes drilled this winter and five historic drill holes. The 51B FW vein intersected by the Area 51 crosscut yielded considerably higher grades of up to 21.1 grams gold over 1.5 metres. Another inferred resource of 389,964 tonnes grading 10.4 grams gold sits above the 800-level.

In 2015, 20 holes were drilled on the 77 and 52 Veins in the Gap zone between the historic Bralorne and Pioneer Mines totaling 6,202.98 metres of drilling. , 13.01 grams per tonne gold over a core length of 1.7 metres (1.1 metres true width) in hole SB15-011 on the 52 vein and 21.53 grams per tonne gold over a core length of 1.7 metres (1.5 metre true width) in hole SB15-020 on the 77 vein (Kirkham, G. (2016-10-20): NI 43-101 Technical Report – Bralorne Gold Mine).

In 2018, Bralorne Gold Mines (Talisker Resources) ran aggressive programs to evaluate the potential of underexplored portions of the property, including digitization of known information, data mining and integration into 3D visualization software. Thirteen diamond drill holes in the Bralorne East and Pioneer Blocks (Ida May, Coronation and Pioneer areas) were completed from surface, totaling 3045.87 metres to delineate new resources on existing veins within the inferred resources category (Assessment Report 38967).

In 2020, Talisker Resources completed nine surface diamond drill holes, totaling 3650.7 metres, on the Bralorne Gold project. Also at this time, an updated mineral resource for the Bralorne Gold project (51B FW, 51BFW/HW, Alhambra, BK, BK-9870, BKN, Prince, Shaft and Taylor veins) was reported at 191 416 tonnes measured and indicated grading 10.61 grams per tonne gold with an additional 28 758 tonnes inferred grading 7.18 grams per tonne gold (Talisker Resources Ltd. [2020-09-02]: NI 43-101 Technical Report, Bralorne Gold Project, Bralorne, British Columbia, Canada).

In 2021, Talisker drilled 31 diamond drill holes totaling 16,814.5 metres and 3 reverse circulation holes totaling 1,343 metres in the BRX and Bralorne Mine blocks, as well as an airborne magnetic, VLF-EM and radiometric surveys. In 2022, a further 34,425.1 metres of infill drilling in 80 holes were completed extending from the King Block in the northwest to Pioneer in the southeast (Assessment Report 40623). In the Bralorne East Block (Ida May) drill Hole SB-2022-012 intersected 1.05 metres assaying 16.04 grams per tonne gold in the 77 Vein and drill hole SB-2022-008 intercepted 2.9 metres of 10.41 grams per tonne gold in the 51B Vein. In latter 2022, 2458 metres were drilled in 3 holes to extend boundaries of known veins along strike and at depth (Assessment Report 41719).

*Note that the Ida May mine has vein systems in common with the Coronation prospect and Pioneer mine. See Coronation (Minfile 092JNE007) and Pioneer (Minfile 092JNE007).

*See BRALORNE (Minfile 092JNE001) for more on exploration, geology and mineral resource estimates for the Bralorne Gold deposit belt.