This past field season was a long one, that stretched from the complex Cadillac Tectonic Zone to the depths of Stikinia’s volcanics and sediments. March was spent working with EFU Limited in eastern Quebec. This was mostly ground geophysics work using the Beepmat and VLF-EM systems. We had mostly gruelling weather minus a nice cold stint at the end that allowed us to finish off with a bang and manage to cover all the ground we needed to cover! I can’t say I got to do much in terms of mapping rocks, but what I did see was some structurally complex, wicked looking metavolcanics. My sporadic measurements correlated to the old government maps in terms of the general trend of structures, so that was a good thing!
Stopping for a break in between dragging my Beepmat through this forest of fun!
The point of the Beepmat is to find magnetic anomalies below ground cover (ideally hitting bedrock), and from there on using handheld drills to gain a bit more data about any sulphide potential in the bedrock. If there is anything promising, a larger drill could then be used to trace any sort of structure or lineament that may be holding significant mineralization.
After a month of work wrapping up that job I found myself with the opportunity to work with the BCGS (British Columbia Geological Survey). On the mapping team of 4 led by Bram van Straaten, we set out SE of Dease Lake fly camping for the summer to determine the extent of the newly named Horn Mountain Formation! Rocks within the Stikinia terrane previously thought to be the older Stuhini Group volcanics and sediments, were found to be younger and belonging to the infamous Hazelton Group rocks. Horn Mountain Formation has become a subset of Hazelton rocks, comprising a succession of well stratified tuffs, breccias, and flows.
We also checked out some of the mineral claims and properties in the area to reassess any potential. For the full list see to the cited article at the bottom!
For the fall I found myself working for Pretivm Resources and their exploration team out of the Bowser Camp doing a very large sampling/prospecting program. This area also largely hosts Hazelton Group rocks, with a decent component of Bowser Lake Group rocks as well…being on the edge of the Bowser Basin. Daily traverses comprised of many rock samples and the typical autumn snowfalls in the mountains. A fantastic crew of geologists and geotechs made for an excellent end to a long field season in the mountains!
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