Mineralization and Economic Geology

Gold is the main exploration target in the area. Several mines, including the Aljo in Coulson township, Blue Quartz and Argyll / Maude Lake, were all limited producers prior to 1940. All three mines share similarites including:

• host rock – pillowed mafic flows
• ore host of blue quartz veins with pyrite, arsenopyrite, telluride and visible gold
• alteration includes silicification, carbonatization and pyritization
• proximity to a major structure – Painkiller Lake fault or Pipestone fault

Gold was first discovered at Painkiller Lake in Beatty Township in 1907. Intense work started in 1918 on claim 4208025 when a pit was dug on a vein which was reported to be mineralized with pyrrhotite, pyrite and abundant visible gold. The vein ranges in width from one half to three inches over a strike length of 106 metres. The vein strikes N036° and dips 72° to the west-northwest. The wall rock is reported to be highly silicified. A shaft was sunk to a depth of 12 metres at the northern end of the vein exposure. Development work by Lynco Resources Inc. consisted of two short drifts that showed the presence of a silicified zone at the bottom of the shaft and in the drifts which assayed 0.22 oz. Au/ton over a 2.7 foot chip sample.

A sulphide zone, varying in width from 0.6 to 1.83 metre, with a northwest strike and a 60° dip to the northeast is reported. Its north westerly extension seems to be north of the shaft. This zone is apparently traceable for about 122 metres and carries 3 to 4% pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite with low gold values.

Lynco’s mapping showed the presence of the shaft quartz vein in the trenches in the south-west corner of claim 4208025. The traceable strike length of the quartz vein appears to be approximately 152 metres. The vein varies in width from 2.54 centimetres to 20 centimetres and appears to follow a silicified shear zone. Mineralization consists of pyrrhotite, pyrite and chalcopyrite as disseminations and lenses of sulphides in the vein and wallrock.

A sulphide zone was also observed during Lynco’s mapping. This zone consists of pyrrhotite and pyrite mineralization in silicified andesites. Scattered pyrrhotite occurring as disseminated blebs and locally concentrated up to ten percent total sulphides occurs in silicified massive, dioritic andesite in a zone which would strike (if parallel to the bedding) south of the shaft. Sulphides consisting of pyrrhotite, pyrite and trace chalcopyrite were also observed in highly silicified spherulitic andesite just south of the shaft. The sulphides occur as stringers and rims around extremely siliceous spherulites. The rock has been highly altered and now consists of coalesced silica spherule remmants and a matrix of patches and veinlets of green chlorite and patches of silica rich (rhyolitic)
material. The alteration appears to be hydrothermal in origin and not unlike a vent or feeder zone in appearance. The sulphides in the spherulitic andesite are on strike with the sulphides in the massive dioritic andesite to the southeast.

The sulphides in silicified pillow rim breccias consist of pyrrhotite and pyrite with anomalous gold values assaying up to 0.03 Au/ton over 2.9 feet. The silicification of the rim breccias is more intense and appears to be hydrothermal in origin in the vicinity of the two faults as observed in the outcrops and in the drill core cutting the fault areas.