Work History
*In July/2014 the original Hopper occurrence was separated into the Hopper South (this occurrence) and the Hopper North (Minfile Occurrence #115H 034 - located approximately 1.5 km to the north). In May/2019 the South occurrence was also split into the JG and the LV.
According to D.D. Cairnes (1910) of the Geological Survey of Canada, the area was first staked in 1907 as the Helen claims and explored with hand trenching. The area was worked intermittently by various individuals.
The Hopper South occurrence was rediscovered in the early 1960’s and staked in Apr/61 by L. Nault with a single Len claim (75627).
Kerr Addison Mines Ltd surrounded the Len claim with Barry cl 1-38 (77439) in Feb/62. J. Allen staked Copper AA cl 1-2 (77945) and Copper A cl 1-2 (77947) in Aug/62 (77947) on the northern boundary of the Barry claims.
In Jun/63 A. E. Thom and L. Bloudin staked the Acme claim (single claim = 85146) and Acme cl 1 (85147) on the south boundary of the Len claim. In the same month A. McLellen and D. McLean staked Yucca cl 1-3 (85143) and cl 4-6 (85148) on the south boundary of the Acme claims, and explored with hand trenching.
In Jun/64 A. Thom staked Bloudin cl 1-2 (86377) and a single Vampire claim (86379) on the northwest boundary of the Len claim. Thom also staked Acme claim A2 (86376) southeast of the Len claim. In Jul/64 D. Mc Lean staked Yuba cl 1-3 on the southern boundary of the Yucca claims.
In May/68 A. Thom restaked the Bloudin claims as Dog cl 1-2 (Y24880).
In Jun/68 Mitsubishi Metal Mining Company Ltd staked AD cl 1-40 (Y24945) cl 41-56 (Y25049) and cl 57-64 (Y25374) east of the Dog, Acme and Yucca claim groups. The AD claims also covered the Hopper North occurrence (Minfile Occurrence #115H 034) located to the north. Mitsubishi carried out airborne electromagnetic, magnetic and radiometric surveys, and a helicopter supported soil and rock sampling program over the claims later in the summer.
In Sep/68 G. Quock restaked the Acme and Acme 1 claims as Dog cl 3-4 (Y26114).
In 1969 Mitsubishi carried out bulldozer trenching and an Induced Polarization (IP) survey on the AD claims.
The Yucca claims were optioned by Arrow Inter-America Corp Ltd in 1969. No records can be located regarding any work performed by the company.
Between Nov/71 and Nov/74 A. Thom restaked the Dog, Acme and Yucca claims with various new Acme claims (14 claims in total - various claim numbers). In Jul/74 Mitsubishi allowed the AD claims to lapse.
The eastern end of the occurrence was partially restaked as Cu cl 1-12 (YA4021) in Oct/75 by M. Jorgensen.
The Hopper North occurrence was restaked as ML cl 1-15 (YA3955) by Mitsubishi in Oct/75.
In Apr/76 the Mug Joint Venture (Malabar Silver Mines Ltd, Union Oil Company of Canada Ltd and Getty Mining Pacific Ltd) surrounded the ML, Acme and Cu claim blocks with AG cl 1-46 (YA4268). Both the ML and AG groups were explored by radiometric prospecting in 1976.
The occurrence was partially restaked as Cu cl 1-12 (YA4021) in Oct/75 by M. Jorgensen and optioned with the Acme group in 1976 to Whitehorse Copper Mines Ltd. Whitehorse Copper surrounded the CU and Acme claims with Hop cl 1-14 (YA8968) and cl 15- 65 (YA18014) in Jun/77. At the time the Hop claims were staked, only the Acme claims remained in good standing. Whitehorse Copper carried out geological mapping, a ground magnetic survey and 11 diamond drill holes (1089.1 m) in 1977 and 4 diamond drill holes (697.7 m) in 1978. Previously unreported packsack core was found on the property in 1977.
The Hop and Acme groups were optioned in 1979 by New Ridge Mines Ltd, which drilled 24 percussion holes (1631 m) and conducted ground magnetic and electro-magnetic (EM) surveys in 1980.
D. Baird restaked the occurrence as Acme cl 1-13 (YA94105) in Dec/85 and performed trenching in 1986 and 1988. Casau Exploration Ltd optioned the property in Mar/89 and immediately surrounded the Acme claims with Hop cl 1-74 (YB25531).
In May/89 Casau Exploration entered into a joint venture agreement with Aurora Gold Ltd whereby Aurora obtained a 75% interest in the Acme and Hop claims. In Jun/89, the companies added Hop cl 75-102 (YB26329). The companies geologically mapped and sampled the claims during the summer of 1989 and drilled 5 diamond drillholes (376 m) between August and Oct/89.
In 1991 the Hop and Acme claims were returned to D. Baird who performed blast trenching in 1992. A 33.3% interest in the Acme and Hop claims was transferred to each of A.E. Thom and Patricia Lattin in March/93.
In June/94, Baird et al carried out drilling and blasting on Hop claims. In Aug/95 the remaining Hop and Acme claims were transferred to J.C. Stephen. The last of the remaining Hop and Acme claims lapsed at the end of 2000.
The Hopper South occurrence was restaked as Guy cl 1-16 in May 2002 by G. Delorme. In May/2003 the claims were transferred to G. MacDonald.
In Feb/2006 Strategic Metals Ltd restaked the Hopper North occurrence (located 1.5 km to the north) within Hop cl 1-20 (YC41091). The company carried out preliminary prospecting and geological mapping programs in and around the porphyry occurrence. Initial results led the company to stake Hop cl 21-162 (YC47017) in Jun/2006. The new claims surround the Guy claims and the Hopper South occurrence (this occurrence). The company amalgamated both occurrences into the Hopper property.
In 2007 Strategic Metals carried out prospecting, rock and soil sampling and excavator trenching programs in the vicinity of the porphyry occurrence. Later in the season the company carried out helicopter-borne versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) and magnetic geophysical surveys over the entire property including the Guy claims which cover the skarn occurrence. In Oct/2007 the company staked Hopper cl 163-168 (YC65915) and Gal cl 1-8 (YC65907) south of the Guy claims.
In March 2008 Monster Mining Corporation acquired a 100% interest in the Guy claims.
In Aug/2010 Strategic Metals carried out a grid based soil sampling program over the various Hopper and Guy claims that host the skarn mineralization. The Guy claims were sampled as part of an option agreement with Monster Mining which was formalized the following month.
In Sep/2010 Monster Mining optioned an undivided 100% interest in the Guy claims to Strategic Metals in return for 50% of any of the proceeds from the sale, option or disposition of all or any part of the Guy claims as well as from any claims associated with Strategic Metal’s Hopper property.
In Dec/2010 Strategic Metals staked Hopper cl 171-266 (YD123011) around the outer edge of the existing Hopper property.
On December 14, 2010 Bonaparte Resources Inc optioned a 100% interest in the Hopper property from Strategic Metals in return for cash, a 2% net smelter return and certain work commitments.
Bonaparte Resources funded the 2011 exploration program. The company carried out prospecting, geological mapping, and soil sampling programs followed by a diamond and reverse circulation drilling programs. In November and Dec/2011 the company carried out helicopter-borne VTEM and magnetic surveys over areas not covered during the original survey flown in 2007.
Work carried out in and around the Hopper South occurrence included prospecting, minor rock sampling and geological mapping. Detailed soil sampling was completed north, south and west of the occurrence area. A six-hole (1 309.09 m) diamond drill program was completed over the area hosting skarn mineralization. The geophysical surveys covered the area of skarn mineralization and other areas missed by the previous survey. In Oct/2011 Strategic Metals staked Hopper cl 267-342 (YF28607) around the existing claim block.
In 2012 Strategic Metals contracted Condor Consulting Inc to combine the results of the 2007 and 2011 airborne geophysical surveys and process and interpret the combined data. In Jul/2012 Strategic Metals purchased Monster Mining’s interests in the Hopper property, thus becoming the property’s sole owner.
In 2013 Strategic Metals carried out aerial photography, topographic surveys, and heritage studies, re-examined all available diamond drill core and percussion chip samples. The company also carried out further grid soil sampling, geological mapping and outcrop sampling.
Capsule Geology
The property is located approximately 70 km northeast of Haines Junction and 115 km northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon. The property lies east of Hopkins Lake and access is via the Aishihik Lake road which runs along the western property boundary. Access within the property is gained through numerous drill roads which require the use of 4-wheelers and/or trucks equipped with 4-wheel drive.
The property lies within the Yukon-Tanana terrane and is situated between the Tintina Fault, 200 km to the northeast and the Denali Fault 50 km to the southwest. Both faults are steeply dipping transcurrent structures with hundreds of kilometres of dextral strike slip offset. The regional geology of the area was remapped at a scale of 1:50 000 in 1997 by Johnston and Timmerman of the Yukon Geoscience Office, a fore runner of the Yukon Geological Survey. The adjacent Ruby Range to the west was remapped, at a scale of 1: 50 000 by Israel Corbett et al. (2011) of the Yukon Geological Survey. In 2014 Morris et al. released U-Pb age, whole rock geochemistry and radiogenic isotopic composition data for the Late Cretaceous volcanic rocks in the central Aishihik area, Yukon (NTS 115 H).Regionally the area is underlain by Mississippian and older Snowcap and lesser Finlayson assemblage metamorphic rocks assigned to the Yukon-Tanana terrane, which occur in a northwest-trending belt along Aishihik Lake. They consist of metasedimentary and metamorphic rocks, including quartz-muscovite +/- garnet schist, carbonaceous biotite +/- garnet schist and quartzite, garnet amphibolite and marble as well as rare intermediate composition metaplutonic rocks.
The metamorphic rocks are intruded by intermediate to felsic intrusions of the Early Jurassic Aishihik and Long Lake plutonic suites northeast of Aishihik Lake and felsic intrusive rocks of the Paleocene to Eocene Ruby Range plutonic suite primarily to the southwest of Aishihik Lake. A number of smaller, calc-alkaline, Late Cretaceous plutons (including the Sato and Hopper) intrude the early Jurassic Intrusions and the metamorphic rocks located northeast of the Ruby Range Batholith. These smaller plutons were previously assigned to the Ruby Range batholith but recent age and composition studies completed by Morris et al. suggest they are more correlative to the Prospector Mountain suite. Uranium-lead age dating on the Hopper pluton (situated within this property) returned an approximate age of 76 million years placing it in the same metallogenic episode as the Patten Porphyry, host of the mineralization at the Casino porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum-silver deposit (Minfile Occurrence #115J 028) located approximately 190 km to the northwest. All of the above lithologies are overlain by a number of Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary volcanic complexes.
The Hopper property is primarily underlain by the 5 by 7 km Late Cretaceous aged Hopper pluton, which intrudes Mississippian and older metasedimentary rocks of the Snowcap assemblage. Both units are intruded by predominantly north-trending feldspar-hornblende, +/-biotite, +/-quartz porphyritic dykes and lesser sills thought to be related to the Hopper pluton. Basalt and rare dykes of Late Cretaceous to possible Eocene age intrude all the units.
The metasedimentary rocks primarily consist of micaceous quartzite which grades to biotite-quartz schist and locally gneiss. This unit correlates with the Snowcap assemblage. The metasedimentary rocks generally trend northerly but strike north-northeast in the northwestern property area and north-northwest in the southwestern property area and dip shallowly to the east.
Due to extensive Quaternary cover only the western portion of the Hopper pluton has been mapped in detail. Geological contacts for the rest of the pluton have been interpreted from airborne magnetic data. A small satellite plug has been interpreted from aeromagnetic data in the southeast portion of the property, approximately, 1.5 km south of the Hopper pluton. The main phase of the pluton is a grey, coarse-grained, equigranular biotite-hornblende granodiorite with 5 – 15% mafic minerals. A pink coloured medium grained phase and a local darker coloured phase have also been mapped. Metasedimentary xenoliths are locally abundant within the granodiorite at the contact with the metasedimentary country rocks.
The feldspar-hornblende, +/- biotite, +/- quartz porphyritic dykes and sills are light grey to pinkish-grey in color, commonly weather green-grey are dacite in composition. The dykes generally trend northerly, persist along strike and range in thickness from 0.5 to 50m. The dykes generally dip steep east but also steep west to moderately east. The basalt dykes and sills are dark green, grey to black in color, massive to commonly feldspar porphyritic with amygdaloidal to vesicular margins. They are generally only 1 to 3 m thick but are persistent in strike. They primarily trend northerly with steep dips but locally trend easterly and crosscut feldspar porphyry dykes.,
The Hopper property hosts two main types of mineralization; copper skarn (this occurrence and copper porphyry (Hopper North – Minfile Occurrence #115H 034). The Hopper North occurrence also hosts some copper skarn mineralization along the margin of the Hopper pluton.
The Hopper South occurrence consists of a 500 m wide by 1.5 km long area of skarn mineralization located south of the pluton, commonly referred to as the Hopper South zone. The majority of exploration carried out within this zone was conducted over a 750m diameter area known as the Franklin Creek skarn showing. Additional skarn mineralization has been identified at the JG showing located 1.1 km to the north of Franklin Creek and the LV showing located approximately 750 m to the northwest.
Skarn mineralization has been mapped near the contact between Paleozoic sedimentary rock and the western portion of the Hopper pluton. The skarn horizons are interlayered with biotite schist, quartzite and limestone. The eastern side may host skarn mineralization but presumed contacts are obscured by extensive Quaternary cover. To date at least five mineralized skarn horizons have been identified across a 500 m wide zone with a 300 m elevation difference within the Hopkins South zone, which can be intermittently traced from the Franklin Creek showing located near the southern contact of the Hopper pluton 1.5 km north to the JG showing. Diamond drilling of 4 of these horizons have returned significant intersections; 1.94% copper 0.87 g/t gold 14.6 g/t silver over 13 m in DDH TH77-2, 1.98% copper 0.67 g/t gold, 14.4 g/t silver over 7.8 m in DDH HA80-2, 1.62% copper, 054 g/t gold, 9.3 g/t silver over 8.5 m in DDH HOP11-3 and 9.44 g/t gold over 2 m in DDH HOP11-1. The skarn horizons strike 149 degrees and dip 10-25 degrees east toward the intrusion, and are cut by nearly vertical intermediate and felsic dykes. Some of the dykes contain disseminated chalcopyrite and molybdenite and in one area, a granitic dyke is reported to have returned copper assays up to 0.52% copper across 50 m.
Mineralogy of the skarns proximal to the pluton generally consists of extensive magnetite and garnet-diopside with lesser actinolite, serpentine and talc. Magnetic pyrrhotite, rather than magnetite, is more prevalent further from the pluton (although magnetite concentrations are evident locally) and occurs with diopside-actinolite, lesser garnet, wollastonite and occasional tremolite. Epidote is observed locally and minor fine disseminated pyrite. Serpentine and talc are commonly associated with magnetite rich skarns.
Potential economic minerals include chalcopyrite, trace bornite, gold, silver and locally molybdenum. Gold and molybdenum show a good correlation. Magnetite may be a byproduct. Oxidation of the copper minerals to malachite and azurite occurs locally at surface, primary if exposures are disturbed. Chalcopyrite is associated with magnetite, pyrrhotite, actinolite, wollastonite and occasionally pyrite with minor sphalerite, tungsten and titanium has been reported. Little copper mineralization has been observed within the more garnet (proximal) and tremolite (lack of retrograde rich skarns). A paragenetic study determined that magnetite and pyrite formed first followed by pyrrhotite, then chalcopyrite and sphalerite and finally bornite.
Skarn mineralization was also reported along the northern boundary of the Hopper pluton adjacent to the porphyry copper mineralization (Minfile Occurrence #115H 034) and individual skarn horizons have been reported 1.5 km further north. Although these skarns are generally of lower average grade than those near Franklin Creek in the south rock exposure is more limited. Geological mapping has outlined a 350 by 350 m area of chalcopyrite mineralization associated with magnetite skarn and calc-silicate alteration within the embayment located along the northern boundary of the Hopper pluton. Two percussion drill holes collared in 2011 but not directly targeting skarn mineralization returned significant intervals of 0.54% copper over 3.05 m and 1.16% copper over 16.76 m.
The Hopper property has seen various companies carry out sporadic exploration since the 1960’s. Upon acquisition of the property, Strategic Metals Ltd carried out a compilation of all known data. The company used the results of this study to guide their exploration efforts. To date airborne electromagnetic and magnetic surveys cover the entire property; approximately 30% of the property has been covered by soil geochemistry and 12% by detailed mapping. A total of 3 472 m of diamond drilling in 26 holes and 4 221 m of percussion drilling in 104 holes has been completed on the property. Despite the amount of work completed to date the Hopper property is considered to be at the early exploration stage.
