Work History
Probably first staked as Helicopter cl (4352) in Oct/43, by J. Meloy although silver-lead mineralization has been known to occur in the area since the late 1920's. Bomber cl 1-8 (56979) and Airport cl 1-8 (56983) were added in Aug/47 by J. Meloy and A. Brown and were optioned in 1948 to Noranda Mines Ltd, which explored by hand trenching, and in 1963 to a joint venture between Rio Tinto Canadian Exploration Ltd and Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation Ltd, which bulldozer trenched.
The claims were sold in Aug/64 to L.I. Proctor, who added Cat cl 1-70 (92201) in Jul/65 and formed a new company, Casino Silver Mines Ltd (formerly Beta Mining Corporation Ltd), to develop the property. Casino conducted bulldozer trenching in 1965 and shipped 44 tonnes of cobbled ore to Trail, B.C. Between late 1965 and Oct/67, the Bomber vein was explored by a 366 m adit, additional trenching, geochem, mag and EM surveys and 1 440.8 m of diamond drilling. The company added Joe cl 1-88 (98380) in Jul/66. Control of Casino Silver Mines was acquired by the Brynelsen Group in late 1967 and transferred to Brameda Resources Ltd in 1969 and to Teck Corporation in 1979. Six key claims were leased from 1976 to 1978 by Silgold Mines Ltd, and subsequently by PJJ Mining Ltd.
Recent production of hand-cobbled ore (Bomber vein) consists of 35.3 tonnes in 1978, 89.6 tonnes in 1979 and 202.9 tonnes in 1980, which necessitated 49 m of drifting, 55 m of raise and extensive surface trenching.
Casino Silver Mines carried out a $400 000 diamond drill program in 1992 to evaluate the adjoining Casino porphyry copper-gold deposit (Minfile Occurrence #115J 028). Fringe claims staked by Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Ltd between Aug and Sep/92 include (to the east) Dip 1-81 cl (YB36981). In Dec/92 Pacific Sentinel Gold Corp acquired Casino Silver Mines Ltd as a wholly owned subsidiary, thus obtaining a 100% interest in the property subject only to a 5 % net profits interest to Archer Cathro. In Jan/94 Archer, Cathro added K cl 1-20 (YB46645) to west boundary of Dip claims. In Mar/94 the Dip, Cat, and K claims were transferred to Pacific Sentinel Gold Corp.
In Nov/97 Pacific Sentinel merged with Consolidated North Coast Industries to form Great Basin Gold Ltd. In May/2000 Great Basin optioned 55 claims (Casino "B" claims) located to the northwest and adjoining the Ana claims to Wildrose Resources Ltd. As part of the agreement Wildrose agreed to assume responsibility for filing assessment work on 83 additional claims (Casino "A" claims) a number of which cover this occurrence.
In Jul/2002 Great Basin optioned the Casino deposit to CRS Copper Resources Corporation, a private British Columbia company focused on acquisition, exploration and development of advanced stage copper properties. The agreement included the Casino "A" claim group. First Trimark Ventures Inc subsequently acquired CRS in May/2003 before changing its name to Lumina Copper Corporation. A plan of arrangement to restructure Lumina Copper Corporation into four separate companies was completed and announced in May/2005. Lumina Resources Corporation, which began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in May 2005, assumed operational control of the Casino Project.
In Sep/2006 Western Copper Corporation acquired Lumina Resources Ltd and its option agreement covering the Casino property. Western Copper initiated a pre-feasibility study of the property in Jul/2007. In Aug/2007 Western Copper purchased Great Basin Gold's interests in the Casino property for $1 000 000.00 cash thus consolidating 100% control of the property with Western Copper. This agreement did not cover the Casino "B" claims which remained part of the adjoining Canadian Creek property (Minfile Occurrences #115J 101, 036 & 035). During 2007 Western Copper ran carried out soil sampling and VLF, total magnetic field and limited horizontal loop electromagnetic geophysical surveys over the Bomber and Helicopter veins to identify additional exploration targets and possible extensions of the vein shears.
Western Copper completed a pre-feasibility study, refurbished the camp facilities, drilled 3 diamond drill holes (1 163 m) and continued collecting baseline environmental studies in 2008. The majority of this work was carried out on the adjoining Casino deposit.
In 2009, Western Copper completed a Quantec Titan 24 deep-penetration geophysical survey over the Casino deposit in order to identify zones of potential mineralization outside the area of currently defined mineralization. The geophysics program was followed-up with 39 diamond drill holes (10 850 m), which included infill holes designed to upgrade the resource and holes targeting anomalies outlined by the Quantec Titan geophysical survey.
During the last thirty years, the majority of exploration work on the Casino property has been focused in and around the adjoining porphyry deposit. Assessment requirements for this occurrence has generally been fulfilled through the grouping of claims covering this occurrence with those claims covering the Casino deposit i.e. work carried out on the Casino deposit has been used to keep the claims covering this occurrence in good standing.
Capsule Geology
The occurrence is located approximately 2 km south of the Casino deposit (Minfile Occurrence 115J 028), one of the largest, highest grade porphyry deposits in Canada. The region is located within the Dawson Range, a west-central portion of the Yukon-Tanana terrane. The Yukon-Tanana terrane is comprised dominantly of metamorphic rocks inferred to be Devonian to Mississippian in age that has been intruded by numerous Mesozoic granitic bodies and plutons hosting copper, molybdenum and gold mineralization.
This occurrence consists of two main showings; the Bomber (occurrence "A") and the Helicopter (occurrence "B"). The majority of work has been carried out on the Bomber showing. Earlier versions of Yukon Minfile and Gordey's 1999 and 2003 Yukon geological compilation maps showed both occurrences located at the contact between the mid-Cretaceous Dawson Range batholith and a younger Late Cretaceous intrusion. Review of early assessment records and a site visit in the mid-1990's by Steve Johnson who was employed by the Yukon Geoscience Office confirms that both occurrences are located well within the mid- Cretaceous Dawson Range batholith.
Mineralization at the Bomber showing occurs in a series of four subparallel, northwest-trending shears that dip steeply southwest and cut weakly altered Dawson Range batholith granodiorite. It consists of galena with sphalerite, pyrite, and minor chalcopyrite in a quartz-barite gangue. Silver-lead ratios vary from 137 g/t silver:1% lead to 17 g/t silver:1% lead and are highest at surface. Quartz, sphalerite and pyrite increase with depth.
Chip sampling in the adit, some 46 m below surface, showed five ore shoots 9 to 18 m long, comprising an aggregate length of 78 m of the 137 m vein in the drift. These ore shoots averaged 702.8 g/t silver, 12.2% lead, and 4.4% zinc across an average width of 0.7 m. The best shoot averaged 1741.7 g/t silver, 30.4% lead and 7.7% zinc across 0.5 m for a 14 m length. A total of 123.2 tonnes were hand cobbled from a stope on this ore-shoot, with an average grade of 1 745.0 g/t silver and 27.8% lead. The balance of the shipments were cobbled from development ore and from surface trenches.
Average grade of the 371.7 tonnes shipped to the smelter between 1965 and 1980 was 3 689.0 g/t silver, 17.1 g/t gold, 48.3% lead, and about 5.0% zinc, 1.5% copper and 0.02% bismuth.
The Helicopter showing is located approximately 1 150m south west of the Bomber showing. It consists of 2 subparallel, northwest trending silver-lead veins that have been exposed by bulldozer trenching. Mineralization is narrow with widths ranging from 7.6 cm to 1 m and consists of massive galena in quartz as well as some disseminated sulphides in altered, deep-weathered granodiorite. Casino Silver Mines reported assays ranging from 75.9 to 1 322 g/t silver and 5.6 to 79.8 % lead.
The majority of work carried out on the Casino property has been focused on the actual Casino deposit located to the north. Soil sampling and geophysics was carried out in 2007 and further work is planned to follow up the results of these surveys.
References
BRAMEDA RESOURCES LTD, 1970. Assessment Report *#062035 by R.J. Cathro et al.
BRAMEDA RESOURCES LTD and CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1970. Assessment Report *#019767 by G.E. White.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1965. Assessment Report *#019098 by S.S. Szetu.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, Aug/66. Assessment Report #019137 by S.S. Szetu.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1966. Assessment Report *#019099 by S.S. Szetu.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1966. Assessment Report *#019139 by S.S. Szetu.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1966. Assessment Report *#019140 by S.S. Szetu.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1966. Assessment Report *#019141 by S.S. Szetu.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, Jan/67. Assessment Report #019601 by C.D.N. Taylor.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1967. Assessment Report *#060784 by H.G. Harper et al.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, Dec/68. Assessment Report #019100 by R.J. Cathro.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1968. Assessment Report *#060740 by R.J. Cathro.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD, 1970. Assessment Report *#091349 by M.P. Phillips.
CASINO SILVER MINES LTD and BRAMEDA RESOURCES LTD, 1974. Assessment Report *#091348 by C.I. Godwin et al.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA Paper 64-36, p. 22-24; Paper 66-31, p. 39-42; Paper 67-40, p. 32-34.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA Summary Report 1927, p. 11-13.
GORDEY, S.P., AND MAKEPEACE, A.J., 1999. Yukon digital geology, S.P. Gordey and A.J. Makepeace (comp.); Geological Survey of Canada, Open File D3826, and Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Open File 1999-1 (D)
GORDEY, S.P. AND MAKEPEACE, A.J. 2003: Yukon Digital Geology, version 2.0, S.P. Gordey and A.J. Makepeace (comp); Geological Survey of Canada, Open file 1749 and Yukon Geological Survey, Open file 2003-9 (D).
JOHNSTON, S.T., 1995. Geological compilation with interpretation from geophysical surveys of the northern Dawson Range, central Yukon (115J/9 & 10; 115I/12). Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Open File 1995-2(G), 1:100 000 scale.
JOHNSTON, S.T., AND SHIVES, R.B.K., 1995. Interpretation of an airborne multiparameter geophysical survey of the northern Dawson Range, central Yukon: A progress report. In Yukon Exploration and Geology, 1994. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 105-111.
LUMINA COPPER CORPORATION, News Release, 28 May/2003.
LUMINA COPPER CORPORATION, Oct/2005. Web site: www.luminacopper.com.
LUMINA RESOURCES CORPORATION, News Release, 18 May/2005.
M3 ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY CORP., August/2008. Technical Report - Casino Project Pre-Feasibility Study Yukon Territory, Canada. Volume 1 Prepared for Western Copper Corporation. (available on SEDAR).
SELBY, D. and NESBITT, B.E., 1998. Biotite chemistry of the Casino Porphyry Cu-Mo-Au Occurrence, Dawson Range, Yukon. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 1997. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 83-88.
SELBY, D. ET AL., 1999. Major and trace element compositions and Sr-Nd-Pb systematics of crystalline rocks from the Dawson Range, Yukon Canada. In: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Volume 36, p. 1463-1481.
WESTERN COPPER CORPORATION, Dec/2008. Assessment Report #095050 by J. Marlow and K. Lesnikov.
WESTERN COPPER CORPORATION, News Release. 18 Sep/2006, 18 Jul/2007,10 Aug/2007, 24 June 2008; 8 Sep/2009, 18 Nov 2009.
WESTERN COPPER CORPORATION, Dec/2009. Web Site: www.westerncoppercorp.com.
WESTERN MINER, Dec/48, p. 153.
