Exploration History

The first recorded staking in this area was by R. Lavoie who staked Laura cl 1-8 (YB30400) 7 km to the east in May/90. Lavoie added Laura cl 9-18 (YB31135) in Jul/90. There is no record of any work being filed on these claims.

The CL 1-24 cl (YB47939) were staked in Dec/93 by C. Little. The claims were transferred to Klondike Reef Mines in March/94. In Jun/94 Klondike Reef carried out a soil sampling program on the claims.

J.P. Ross staked Nina cl 1-74 (YC17172) 6 km to the south east in Jul/99. Ross prospected and collected rock, silt and pan concentrate samples later in the summer. In Jun/2000 Ross staked Nina cl 81-84 (YC19979) and cl 88-99 (YC19983). Ross subsequently optioned the claims to Copper Ridge Exploration Inc which carried out a soil sampling program on and off the claim block before dropping the option at the end of the year.

In Aug/99, V. Nedechev staked Vlad cl 1-12 (YC17416) 3 km east of the occurrence, midway between it and the Nina claims. Nedechev added Vlad cl 13-23 (YC20234) and Vlad cl 24-25 (YC20297) in Aug/2000.

In 2002, Ross collected additional rock and soil samples.

In 2003, Kennecott Canada Exploration Inc. conducted a reconnaissance soil sampling and prospecting in the region and outlined copper, molybdenum, and lead spot anomalies (Pautler, 2011).

From 2004-2005, Copper Ridge Exploration Ltd. completed a reconnaissance and grid soil sampling program and outlined copper anomaly with maximum values of 701 ppm Cu (Pautler, 2011).

In 2009, prospector Shawn Ryan staked the JP claims and optioned the property to Ethos Gold Corp in 2011. Ethos completed an exploration program that consisted of prospecting, geochemical soil sampling, an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey, and an orthophoto survey that year, but later dropped the option.

In September 2016, White Gold Corp optioned the property and conducted reconnaissance soil sampling.

In 2018, White Gold conducted grid soil sampling.

In 2019, White Gold focused their attention on the nearby Titan target conducting soil and rock sampling, GT Probe drilling, VLF-EM and magnetic surveying, Induced Polarization surveying, RAB drilling and a LiDAR survey.

Capsule Geology

The area is located at the northwest end of the Yukon portion of the Yukon-Tanana terrane. The region  was mapped by Ryan and Gordey (2002, 2003) as part of the Ancient Pacific Margin NATMAP Project initiated by the Geological Survey of Canada, Yukon Geological Survey and British Columbia Geological Survey Branch.

The occurrence area is underlain by a large exposure of grey gneiss described as intermediate to mafic orthogneiss of variable state of strain. It is composed chiefly of grey-weathering tonalite to diorite sheets and veinlets, giving the rock an intensely layered and banded appearance. It is interpreted as subvolcanic intrusions to volcanic piles (represented by amphibolite) with which it is intimately associated, essentially forming a volcano-plutonic complex. Felsic gneiss, composed of pink- to orange-weathering granite to granodiorite sheets and veinlets crosscut the diorite and tonalite sheets, with which they were transposed.

The Nina and Vlad claims are located southeast of the occurrence and are underlain by quartz-mica schist. The unit includes mica-quartz schist and paragneiss of psammitic, semipelitic, and rare pelitic origin. Although transposed, they generally preserve primary compositional layering. These mica-bearing metasedimentary rocks almost ubiquitously contain garnet, whereas other index minerals such as staurolite or aluminum silicate material are very rare. The quartz-mica schist unit is overlain by amphibolite schist and gneiss (unit DMa) of highly variable composition and strain. The amphibolite is interstratified with the underlying metasedimentary rocks and although their protolith is difficult to determine due to regional metamorphism; a mafic volcanic to volcaniclastic protolith is likely.

The sequence is intruded by grey gneiss over much of the area. Cretaceous clastic and volcanic rocks unconformably overlie the sequence. The clastic rocks are limited to a few isolated outcrops of pebble conglomerate while the volcanics are quite voluminous, comprising about a third of the area. A fault whose sense of movement is uncertain, is shown cutting along the approximate boundary between the Nina and Vlad claim blocks.

Klondike Reef Mines staked the claims to cover an area where three major lineaments observed on airphotos appear to intersect. Two lines of soil samples were collected on the south slope overlooking the assumed intersection of the lineaments. A single sample located near the lower western end of the soil grid returned 65 ppb Au.

Ross's Nina claims are located between the headwaters of Henderson and Maisy May Creeks and are mainly underlain by quartz-muscovite and biotite quartz schist and large pockets of grey gneiss. Pan concentrate samples collected from creeks located within the claim block returned gold values up to 873 ppb while surrounding creeks returned gold values up to 3 099 ppb. Copper Ridge collected several lines of soil samples across possible structures underlying the claims with the best sample returning 53 ppb gold, although none of the indicator elements were anomalous. Follow-up soil sampling completed by Ross returned no new anomalies but a rock sample collected on one of the lines returned 1 660 ppb gold, 146 ppm arsenic and 0.79 ppm bismuth.