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Prize Mining Corporation (the "Company") has entered into an option agreement on the Yellowjacket property (the "Property") located near Atlin, British Columbia. The claims are located within a known placer gold producing area and the underlying geology is favourable for the emplacement of economic gold mineralization. Property Description Location and Access The Yellowjacket Property is accessible by road from the town of Atlin, British Columbia. An all weather road leads from Atlin east to the property over a distance of nine kilometres. The claims are located within the Atlin Mining Division and lie on NTS Map Sheet 104N/12. Local Infrastructure The claims lie within the Pine Creek area which is a historic and continuing placer gold producing area. Supplies and material to support an exploration program can be readily sourced out of Atlin, and specialty services such as diamond drilling contractors can be secured in Whitehorse (a three hour drive to the north). Local Physiography The Yellowjacket Property lies proximal to Pine Creek and the majority of the property is underlain by modest rolling terrain. The northern and southern extremities of the Property are bounded by mountainous terrain. Climate The Atlin area is subject to the usual northern climate conditions for north central interior British Columbia and southern Yukon. Summers enjoy mild to hot temperatures with moderate rainfalls. Snow free conditions at lower elevations usually start by mid May, and may extend well into late October. Winters while not usually extremely cold will have periods where temperatures lower to --40 degrees Celsius and colder. Frequent heavy snowfalls can be experienced in the Atlin area. Figure 1 Location sketch of property in BC Figure 2 Location Sketch of Property relative to Atlin and claim outline. ) Click to Enlarge Figure 3 Sketch showing outline of all claims and their respective numbers. ) Click to Enlarge History of Exploration in the area of the Yellowjacket Property The Atlin placer gold camp, located in northwestern British Columbia on the eastern shore of Atlin Lake (Figure1) ranks as the second largest producer of placer gold in the province. Mining has been for most of its history the economic mainstay for the town of Atlin since the discovery of gold on Pine Creek in 1897 (Mandy,1936), During the height of mining activity near the turn of the last century, the former town of Discovery, 12 kilometres east of Atlin on Pine Creek, had a population in excess of 10,000. Reported placer gold production between 1898 and 1946 from creeks in the Atlin area totaled 19,722 kg (634,147 ounces). A number of the large placer deposits, including those on Otter, Spruce and Pine creeks, continued to produce significant quantities of gold into the late 1980s. Although the total gold production from the area to date is not available, it probably exceeds 1 million ounces (Ash, 2001). Numerous gold quartz veins occur in the immediate area of the gold placers and are considered to be the source (Aitken, 1959; Ballantyne and MacKinnon, 1986; Lefebvre and Gunning, 1988; Rees, 1989; Ash and Arksey, 1990a,b) for many of the placer deposits. Many of the local gold occurrences were identified at the turn of the twentieth century following the initial discovery of placer gold. The only recorded lode gold producer was from the Imperial mine which during 1899 and 1900 produced 268 tonnes of ore with an average gold grade of 13.0 grams per tonne (Bloodgood et al., 1989a). The first systematic geological mapping of the Atlin area was that of Aitken (1959). Monger (1975; 1977a) mapped ten specific areas of the northern Cache Creek (Atlin) Terrane and provided the first regional overview and tectonic synthesis. Bloodgood et al. (1989a, b) conducted 1:50,000-scale geological mapping of the Surprise Lake (104N/11W) and Atlin (104N/12E) map areas. Bloodgood and Bellefontaine (1990) mapped the Dixie Lake (104N/6) and Teresa Island (104N/5) sheets at a similar scale. Lefebure and Gunning (1989) compiled a 1:20 000 geological map of the Atlin mining camp using information obtained chiefly from exploration assessment reports. Studies of lode-gold mineralization in the Atlin camp have been made by a number of researchers. Newton (1985) studied the mineralogical and geochemical character of listwanitic alteration assemblages from four lode gold properties in the area. A comparative study of the mineralogical and chemical characteristics of both placer and lode gold was conducted by MacKinnon (1986). Bozek (1989) investigated trace element signatures related to listwanitic alteration halos on the Yellowjacket and Pictou properties, and identified potential pathfinder elements indicative of gold mineralization. Lefebure and Gunning (1988) and Rees (1989), published property descriptions of the Yellowjacket and Pictou lode gold prospects, respectively. Studies of the surficial geology of the camp include those of Black (1953), Proudlock and Proudlock (1976), Levson (1992) and Levson and Kerr (1992). In addition to these publications, results of a large volume of exploration work conducted in the immediate area are documented in assessment reports filed with the provincial government by mining and exploration companies. These reports include details of trenching, drilling and sampling programs as well as mapping and geophysical surveys. In 1983 local area prospectors staked the area of the Yellowjacket Property, and then optioned the property to Canova Resources and Tri-Pacific Resources. During 1984 and 1985 these companies conducted programs of ground geophysics, rotary, and diamond drilling. In 1986 Homestake Mineral Development Company optioned the property from Canova and initiated programs of mapping, reverse circulation drilling and diamond drilling. The most recently exploration conducted on the Yellowjacket property was by Homestake Mineral Development Company. In 1988 Homestake completed a ground geophysical program which consisted of 5.5 kilometres of magnetic (total field and measured vertical gradient) and VLF-EM surveys. A diamond drill program was conducted in which 23 drill holes, for a total of 3,255meters of drilling, were completed. Geological Setting The Yellowjacket property lies near the western edge of the northwest trending Atlin Terrane, which is underlain by an upper oceanic crust (Monger,1975). It is correlated with the Cache Creek Group rocks of southern and central British Columbia. Within the Atlin Terrane, basaltic flows are overlain by chert and thick, shallow water carbonate rocks. Discordant granitic plutons range in age from late Jurassic to early Tertiary. Remnant Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks are found throughout the area. Within the Atlin Terrane, large ultramafic bodies define a discordant belt trending across the tectonic fabric of the terrane. The Yellowjacket Property lies at the contact of one of these ultramafic bodies with greenstones of the Cache Creek Group, along a northeast trending fault in the valley of Pine Creek. Outcrop exposures in the vicinity of the Yellowjacket Property are restricted to incised river and creek drainages. Local Lithologies At the Yellowjacket Property the lithologies mapped to date are restricted mostly to Serpentiinites of the Atlin terrane, basalts and andesites of the Cache Creek Group, and intrusive units which include diabase, gabbro, feldspar porphyry, syenite, diorite, and a biotite porphyry. Structural Geology The Yellowjacket Property lies within a complex faulted package of rocks at the contact of a large ultramafic body of Atlin intrusion affinity, and andesites of the Cache Creek Group. The rocks are strongly broken and fractured and have been subjected to several episodes of brittle fracturing and deformation. Gouge and rubble zones are abundant in drill core and range in scale from several centimeters to greater than 10 metres in width. Previous authors interpret three different periods of faulting or fracturing on the Property. The timing of the fault movements, deformation, and cross cutting relationships at this point are poorly understood. Figure 4 Geological Map showing geology of the property area with the claim outline  click to enlarge Deposit Types To date the only gold production in the area of the Yellowjacket Property has been from placer deposits located on the main Pine Creek drainage. Exploration to date has identified the presence of a large gold mineralized environment with several individual drill intersections of potentially economic importance. The mineralized zone to date has not been fully defined. There are presently no known deposits with reserves identified on the Company's prospecting licences. Mineralization Gold mineralization at Yellowjacket consists of coarse gold hosted in light grey to white quartz veinlets generally less than two centimeters in thickness. Veining is mainly found in areas of more brittle volcanic rocks, but can also occur in altered serpentinites. Bleached, carbonated, silicified, and pyritic envelopes are common around quartz veins and often accompany most of the higher grade vein systems. Gold is the only mineral occurrence of economic importance. Individual veins and vein stockworks frequently host sub-economic to economic grade widths of gold mineralization which exceed 3.0 grams per tonne or better. Visible gold is common but generally is at least 150 microns in size. While sulphide occurrence is often observed in association with better grade gold occurrences, it is also present in barren intersections. Several additional sulphide occurrences have been observed in minor quantities, these include gersdorffite, arsenopyrite, millerite, chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite. Drilling The most recent and most informative drill program conducted on the Yellowjacket Property is the 1988 program completed by Homestake Mineral Development Company. In the 1988 program Homestake completed 23 drill holes which totaled 3,255 metres of drilling. Twelve of the drill holes returned assay intersections which ranged from anomalous to potentially economic. Selected intersections from the 1988 program are listed below in Table 2. Table 2 Summary of Drill Hole Assay Results -- 1988 Homestake Drill Program
Figure 5 Property Scale map showing the location of the Homestake Drill Holes  click to enlarge Other Relevant Data and Information Drill core from the most recent program (1988) was originally stored in the town of Atlin. At some point in time the core was moved to the property itself. The core storage appears to be in good order, and it is estimated at least 75% of the core can be recovered for further evaluation and sampling. Interpretation and Conclusions A gold mineralized zone (Yellowjacket Main Zone) which appears to be structurally controlled has been identified on the Yellowjacket Property. Work by previous operators (primarily Homestake) has identified a discreet zone at least 150 metres in length where frequent drill intersections of anomalous gold mineralization are found. It is interpreted that the ends of the mineralized zone are displaced by fault offsets that to date have not been identified or measured. Elsewhere on the property there are indications of similar gold mineralization to the Main Zone. Upon completion of the 1988 program continued exploration of the Yellowjacket Property by diamond drilling was recommended to further evaluate the mineralized zones and to further understand the structural complexities of the occurrence and the structural controls of mineralization. In 1989 Homestake's exploration interest shifted elsewhere and the property was returned to the vendors. The structural lithological controls of mineralization at Yellowjacket are to date not fully understood. The level of gold mineralization encountered to date in diamond drilling at the Yellowjacket Property and the amount of gold produced from the placer deposits in the area suggest that the potential for an economic lode gold deposit exists in the area of the Property. The Yellowjacket Property merits further exploration. List of References: Aitken, J.D. (1959): Atlin Map Area; British Columbia; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 307. Ash, C.H. (2001): Ophiolite Related Gold Quartz Veins in the North American Cordillera. B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines. Bulletin 108. Ash, C.H. (1990b): The listwanite-lode gold association in British Columbia: in Geological Fieldwork 1989, BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, Paper 1990-1. Bozek, J. (1989): Trace element geochemistry and carbonate mineralogy of the Pictou and Yellowjacket showings, Atlin, BC. Unpublished B.s.c. thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Marud, D.E. & Southam, P. (1988): Summary Report Diamond Diamond Arent 1, Arent 2 and adjacent claims. North and South Claim Groups. Yellowjacket Property. Atlin Mining Division. For Homestake Mineral Development Company. BC Assessment Report 18,608. NI 43-101 Geological Report for the Atlin Property Download report (PDF, 5.24 MB) | | |
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