Introduction
The Orion property is situated within the Eskay Rift along a narrow nunatak exposed in the Frankmackieicefield. Several elements of the classic Eskay stratigraphy occur on the property, including rhyolites of the Mt. Dilworth Formation overlain by carbon-rich sediments of the Salmon River Formation.
Prospecting and trenching within a brecciated rhyolite in the mid-90’s disclosed an intriguing zone of mineralization featuring gold-bearing arsenopyrite, both in the form of veinlets and as fracture fillings. At the Eskay Creek mine to the northwest, similar Au-As bearing rhyolitic rocks occur in the footwall of the precious metal rich deposits that have been mined from 1995 to the present.
Location
The Orion property is situated 48 kilometers north of the deepwater port of Stewart, British Columbia and lies near the center of a 20 km long band of wholly-owned Teuton properties stretching north from the Granduc copper property of Bell Resources to the gold-copper, KSM property of Seabridge Gold. The local area is one of the most active exploration centers in British Columbia, with major drilll programs occurring yearly at the KSM, Brucejack-Snowfield and Granduc properties of Seabridge Gold, Pretium Resources and Castle Resources, respectively.
Mineralized Showings
The principal, “Cat-in-the-Hat” showing features gold-bearing arsenopyrite mineralization occurring both as veinlets and as fracture fillings in the host rock, a brecciated and flow-banded rhyolite. Trenching of this showing in 1996 returned a weighted average grade of 2.2 g/t gold over a 13 metre width. Grab samples from the zone have run as high as 1.677 oz/ton gold. A similar but smaller zone occurs in another set of rhyolitic rocks to the north. The Cat-in-the-Hat showing was drilled by Teuton in 2007 with mixed results.
South of the Cat-in-the-Hat, a carbonate altered zone just east of a small lake has produced grab samples from trace to 70.69 oz/ton silver. Further south yet, along the western margin of the nunatak, a series of quartz sericite schist outcrops have produced several samples which are highly anomalous in gold.
History and Property Status
The property was staked by Teuton in the mid-1990’s after retreating icefields exposed a long, narrow nunatak of highly altered rocks.
New work by the BC Department of Mines in recent years has shown that remnants of Eskay Rift rocks are located within the FrankmackieIcefield region, making the area highly prospective for the discovery of Eskay-type deposits. In addition, recent, outstanding gold-copper and gold-moly drilling results by Seabridge Gold and Silver Standard at their Sulphuretsarea properties to the north, have also underscored local potential for large, bulk tonnage porphyry type deposits.
