Survey releases good prospects
A local independent prospector/developer has capitalized on recently released area geochemical data.
Doug McRae attended the Geoscience BC data release in Terrace last December and immediately went on to stake a claim on Chist Creek. He now has the site with the highest gold anomaly and says he probably would not have staked the claim if not for the reanalysis.
The new data comes from area samples which have been stored in an Ottawa warehouse for the past 30 years. The samples are of stream sediment in the Terrace and Prince Rupert areas and were taken by the federal Geological Survey of Canada in 1978. The reanalysis survey covers an area of 17,500 km.
Stream sediment sample pulps from 2,128 sites were re-analyzed using new testing methods, and new findings include a wide range of precious, base, pathfinder and rare earth elements like platinum, rhenium, silver, copper, zinc, gold, and molybdenum.
A workshop was held in Terrace last week to go over map areas and the new information.
Geologist Joanne Nelson spoke about looking for signs of familiar deposits in a new area, and highlighted the possibilities of replacement copper in volcanic rocks, gold, copper, silver, lead and zinc, and molybdenum-copper. While she only highlighted these possibilities, she says there is a lot more in the area.
“The prospect looks good,” Nelson said. “I anticipate in the next little while, more and more announcements coming out of the Terrace area.”
Wayne Jackaman of Noble Exploration Services Ltd., who carried out the reanalysis, spoke about the different surveys conducted in the province, and showed maps detailing surveying activity and the potential in the area.
The project was carried out last year by Noble Exploration Services Ltd., with project money coming from Geoscience BC along with Terrace Economic Development Authority, the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, Kitimat-Terrace Industrial Development Society, and the Northern Development Initiative Trust.
“It really is one of the most comprehensive data sets in the country,” Jackaman said.
McRae, who has been studying the data release information, says the new survey has helped reinvigorate interest.
Nelson said the geoscience survey adds a lot of new data that will hopefully lead people towards more exploration work.
