Island Mountain
Overview
The Island Mountain claim group consists of 34 Crown-granted mineral claims and fractions comprising 446 hectares on Island Mountain, northwest of the Jack of Clubs Lake and just to the west of the town of Wells.
Gold-bearing quartz veins have been worked on Island Mountain since the 1870's. Between 1925 and 1932 some of these vein structures were developed in the Johns adits. The 1932 discovery of pyrite-type ore on the 4480 level (lower Johns adit) led Newmont Mining Corporation to acquire the properties in the area through a subsidiary called Island Mountain Mines Company Ltd.
The Island Mountain Mine was developed on 11 levels to a lower elevation of 2,500 feet via an internal shaft collared on the 4000 level (lake level or 4,000ft elevation). Further development of the Island Mountain Mine to the northwest was limited due to the historic boundary with the Mosquito Creek claim group which, at the time, was held by the Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Ltd. As a result of these limitations, Newmont sold the Island Mountain Mine to Cariboo Gold in 1954. The new owner developed extensions of the Island Mountain Mine into the Mosquito Creek claim group at a depth known as the Aurum Mine. Five levels, between elevations of 3,250 and 2,700 ft, with a strike length of over 1,000 ft were developed between two prominent structures, the Burnett and Mosquito faults. The mine closed due to low metal prices in 1966.
Additional work on the Island Mountain claim group has included trenching, surface gridding, surface geophysics including magnetic, SP, VLF and IP surveys, soil geochemistry, and surface and underground drilling.
A diamond drill program was initiated at the Red Gulch Zone, an untested area northwest of Cow Mountain. Drilling will target both fine-grained pyrite replacement and quartz vein styles of gold mineralization in large unexploited areas in and around the past-producing gold mines on Island Mountain.
The Mosquito Creek claim group comprises 29 Crown-granted mineral claims consisting of 404 hectares contiguous with the Island Mountain claim group to the southeast. The claim group hosts the Mosquito Creek Gold mine, a small mine located 750 ft above the upper workings of the Aurum Mine, and was developed by Mosquito Creek Gold Mines Ltd in the early 1980s. Underground development included a vertical shaft to a depth of 516 ft and levels at elevations of 4400, 4300, 4200 and 4100 feet. Subsequent to this early development by Mosquito Gold a number of joint ventures saw additional underground development and exploration work carried out on the property.
*please refer to cautionary note
