225

The property straddles the contact of the large granodiorite batholith
to the west with Takla group volcanic formations. Many of the andesites
along the contact have been altered to green, chloritic and amphibolitic
schists, which strike north 70 degrees west and dip 70 degrees northeast.
Both shearing and faulting are pronounced in this direction.

_ The principal deposit is a silicified shear zone about 4 feet wide
mineralized with a little pyrite, chalcopyrite, magnetite, and specularite.
Low assays in gold have been reported.

VEGA GROUP! (21)

Reference: Lay, Douglas: Aiken Lake Area, North-central British Columbia; B.C.
Department of Mines, Bull. No. 1, 1940, pp. 25-28.

The Vega group of ten claims is situated on Vega Creek about 6 miles
above its mouth. It may be reached by a pack-trail about 7 miles long,
which leaves the Germansen Landing-Aiken Lake winter road at Thane
Creek crossing 4 mile north of Uslika Lake.

Six claims were staked about 1928, for The Consolidated Mining and
Smelting Company of Canada Limited, and during the 10-year period
ending in 1938 they were explored by surface stripping and by an adit
level from Vega Creek comprising at least 500 feet of underground work.
At that time the gold and copper content of the showings were of chief
interest.

A little cinnabar was found on the property in 1942, and as a result
four more claims were staked and much trenching done in search of
mercury ore. The property has been idle since 1944.

The claims on which the showings occur are mainly underlain by
northwesterly trending, steeply dipping, dark green, andesitic flows,
breccias, and tuffs of the Takla group. The andesite exposed in the adit
contains numerous pebbles and boulders of feldspar porphyry up to several
feet in diameter. Minor interbeds of argillite and conglomerate were
observed in several trenches, and Lower Jurassic fossils were collected from
the argillite.

A major shear or fault zone striking north 15 degrees west and dipping
65 degrees southwest crosses the property several hundred feet west of
the adit. This zone has been traced for several miles southeast of Vega
Creek. It is characterized by intense shearing and alteration of the
andesites to ankeritic carbonates across a width of about 200 feet.

An examination of the underground workings indicated three directions
of faulting and shearing, striking about north 15 degrees east, north 65
degrees east, and north 75 degrees west respectively, with the fault planes
spaced at intervals of about 20 feet. Many of these faults are marked
by a few inches to 18 inches of gouge.

The main gold-copper showings, as exposed in the underground work-
ings, consist of chalcopyrite, pyrite, and minor bornite, either disseminated
through the andesite or concentrated along calcite stringers that lie along
fractures. No sulphides were seen along the faults, which are apparently
post-mineral. Epidote is common throughout the mineral showings. The
best body of ore is reported to be about 10 fect wide and at least 25 feet
long, and to average 0-25 ounce of gold a ton and 1-5 per cent copper.

1 Reported on by J. E. Armstrong, Geological Survey of Canada.