Page 12, The Cassiar Asbestos Sheet, February, 1974,

“The Never-Ending Search”
MINERAL DEPOSITS |

IN THE CASSIAR AREA

Unlike animal or vegetable products,
minerals are a non-renewab le resource. As
much of aur modern society is heavily based
on minerals and as our population continues
to increase, the world must constantly
search for more mineral deposits, both to
satisfy increasing demands and to replace
worked-out mines. While the rocks in the
earth's crust collectively contain all the
elements known to man, most are so widely
dispersed that the cost of mining them
would be greater than the value of the
minerals recovered. Therefore, the search
must be directed towards finding natural
concentrations of desirable minerals in
locations where they can be economically
recovered. Only then can a mineral deposit
be classified as an OREBODY.

In remote areas such as Cassiar a
mineral deposit must be richer than it need
be nearer to markets. Two factors are all-
important in determining whether or not a
certain mineral deposit will make ore.
These are transportation costs and the
market price of the mineral or metal. As
transportation costs decrease (due to roads
railroads, etc.) and as market prices in-
crease (due to rising demand) we are able
to mine lower grade deposits in ever more
remote areas. Both factors are now tending
to open up for development around the
Cassftar area.

In this vicinity there are deposits of
gold (both placer and lode), silver-lead-
zinc, copper, tungsten, molybdenum and
barite, as well as asbestos. While there
has always been some activity in the area,
it has been chiefly directed towards
finding high grade deposits and these have
usually been too small to be economic.
Recently there has been considerable ~-
rejuvenation of exploration activity.
While no mines other than Cassiar have yet
been developed, this is probably only a
matter of time. The following is a list of
some of the local "Showings".

This is a molybdenum prospect situated 5
miles northwest of the Cassiar open pit. ‘It
was drilled by Fort Reliance Minerals about
1961. Some recent work was done on it by
Barry Wiseman of Quartzrock Creek.

2. TELEMAC "

This <fs a narrow silver-lead-zinc vein

- with magnetite in a “roof-pendant" of lime-
stone within the granite mountains about two
miles west of the Cassiar Mine, above the
horse corrals in the mine valley. It is
controlled by people from Grand Forks, B.C.

' 3. GRANITE CREEK

This is a rather large area of dissemin=
ated low-grade molybdenite straddling the
ridge between Granite and Lang Creeks about
two miles south of the Cassiar townsite.
New Jersey Zinc acquired these claims from

Bill Storie several years ago and conducted |

diamond drilling and sampling programs.
Both tonnage and grade are considered too
limited to support production at this time.

4. LIMESTONE PEAK

Scattered low grade deposits of moly-
bdenite and galena-sphalerite (Pb-Zn) occur
within the granites of mis-named "Limestone
Peak" just south of the Cassiar townsite,
near the two lakes above _the dam on Trout-
line Creek. Chapparal Mines recently held
claims here.

5. MARBLE BASIN -

Silver-lead-zinc deposits occur with

magnetite and manganese in fault zones

cutting crystalline limestone, above and
south of the Cassiar airstrip. Coast Silver
Mines Ltd. have done extensive diamond
drilling and have driven two adits on these
showings but no commercial deposits have -yet
been proven. Bob Wilms and Bill Storie were
early vendors. on this property. Minor iron-
copper-lead-zinc sulphides also occur on the
ridge just south of the Cassiar mill.

6. CASSIAR MOLY

Disseminated molybdenite occurs over a
fairly extensive part of the high peak at
elevation 7167, five miles south of Cassiar.
Value Line Minerals Ltd. of Calgary drove an
adit and diamond -drilled the showing about
four years ago.

7. LANG CREEK

A small copper showing crops out_in Lang
Creek about two miles northwest of Lang
Lake. Owned by Bill Storie, it has been
drilled and examined by Cominco and other
mining Companies. ;

8. QUARTZROCK CREEK

This is the central point of a belt of
gold-quartz veins about five miles long by
one mile wide trending northwesterly, about
5 miles east of Cassiar. Glen Hope drove
adits and sunk shafts to explore the area
near the bridge druing the last 25 years.
There is also an accumlation of placer gold.
in nearby Wing's Canyon.

9. HANNA GOLD

This company drove an adit into a series
of narrow gold-quartz veins about one-half
mile north of the Quartzrock Creek bridge.
In 1973, Dorchester Resources opened up the
adit for re-examination, sparked by the.
increase in the price of gold.

10. MCDAME LAKE

A number of short discontinuous gold-
quartz veins occur north and south of Mc-
Dame Lake. Troutline Mines explored the
veins north of the lake and built a small
mill. Many local prospectors have trenched
the veins to the south of the lake.

U1. TABLE MOUNTAIN

A gold-quartz vein about 5000 feet. long
and averaging about 3 feet wide has been
explored by Silver Standard Mines by sur- ~
face trenches, a 250 foot winze and by about
1500 feet of drifting and cross-cutting.

The latest work was done in 1973. This is
the south end of the gold belt, about 3
miles south of McDame Lake.

12. NEEDLEPOINT MOUNTAIN

Sitlver-Lead-Zine replacements in limest-
one occur at elevation 5000 on the south
side of Needlepoint Mountain, eleven air
miles south of Cassiar. Barry Wiseman has
shipped some of this ore to the smelter.

13. SNOWY CREEK

A camp, a small mill and an adit have
been put here by Hoag Development to exploit
a series of gold-quartz veins occurring high.
on the mountainside northeast of Snowy Creek,
7 miles east of Cassiar. Also, beside the
road at Snowy Creek, Mary Fenty operates a
small jade shop during the summer. In the
past, several attempts have been made to
recover placer gold from this creek.

Continued on Page 13