Marmot

Marmot Property

The Marmot property is located on the south side of the Marmot River, 3.5 kilometres east of the Portland Canal and 8 kilometres south-southeast of Stewart.

A number of quartz veins and lenses, hosted in shear zones occur in orthoclase porphyritic granodiorite of the Eocene Hyder Pluton in the Coast Plutonic Complex. The shear zones and granodiorite are intruded by a few northeast and northwest striking, steeply dipping lamprophyre dykes. Two sets of veins generally strike 000 to 023 degrees and 050 to 070 degrees. Individual, well-defined veins vary up to 1.2 metres in width, and shear zones with poorly defined silicified walls containing numerous quartz veins and lenses are up to 6 metres in width. Mineralization generally consists of pyrite, pyrrhotite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and free gold in a gangue of brecciated quartz.

Several of the more important veins contain significant precious metal values. The Midas (Gold Pan) vein is up to 0.76 metres wide, strikes 008 to 050 degrees for at least 100 metres and dips 30 degrees west to 76 degrees east. A 4.414 tonne sample of sorted ore assayed 80.2 grams per tonne gold, 147 grams per tonne silver, 0.2 per cent copper, 2.0 per cent lead and 0.2 per cent zinc (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1946, page 84).

The Mystery (Pan Handle) vein strikes northward 010 to 170 degrees for 137 metres and dips 35 to 75 degrees west. The vein varies from a single solid quartz vein to a shear zone, up to 1.5 metres wide, of crushed quartz lenses and brecciated granodiorite. A 0.15 metre channel sample assayed 8.26 grams per tonne gold and 276 grams per tonne silver (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1929, page 93).

Production in 1936 totalled 1 tonne of ore with an average grade of 187 grams per tonne gold, 218 grams per tonne silver, 0.3 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent lead.