Summary
The Anahim Lake (NTS 93C) and Nechako River (NTS 93F) surveys provide new geochemical data covering a number of highly prospective unsurveyed areas within the region.
The survey reports analytical data for base and precious metals, pathfinders and rare earth elements for over 1,950 sites located in the 20,000 km2 survey areas. This information compliments the existing geoscience database and will also contribute to ongoing efforts to complete initial geochemical coverage of the entire province. These map sheet areas were selected because they have potential for the discovery of porphyry-related precious and base metal mineralization as well as precious metal epithermal and intrusion-related copper-gold and molybdenum deposits.
While stream sediments are most commonly used for regional geochemical surveys in BC, the subdued topography, poor drainage and abundance of lakes in the northern Interior Plateau region of central BC make lake sediments an appropriate geochemical sample medium in this area. Lake sediment surveys are an effective tool to delineate regional geochemical patterns and anomalous metal concentrations related to mineral deposits. The discovery of epithermal precious metal prospects such as the Wolf, Capoose and Tsacha prospects, and porphyry base metal prospects such as the Mac deposit, are examples of the successful application of lake sediment geochemistry in this area.
Survey results provide the exploration community access to new geochemical information for under-explored areas of high mineral potential and will stimulate future exploration activities. The survey results were released in July 2006 and within three months 193,000 hectares were staked.