Summary
The McLeod Lake map area (just north of Prince George) has the potential to host many different types of economic mineral deposits. Geochemical sampling in the area was first carried out in 1986, and these samples were reanalyzed in 2006 using ICP-MS techniques. However, the samples were not included in recent INAA (instrumental neutron activation analysis) reanalysis programs, and remained the only area in BC surveyed prior to 1989 that did not include this important analytical information.
Ongoing efforts by government-funded agencies to update and maintain the geochemical database established by the British Columbia Regional Geochemical Survey (RGS) and the National Geochemical Reconnaissance (NGR) programs have produced one of the most comprehensive collections of field information and multi-element analytical data in Canada (Jackaman, 2011; Jackaman and Lett, 2013). The database has benefitted from several initiatives including the reanalysis of archived sediment samples by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). In the 1990s, over 20,000 samples from earlier BC RGS and NGR programs were retrieved from archive storage and analyzed by INAA producing previously unavailable data for gold and a range other important metals such as pathfinder and rare earth elements. More recently, Geoscience BC's QUEST-Northwest Project generated new INAA data from samples collected in 1987 during surveys conducted in the Sumdum and Telegraph Creek map areas (Jackaman, 2012).