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Location: 97 km S from Atlin, British Columbia, Canada
Suite 1250-625 Howe StreetVancouverBritish Columbia, CanadaV6C 2T6
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The New Polaris Mine lies on the western edge of a large body of Upper Triassic Stuhini Group volcanic rocks, which has been intruded by a Jurassic-Cretaceous granodiorite body is part of the Coast Plutonic Complex, north of the mine. Mineralization Mineralization of the New Polaris deposit bears strong similarities to many Archean lode gold deposits such as the arsenical gold camp of Red Lake, Ontario where the gold-bearing arsenopyrite is disseminated in the altered rock and in quartz-carbonate stringers. The vein mineralization consists of arsenopyrite, pyrite, stibnite and gold in a gangue of quartz and carbonates. The sulphide content is up to 10% with arsenopyrite the most abundant and pyrite the next important. Stibnite is fairly abundant in some specimens but overall comprises less than one-tenth of 1% of the vein matter. The majority of the stibnite is concentrated in a high-grade core consisting of approximately 30% of the deposit while the remainder of the deposit having only very low stibnite concentrations. Alteration minerals include fuchsite, silica, pyrite, sericite, carbonate and albite. In general, the zones of mineralization ranging from 15 to 250 m in length with widths up to 14 m appear to have been deposited only on the larger and stronger shears. Their walls pinch and swell showing considerable irregularity both vertically and horizontally. Gold values in the veins have remarkable continuity and uniformity and are usually directly associated with the amount of arsenopyrite present. The prominent strike directions are north-south and northwestsoutheast, which is interpreted to be within a major shear zone. Up to 80% of the mine production was from “structural knots” or what is now known as “C” zones. In detail the “C” zones are arcuate structures. (MMTS, 2023).Vein mineralization has well marked contacts with the wall rock. The transition from mineralized to non-mineralized rock occurs over a few centimeters. The mineralization consists of at least three stages of quartz veining. The initial stage of quartz-ankerite introduced into the structure was accompanied by a pervasive hydrothermal alteration of the immediately surrounding wall rock. Arsenopyrite, pyrite and lesser stibnite were deposited with the alteration. Later stages of quartz-ankerite veining are barren and have the effect of diluting the gold grades in the structure. The sulphide minerals are very fine-grained and disseminated in both the wall rock and early quartz and ankerite veins. Free gold is extremely rare and to the end of 2005 had not been recognized in core samples. The majority of the gold occurs in arsenopyrite and to a lesser extent in pyrite and stibnite. Because there is no visible gold and the host sulphides are very fine-grained and disseminated there is little nugget effect and gold values even over short intervals rarely exceed 1 oz/ton. Deposit TypeThe New Polaris deposit is classified as a mesothermal lode gold deposit (Hodgson, 1993). It is an orogenic lode gold deposit, also known as mesothermal vein deposit.
