Summary:
The Northern Dancer deposit is a porphyry tungsten-molybdenum system (e.g., Kirkham and Sinclair, 1984; Sinclair, 1995). Deposits of this type comprise large tonnage, generally low grade, hydrothermal mineralization related to igneous intrusions emplaced at high levels in the earth’s crust. The mineralization may be confined to pluton-hosted disseminations, veins and veinlets in stockworks, vein sets, and breccias and occur in skarn, replacement, vein and disseminated deposits peripheral to plutons. Deposits of this type are amongst the world’s largest, including copper, molybdenum, uranium, tungsten, gold, silver, and tin. Porphyry molybdenum deposits are common in the northern Cordillera, with examples including: Quartz Hill, Endako, Red Mountain, Adanac, Trout Lake, Henderson, and Climax.
Previous work in the vicinity of the claims has outlined an extensive, multi-episode vein system that is enriched in several metals, most notably tungsten and molybdenum (Noble et al., 1984; Wengzynowski, 2006). Readers interested in a more detailed description of the vein system are referred to Chapter 4 of Brand (2008). The system is centred on a porphyry dyke complex and appears to form an approximately 3 km by 1 km kidney-shaped zone that is elongated along a north-north-easterly axis.
Most of the mineralization (approximately 95%) within the system occurs in veins and fractures. In addition, minor molybdenite is disseminated in the porphyry complex, some tungsten minerals are disseminated in skarn horizons and local disseminations of scheelite and molybdenite are found in the haloes of sheeted veins. Although veins cross-cut all units and most are apparently related to emplacement of the porphyry dyke complex, it is possible that some veining and skarnification may predate that event.