32 www.resourceworld.com
O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9
W
hile there have been three gold
rushes in the Golden Triangle region
of northwestern British Columbia
between 1861 and 1898, that was only
scratching the surface. During the ups and
downs of metal prices and the natural cycli-
cal nature of the mining industry, numerous
producing mines were built that recovered
silver, copper, zinc, lead and molybdenum
throughout the region, which covers nearly
one-quarter of BC.
This activity included spectacular
discoveries such as the Eskay Creek.
Discovered in 1988, the former Eskay
Creek Mine produced approximately 3.3
million ounces of gold and 160 million
ounces of silver averaging 45 g/t gold and
2,224 g/t silver and was once the world's
highest-grade gold mine and fifth-largest
silver mine by volume. Other famous
mines included the Premier, Snip and
Big Missouri gold-silver mines and the
Granduc copper mine.
In recent years, more large deposits
were discovered and built into produc-
ing mines, including the Imperial Metals
Red Chris copper-gold mine and Pretium's
high-grade Brucejack gold mine. Then
there are also large development-stage
projects such as Seabridge's KSM copper-
gold-silver project.
On the exploration side, numerous dis-
coveries have been made due to modern
geological theories that included geologist
Jeff Kyba's theory that the contact between
Triassic Stuhini rocks and Jurassic Hazelton
Golden Triangle
EXPLORATION UPDATE
NEWS FROM THE TRENCHES FROM ONE OF CANADA'S MOST EXCITING AREA PLAYS
by Ellsworth Dickson
Diamond drilling at the Saddle North
area of the Tatogga property in the
northern part of the Golden Triangle.
Photo courtesy GT Gold Corp.
