Au skarn(?)

The Mascot Fraction is located on the northwest slope of Nickel Plate Mountain, 3 kilometres northeast of Hedley.

Nickel Plate Mountain is underlain by siltstone and limestone of the Hedley Formation and overlying limestone boulder conglomerate of the Whistle Creek Formation, both of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group. The sediments are extensively intruded by sills and dykes of hornblende porphyritic diorite of the Early Jurassic Hedley Intrusions.

This Crown-granted claim covers a portion of the Nickel Plate deposit, a westerly dipping skarn related gold deposit hosted in the upper part of the Hedley Formation. A discontinuous zone of garnet pyroxene skarn up to 300 metres thick and 6 square kilometres in area, is mineralized with arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite, with minor pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and magnetite. Trace minerals include galena, native bismuth, gold, electrum, tetrahedrite, native copper, gersdorffite, marcasite, molybdenite, titanite, bismuth tellurides, cobaltite, erythrite, pyrargyrite and breithauptite. The deposit consists primarily of arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, as disseminations and fracture-fillings, in a gangue of carbonate, pyroxene, scapolite, garnet and quartz at the Nickel Plate glory hole, 500 metres east-southeast of the Mascot Fraction claim. Two blade-like zones of mineralization, the Numbers 4 and 5 orebodies, plunge west-northwest at 24 degrees under the claim (Geological Survey of Canada Summary Report 1929, page 227A). Refer to the Nickel Plate mine (092HSE038) for a detailed review of the regional and mine geology.

The Hedley Gold Mining Company (operator of the Nickel Plate mine up to 1931), had mined the Nickel Plate deposit underground up to the boundaries of the claim. The company and the owner could not come to a suitable agreement regarding mining of ore on the Mascot Fraction. Hedley Mascot Gold Mines Ltd. was then formed in 1934 to acquire the Mascot Fraction, Copper Chief and Nick of Time claims.

Underground mining began in 1936 and continued through to 1949; 618,637 tonnes of ore grading 11.2 grams per tonne gold, 2.76 grams per tonne silver and 0.141 per cent copper were mined from three levels of underground workings over an elevation of 335 metres. Arsenic was also produced and sold as a byproduct of this operation. Mascot Gold Mines Ltd. completed 3733 metres of underground diamond drilling in 1987, resulting in open pit reserves of 466,000 tonnes grading 3.8 grams per tonne gold and underground reserves of 289,800 tonnes grading 5.5 grams per tonne gold (George Cross News Letter, February 29 (No. 41), 1988).