Apex Resources Inc. | Jersey Emerald Property

Jersey Emerald Property

Apex Resource Inc’s wholly owned Jersey-Emerald property is located in southeastern British Columbia, 50 kilometres south of the town of Nelson and 8 kilometres southeast of the community of Salmo. It consists of 120 mineral claims and 44 crown grants over an area of approximately 17,500 hectares. The property encompasses three historic mines; the 2,400 t/d Jersey Lead-Zinc Mine which operated from 1949 to 1970, the 350 t/d Emerald Tungsten Mine which operated intermittently from 1942 to 1973 and the 25 t/d Emerald Lead Mine which operated from 1919 to 1926. The property includes 1,100 acres of freehold land in four adjoining land parcels over the historic mine-workings.

There are four totally separate metallic deposits located on the property. Each with unique geologic characteristics:

In the Jersey and Emerald Pb-Zn mines stratiform lead-zinc deposits of pre-Jurassic age are hosted in dolomitized carbonate rocks of Cambrian age.
Tungsten mineralization in five deposits, the Emerald, Feeney, Invincible and Dodger mines and the recently discovered East Emerald deposit occur as massive sulfide lenses (Emerald style mineralization) and stratiform replacement deposits (Dodger style mineralization) in limey sediments marginal to Cretaceous granites.
Porphyry style molybdenum mineralization occurs within the Cretaceous granites and extends into the adjacent tungsten deposits.
Gold and gold-bismuth zones as veins and silicified skarn zones occur adjacent to the tungsten and molybdenum zones near the margins of the Cretaceous granites.

The Jersey-Emerald property has exceptional infrastructure. The deposits are just 45 kilometres by highway from Teck’s Lead-Zinc Smelter facility at Trail, BC. A skilled labor force for mining and exploration is available in the nearby towns of Salmo, Nelson, Trail and Castlegar. Salmo was the townsite for the former tungsten-zinc mines. There are power lines and a natural gas pipeline crossing the property.

Location and Access

The Jersey Emerald property is located in southeastern British Columbia at latitude 49°06'N and longitude 117°13'W (NTS 82F/3), 10 kilometres southeast of the community of Salmo. The claims cover an area of approximately 17,500 hectares between the Salmo River on the west and the top of Nevada Mountain on the east, and are bounded by Hidden Creek on the north and the South Salmo River on the south. Year round gravel roads and power lines cross the property and water is plentiful. Underground workings of the historic Jersey and Dodger deposits are in excellent condition allowing for future underground access with little rehabilitation.

Regional Geology

The Jersey Emerald property lies near the south end of the Kootenay Arc and is underlain by rocks of the Cambrian Laib Formation and the Ordovician Active Formation. The Laib Formation is comprised of mixed carbonates and pelites that have been subdivided into the Truman Member brown argillites, the Emerald Member black argillites and the Reeves Member limestones.

The eastern part of the property has historically been mapped as a much younger (Ordovician) Active argillite, however recent work by the Company indicates that the contact may in fact be conformable and that the Active Formation appears to be geochemically identical to the Laib Formation Emerald Member black argillites. Three Cretaceous granitic stocks intrude the Jersey mine rocks.

History of Jersey-Emerald Property

The historic Jersey Mine was the second largest zinc-lead mine in British Columbia and the Emerald Tungsten Mine was the second largest tungsten mine in Canada. The Jersey-Emerald area was initially staked for gold in 1896. Exploration continued and in 1906 the Emerald Lead Deposit was discovered. A 25-ton mill was erected in 1919 by Iron Mountain Ltd and operated until 1926. In 1938 tungsten and molybdenite mineralization was discovered and in 1942 the 350 ton per day Emerald Tungsten Mine was put into production for the war effort by the Federal Government. Operations were suspended in 1943 when the war demand for tungsten eased. In 1947 Canadian Exploration Ltd. a subsidiary of Placer Dome purchased the property of Iron Mountain Ltd. Tungsten production recommenced in 1947 and lead-zinc in 1949. Lead and zinc concentrate was produced from two zones: the Jersey and the Emerald Pb-Zn deposits. Tungsten concentrate was produced from four zones: the Emerald, Feeney, Invincible and Dodger deposits. Production continued until September 1973 when the mine was closed due to low metal prices.

In 1993 the property was acquired by Apex Resources Inc. Since 1993 additional exploration has included 34,870m of diamond drilling in 226 drillholes, ground and airborne geophysical surveys, soil geochemical surveys, prospecting, excavator trenching and rock chip sampling.

Historic Production

Canadian Exploration Ltd. internal reports and government records (BC Minfile 082FSW009) show that over the mine life 7,968,080 tons of lead-zinc ore grading 1.95% Pb and 3.83% Zn, were mined and milled from the Jersey and Emerald lead-zinc deposits. In the four tungsten mines 1,597,802 tons of tungsten ore grading 0.76% WO3 were mined and milled.

The central claims area around the Jersey and Emerald mines are considered brownfields, and contain open mining cuts, underground mine access portals and waste dumps.