The Legion (Leg) Property is a Sedex zinc/barite/lead/pyrite
massive sulphide deposit located in Southeastern British Columbia in the Nelson Mining
District. The prospect is approximately 70 kilometers southwest of the great Sullivan
Mine, which to date has produced over 125 million tonnes of ore from an original reserve
of 155 million tonnes containing 6.6% Pb, 5.7% Zn and 68 grams/tonne Ag. The Legion
property is held by joint venture between Quest International Resources Corporation (55%)
and Legion Resources Ltd. (45%). Quest is the operator of the joint venture. The 39 Legion
claims cover approximately 4,500 hectares (11,115 acres). HISTORY
The first recorded exploration activity on the prospect occurred in 1924 in the Wilds
Creek area. Prospectors trenched and sank two short shafts in an attempt, they believed at
the time, to find another Sullivan orebody. It was subsequently determined that the Wilds
Creek (Legion) prospect occurs in rocks younger than the Sullivan deposit, and, in
reality, the prospect is more similar to the Red Dog deposit (Alaska), the Tom deposit
(Yukon) or the Cirque deposit (B.C.)
The first reported drilling was by Newmont in 1954 when 6 core holes were drilled,
intersecting a mineralized zone about 2.0 meters thick with a strike length of
approximately 335 meters. Holes S-1 and S-2 intersected >5.0% Zn over about 2.0 meters.
Four holes drilled to the northeast of the original zone, holes S-3 to S-6, intersected
1.0 to 2.0 meter-thick zones of 2.0% to 4.0% Zn, with up to 0.5% Pb.
In 1961 the ground was re-staked by Sheep Creek Gold Mines Ltd. Two core holes were
drilled to the southwest of the Newmont drilling. Drill hole Liz B-1 intersected 1.52
meters of 14.88% Zn at a depth of 61 meters, and diamond drill hole Liz B-2 was terminated
before reaching the zone penetrated in the first hole. The property was briefly examined
by Canex later in 1961, and by Cominco in 1962. In 1963 the owner of the property
contracted a team of geologists to evaluate the property. Geological mapping and
resampling of trenches led to a preliminary reserve estimate of 150,000 tons of 6.0% Zn
(assuming 1.8 meter width, 366 meters of strike length and a depth of 61 meters). By 1964
the property was optioned to Aspen Grove Copper Mines Ltd., and exploration extended the
mineralization approximately 100 meters to the south of the main showing. The entire Main
Zone was trenched and 5 drill holes (A-1 to A-5) were completed by the end of 1965. Hole
A-4 intersected 9.0 meters of 2.13% Zn.
From 1968 to 1970 VLF-EM and ground magnetic surveys were completed over the main
showing. In 1977 Cominco staked adjacent ground and in 1978 conducted a Zn, Pb and Ag soil
survey along Wilds Creek. In 1982 and 1984, Aspen Grove Mines Ltd. extended soil
geochemical coverage for Zn, Pb and Ag. In 1988 a more extensive program of line-cutting,
geological mapping, geochemistry and IP geophysics expanded the data base on the property.
In 1989 Legion Resources Ltd. completed additional line-cutting and ground magnets,
followed by diamond drilling. Five holes were completed which further evaluated the
stratiform zinc mineralization in Wilds Creek. The hole drilled farthest to the north in
this series of core holes intersected the best grades of the 5 holes, suggesting that
mineralization is becoming stronger to the north.
From 1990 to 1992 Kokanee Explorations (Quest) completed fourteen diamond drill holes,
tracing zinc mineralization for about 2.0 kilometers along strike and following the base
metals down to a depth of 130 meters. In 1993 Kokanee completed soil geochemical and
geophysical surveys, extending the mineralized horizon 3.5 kilometers along strike to the
northeast.
GEOLOGY & MINERALIZATION
The rocks in the vicinity of the property are part of the Precambrian Purcell
Supergroup, a thick succession of fine- to medium-grained clastics and carbonates. The
Purcell Supergroup consists of the older Aldridge Formation (host for the Sullivan
deposit), Creston Formation and Kitchener Formation, overlain conformably by the Dutch
Creek Formation and the Mt. Nelson Formation. The Legion property is underlain by steeply
dipping Dutch Creek and Mt. Nelson metasediments.
Base metal mineralization on the Legion property is currently known to occur in two
mineralized zones, each hosted by a different lithologic unit. The Main Zone occurs within
and immediately east of Wilds Creek, and the East Zone lies approximately 500 meters east
of Wilds Creek.
Mineralization in the Main Zone in Wilds Creek consists primarily of massive
sphalerite, pyrite and minor magnetite. The sulphides have a distinctive stratiform
character, and are hosted by a fine-grained orthoquartzite, or what may be a
recrystallized chert, located near the base of and occurring within a complex carbonate
unit. The carbonate unit consists of limestone, dolomitic limestone and witheritic
limestone, and is in part broken by late karst brecciation. The work completed in 1992
determined, for the first time, that the carbonate unit hosting the sulfide-rich
orthoquartzite (chert?) is significantly enriched in barium. Barium in the limestone
assays as high as 24% over a distance of at least 1.5 kilometers. The thickness of
mineralization in the Main Zone ranges between 3.10 meters and 9.70 meters. The best ore
grades intersected to date are 2.6 meters of 10.20% Zn in hole L90-1, and 2.30 meters of
9.94% Zn in hole L92-9. In 1993 Kokanee completed 37.70 line-kilometers of ground
magnetics and soil geochemistry.
One core hole drilled in the Main Zone may indicate significant size potential. Hole
L92-9 encountered a dark gray to black pyrrhotiferous argillite relatively enriched in
base metals. This unit is the stratigraphic footwall to the massive sulphide-bearing
witheritic limestone unit. Sphalerite, pyrite and rare galena occur in the black argillite
unit as widely spaced, thin (rarely more than 4 mm thick) sulphide layers and
disseminations. The black argillite unit contains up to 1.0% combined Zn-Pb from 22.80
meters to 43.20 meters. The mineralization intersected in the core hole may be the source
of the sphalerite-pyrite mineralization in the overlying witheritic limestone unit. This
mineralization may also represent the edge of something much larger, thicker and higher
grade.
The East Zone is characterized by locally mineralized fractures cutting dolomite. The
mineralization consists of galena, chalcopyrite and sphalerite with pyrite. This
mineralization is reflected in a broad, strong soil geochemical anomaly. Early prospecting
and trenching, including a number of shallow shafts, did not discover a significant
enrichment of base metals, as was the case in the development of the Main Zone; however,
the East Zone warrants further exploration.
Prospecting, trenching, soil sampling, geophysics and diamond drilling have all been
utilized to evaluate the two known zones. Previous workers have speculated that the two
mineralized carbonate units are correlative as limbs of an isoclinal fold. With the
completion of more detailed drilling in the Main Zone, it appears that there are two
distinct mineralized carbonate units with distinctive mineralization styles and
lithologies.
The 1993 soil geochemical and ground magnetic surveys located a large, coincident
magnetic and Zn/Ba/Pb anomaly along the strike of the Wilds Creek massive sulphide horizon
(Main Zone). This significant geochem/geophysical anomaly has not been drill tested. The
Legion property has excellent potential for the discovery of a large, high-grade Zn/Ba/Pb
deposit.
