A large group of mining claims have been staked on Mount Christie near Skaha Lake by a Kelowna-based mining firm that is looking for gold, silver and copper.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - Could the sound of miner’s drills soon be heard in the mountains above Skaha Lake in the South Okanagan? Recent claim-staking activity and the intentions of an Okanagan mining company to look for gold, silver and copper suggest that could happen soon.

Aurogenesis Mining and Exploration Ltd. has quietly taken up a large land position on Mount Christie, east of Skaha Lake, totalling more than 11,000 hectares of mining claims in the past two years. A handful of smaller claim blocks, totalling around 1,500 ha, appear to be held by individuals.

The staking covers a large portion of Mount Christie starting approximately midway down the east side of the Skaha Lake shoreline, extending east beyond the 201 logging road, and as far south as Skaha Estates.

Daniel Branget, a director with Aurogenesis Mining and Exploration, says the company is currently involved in grassroots exploration, soil sampling and testing. The company is following up on a gold, copper and silver showing discovered in the area, which up to now has not attracted any mining interest.

“It’s all virgin ground. It’s never been explored before,” Branget says. “No one really explored it, there were no holes drilled, nothing like that."

He hopes the company will be drilling soon.

The company is listed as 100 per cent owner of the majority of staked claims in the area, according to information found on B.C. Mineral Titles online. The bulk of Aurogenesis Mining’s holdings in the area are staked under the claim name Silver Ridge, with the remainder listed under Aurogenesis.

While the property currently under scrutiny by Aurogenesis has not been the focus of mining attention until now, other properties surrounding the lake have seen extensive exploration and active mining in the past.

Mining of the Dusty Mac property took place in the 1970s, according to a Ministry of Energy and Mines Minfile report. The open pit gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc mine was located approximately 1.5 kilometres east of Okanagan Falls off McLean Creek Road. The mine was originally built around 1900, but open pit mining didn’t commence until August 1975.

Total production of the Dusty Mac was 93,295 tonnes. Recovery included 19,483 troy ounces of gold, 339,279 troy ounces of silver, 2,432 kilograms of copper, 2,313 kilograms of lead and 242 kilograms of zinc. The last recorded work on the property took place in 2005, when 1,400-metres of drilling was done in the mine area.

More recently, exploration work was conducted on the Vault claims a half kilometre west of Highway 97 along Skaha Lake, four kilometres northwest of Okanagan Falls, a B.C. Minfile report says.

The property was explored and drilled between 1982 and 1998, and an area of gold mineralization was outlined, indicating two zones containing 152,000 tonnes of ore grading at 14 grams per tonne and 1.55 million tonnes grading at 2.49 grams per tonne of gold.

A map showing the claims staked (in pink) on Mount Christie near Penticton by a Kelowna-based mining company.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

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