Gold survey maps are on sale in B.C.

New gold survey maps covering a large area of north-central British Columbia are now available from the province’s ministry of energy, mines and petroleum resources.

The maps are based on a government-sponsored survey which collected 1,100 samples in 1986 in a 14,500-square-kilometre study area.

Also this month, further survey data for other minerals will be released for the northwestern corner of the province. It will be based on 2,700 samples from the Iskut, Telegraph Creek and Tulsequah areas, analyzed for gold and other elements including zinc, copper, lead, silver, iron and molybdenum.

The surveys are carried out by taking small samples of stream and lake-bottom sediments and analysing them in the laboratory.

For the north-central area maps now released, 1,100 sites were sampled over a 2-month period by a field crew of six, who travelled by road, boat, float plane and helicopter through rugged and mostly uninhabited terrain.