Gold was first discovered at Wine Harbour in 1860. By 1862, seven leads carrying gold values had been found and development had started. Production had started that year and in the following year (1863), more gold was produced from the Wine Harbour District than from any other in the province. For the next ten years, mining activity fluctuated but by 1874 mining had virtually come to a standstill.
This inactivity continued for the next 20 years during which time only minor exploration activity took place. Following that, the period from 1894 to 1907 was one of renewed mining activity at Wine Harbour and, although the yields did not equal those of the first 12 years of production, the returns of the 1874 to 1894 period were well surpassed. No other mining activity was documented in the district until 1926 when the largest amount of ore and gold ever recorded in the district were taken (Sheppard, 1988).
There followed another period of mining in the Wine Harbour Gold District between 1934 and 1939 (Sheppard, 1988). In 1936, Mineral Industries Limited acquired 3.3 km strike length of the district with their interest being to followup old reports from around 1900 that indicated 70,000 tons of gold bearing material had been removed from which 5,655 tons were milled of a grade of 4.96g/ton with recoveries ranging from 67% to 93.4% (Dawe, 1995). MIL erected a ten stamp mill and carried out mining on the Plough Belt (Location 2) but these operations ceased by 1939. Following this, the Wine Harbour Gold District remained inactive until since that time until the 1960's when exploration interest again started.
The mining techniques used at Wine Harbour were typically underground stopping, however there were some open cut operations. Ore was crushed by stamp mills and recovered by mercury amalgamation (Sheppard, 1988).
In 1975, Dickenson Mines conducted electromagnetic and magnetic surveys over the district. Although the electromagnetic survey results were inconclusive, the magnetic survey located a strong, east-west trending anomaly. The source of this magnetic anomaly was not determined. Extensive soil sampling, continued geophysics and a diamond drilling program were recommended but it was never reported if these were carried out or not (Sheppard, 1988).
Pan East Resources Inc. carried out helicopter-borne, high resolution magnetometer and electromagnetic survey on eastern shore gold districts, including Wine Harbour Gold District in 1981. Two, east-west trending, anomalies are evident on the magnetic contour and electromagnetic profile maps that were produced for Wine Harbour (Sheppard, 1988).
In 1982, Durham Resources Inc. drilled two drillholes to test the down-plunge extension of the ore zone known to exist on the Plough Lead (Location 2). It was believed that the drillhole intersected the slate belt associated with the Plough Lead but that any quartz veins had attenuated and there was no arsenopyrite mineralization (typical alteration associated with this lead) noted. In addition, all assays of the drill core reported trace values for gold (Sheppard, 1988).
In 1983, Acadia Mineral Ventures drilled 5 holes on northern claims in the district (Eureka Property, Location 6) and intersected greywackes, phyllite, and quartz veining. In 1987, Acadia optioned the property to Wilco Mining Company Ltd. who implemented a two stage exploration program. The first stage consisted of an airborne magnetic and VLF electromagnetic geophysical survey flown by Terraquest Ltd. The second stage consisted of a field program consisting of surveying, geological mapping and relocation of old workings (Sheppard, 1988). Acadia Mineral Ventures then carried out a second diamond drill program on the Wilco option (Sheppard, 1988). Acadia also collected 10 lbs of quartz from the dump surrounding the old Eureka Mine workings and put them through a chain pulveriser. The results showed 7.75 grams Au to the ton (Rankin, 1999).
