Geology and ore deposits of Hedley Mining District, British Columbia

The aim of this study is to prove the effectiveness of two electrical geophysical prospecting techniques, namely electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and induced polarization (IP), in locating thin vein structures of metal sulphides embedded in Palaeozoic materials underlying a sedimentary cover. For this purpose, a Quaternary basin known as La Garza was selected, located in the mining district of Linares-La Carolina (Southern Spain). Galena (PbS) veins appear abundantly throughout this area, hosted in the Palaeozoic granitic bedrock. The studied veins show thicknesses from 0.5 to 2.0 m, and most present a vertical planar distribution. The veins lose their continuity below the sedimentary cover due to normal fractures that control the subsidence of the basin. During the 1980s, geophysical research campaigns were carried out in La Garza using vertical electrical sounding and failed in detecting the hidden veins. For this reason, to carry out this study, a closed regular mesh was designed, composed by eight ERT and IP profiles, with variable lengths between 315 and 411 metres. An electrode spacing between 5 and 7 metres was selected, thus allowing the granite bedrock to be reached without significantly reducing the resolution capabilities of the method. Even though ERT and IP are well-known geophysical techniques for mapping ore deposits, this is a case study that shows the advantages of the simultaneous use of both techniques (ERT and IP), over their individual application. ERT allows for reconstructing the morphology of the basin and the fractures that control it due to high-resistivity contrast between the overlying sedimentary cover and the underlaying granitic basement. However, it cannot provide any insights about their degree of mineralization. At this point, it is the IP technique that makes it possible to differentiate which are the mineralized structures. Some of these fractures produce high (above 50 mV/V) and moderate (below 50 mV/V) chargeability values, suggesting the existence of several unexploited metal veins. Furthermore, the derived models enable researchers to analyse the morphology of this sedimentary basin controlled by normal faults.

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Galena-Bearing Pyrite Nodules in the Nelway Formation, Salmo, British Columbia

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e74-043 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 495-502 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Joseph W. Mills

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Low Temperature ◽

Host Rock ◽

Ore Deposits ◽

Middle Cambrian ◽

Stratigraphic Position

Pyrite nodules composed of radiating elongate pyrite crystals and including some galena are found in the sparry dolomite matrix of a dolomite breccia within the middle Cambrian Nelway Formation, Salmo map-area, British Columbia.Similar textures, mineralogy, host rock, and stratigraphic position for the nodules and some pyritic zinc-lead ores in northeastern Washington are taken to indicate a common lineage. Favored is an hypothesis calling for the formation of solution-collapse breccias and their filling by dolomite and sulfides precipitated from low temperature solutions. Later deformation and metamorphism erased or concealed the record of these early events in many of the ore deposits.

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Constraints on temperature–pressure conditions and fluid composition during metamorphism of the Sullivan orebody, Kimberley, British Columbia, from silicate–carbonate equilibria

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e95-148 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 32 (11) ◽

pp. 1937-1949 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Glen R. De Paoli ◽

David R.M. Pattison

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Ore Deposits ◽

Garnet Growth ◽

Fluid Composition ◽

Exchange Equilibrium ◽

Low Grade ◽

Metamorphic Temperature ◽

Lower Temperature ◽

Silicate Carbonate ◽

Peak Metamorphic Temperature

The Sullivan mine, in southeastern British Columbia, is one of the world's largest sediment-hosted, massive sulphide deposits. It has undergone at least one period of metamorphism since it was deposited in mid-Proterozoic times. Mineral textures within the deposit are predominantly of metamorphic origin. A well-constrained estimate of metamorphic conditions is required to understand how the original, depositional character of the orebody has been modified by metamorphism. Metamorphic conditions were estimated using multiequilibrium thermobarometric techniques involving silicate–carbonate–fluid equilibria. Peak metamorphic temperature constrained by calibration of the garnet–biotite Fe–Mg exchange equilibrium is 450 ± 50 °C. Lower temperature estimates from some samples are interpreted to record the temperature of cessation of garnet growth prior to the attainment of peak metamorphic temperature. Peak metamorphic pressure as determined from equilibria applicable to the assemblage garnet–biotite–muscovite–chlorite–calcite–quartz–fluid is 380 ± 100 MPa. The fluid composition accompanying this pressure estimate is [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]. This estimate is particular to one sample and may not be representative for the deposit as a whole. Metamorphic fluids at the estimated P–T conditions would not have contained significant concentrations of C–O–H–S species other than H2O and CO2. Textural evidence and temperature–pressure results from a titanite-bearing metamorphosed mafic intrusion in the deposit suggest published titanite ages near 1330 Ma in the area of the mine represent the age of the peak metamorphic event. The results of this study carry tectonic implications for the Sullivan area, and may have application to other metamorphosed ore deposits and low-grade metamorphic settings.

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